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Hi Folks

This is a response I received today from a recruiter. I responded to a posting dated March 31. 

Hi Dan,

Thank you for your interest.  I wanted to advise you that I did hear back from my client this morning and they have advised me that they do have a candidate who they are anticipating making an offer to.  At this point they would like to hold off on additional candidates and will contact you should this status change.

Regards,

JK

Not only did she get my name wrong, her grammar is horrible.  The company is "anticipating" making an offer, but they haven't actually made an offer.  How lame overall. 

 

Mark's picture
Admin Role Badge

RNTT-

I agree the name mistake is a sad comment/note.  But I don't think the grammar is "horrible", particularly for what I assume is an email.  It's not perfect, but other than ending with a preposition, which seems to have become a soft rule, and some stylistic lack of parallelism, it's not horrible, just average.

And, I don't think it's "lame" to communicate what they did.  If I've decided to offer A, and B expresses interest, I feel like I'm doing the right thing by letting you know even when I'm just anticipating it.  Sure, this communication might not be as sharp as what we recommend relative to handling two candidates, but it's certainly more respectful than not communicating.

No fun getting the note, but I've found that being too critical of negative career search feedback tends to carry over into other job efforts.  Better to stay frosty, I think.

It's a privilege to serve you,

Mark

wendii's picture
Admin Role Badge

They could be anticipating making an offer.. waiting on business or HR approval for the salary or the package for example.

Whilst mediocrity should never be the standard, at least they communicated at all. Many places don't.

It's hard to send these emails and find exactly the right tone even if you've never met the person - you know they will be disappointed and you need to keep the balance of saying as much as you can about the situation, without closing any doors in case of changes within the organization.

I agree with Mark, it's no fun getting the email, but getting angry about it doesn't help your search.

Wendii

tlhausmann's picture
Licensee BadgeTraining Badge

I'm with Wendii on this one--be grateful for a response. To me, it shows a great deal of class when I get a phone call or personal email message acknowledging the application and/or update on the search.

With more businesses, including colleges/universities, requiring on-line job applications it seems more common to either (1) not get a response or (2) an *automated* response saying your no longer being considered.

Argh. It is almost as if you were rejected by a robot.

DPWade's picture

Hey, I feel your pain as I got one and then I called him to thank him for not leaving me hanging....they sent:

"Dear xxxxx,

Thank you for the opportunity to meet with you and discuss your qualifications.

While we were impressed with your background and experience we sincerely regret that we cannot offer you employment with our organization at this time.

You have our best wishes for success in locating the career opportunity you deserve. We will retain your resume in our files to review for future openings for up to six months. In the event of an appropriate available position, we will not hesitate to contact you.

We appreciate your interest and the time you have invested in interviewing.

xxxx"

Wasnt meant to be, onto the next challenge!

-D