Applied for jobs no reply

freeze4real

Hi guys,

I have applied for some jobs and I have not heard a reply back either rejection email or e-mail for an aptitude test etc.

Its been up to 3 weeks to 2 months now. Althiough I did get an automatic email, since then I have heard nothing back.


Is this the norm ? Should Icontact the HR about this ?


Some of the application are direct and some are with recruitment agencies.

ABajaninCork

Sadly, this is the norm. I consider it a result if I get a PFO!

All I can tell you is this: Don't give up. Keep applying for jobs, but don't expect a response. Treat it as a delightful surprise if you get ANY kind of response.

By all means, contact the recruiter or HR but I wouldn't bank on a response.

freeze4real

freeze4real wrote: »

Hi guys,

I have applied for some jobs and I have not heard a reply back either rejection email or e-mail for an aptitude test etc.

Its been up to 3 weeks to 2 months now. Althiough I did get an automatic email, since then I have heard nothing back.


Is this the norm ? Should Icontact the HR about this ?


Some of the application are direct and some are with recruitment agencies.

Where have you been for the last 5+ years?

Yes, unfortunately it is the norm. I've applied for about 300 jobs since the start of the year and heard back from a handful. Just the way things are now. Keep applying!

freeze4real

Jaxxon Low Grocer wrote: »

Where have you been for the last 5+ years?

Yes, unfortunately it is the norm. I've applied for about 300 jobs since the start of the year and heard back from a handful. Just the way things are now. Keep applying!

ATMI am an undergrad so am at th stage of applying for jobs. I definitely know the job market is tough but I'd expect to hear a PFO at the most 3weeks after application.

ABajaninCork

If that's what you're expecting, then I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed...

Mr. Loverman

Think of it like this:

You go into a food court because you are hungry. All the restaurants have a waiter standing at their door trying to show you their menu and win your business. At first you are polite and say no thank you, but there are so many restaurants it eventually becomes a bit overwhelming, so you begin ignoring the waiters and eventually pick a restaurant which looks suitable.

In the current jobs market, you're one of the waiters.

Canis Lupus

It's also worth double checking your contact details I had a mate who sent his cv to loads of jobs, heard nothing and then later realised he hadn't updated his mobile number. Wally.

April O Neill

Jaxxon Low Grocer wrote: »

Where have you been for the last 5+ years?

Yes, unfortunately it is the norm. I've applied for about 300 jobs since the start of the year and heard back from a handful. Just the way things are now. Keep applying!

I’m not sure this is the best advice. If you have applied for 300 jobs, there’s no way each of those is a well thought out application. In my experience, doing fewer applications, but doing them well yields better results. If I put no effort in, I get no responses, personally.
I also think people applying for loads of jobs they are not in any way qualified for (not saying this is you) is masking the good CVs for each role, as recruiters aren’t going to get to look through them all. So good candidates are likely being overlooked.

Zeek12

Many employers are very selective about who they invite for interview these days. They can afford to be - they get such a huge number of applications and very many of them from very competent and well educated people. For a lot of positions, if you make it to interview stage, you are already very close to getting the job. There may only be a very small no. of candidates actually selected for interview. I've heard of a few companies who do this and end up hiring all of the interviewees, provided they don't mess up or make serious errors in the interview
So don't think about it too negatively, or think that it reflects very badly on you. In theory all you may need is one interview to get you that job; provided you have the skills and experience. Stick with it. Persistence will pay off....eventually.

okiss

I have been looking for work for a while. Recently I got sick of hearing nothing back from jobs that I had experience in or where my skills would be a good fit.

Get some one you know have a look at your cv to see could you improve it and get them to check for spelling mistakes.Also don't have a cv more than 2 pages long.
I would agree that if you are applying for a job that you need to spend time on the cover letter. You need to be willing to change the cover letter and cv to make your experience to date a better fit to the job you are applying to.

In regards to recruitment agencies send the cv to them - give them 24 hours and then ring them confirming they got your cv. Then ask them when can they meet you. Hound them if you see something on there website. If you are not getting a reply cc you email to head of there department and put in re part - Follow up for email re (job name) previous email sent on (what date).
I did this a few times in the past and got replies back quicker.

Also if you get an auto reply telling you we got your cv give the company 3 days and then ring to confirm that they have your cv.
By doing this I found out that the person hiring did not get my cv. I got a job interview out of this call. I did not get the job but I have applied to other better jobs.

When emailing a cv bcc yourself on this - keeps a record & lets you know if there is a problem with there email address quicker.
Recently I applied to a job where the company put the wrong email address on the advert. I rang them to confirm the address. Because of this call I know they got my cv, when they will be interviewing and when the job will start.

With the jobs market at the moment you need to be doing the above rather than waiting for replies and interviews.
Also if you are signing on keep a copy of the jobs your applying to as the dole office can ask to see prof that you are looking for work.

April O Neill

okiss wrote: »

I have been looking for work for a while. Recently I got sick of hearing nothing back from jobs that I had experience in or where my skills would be a good fit.

Get some one you know have a look at your cv to see could you improve it and get them to check for spelling mistakes.

Definitely, this is great advice. Seems a small thing but you want it to be perfect.

In addition to making sure there were no spelling or punctuations errors, I spent a long time on formatting, to make it look visually appealing, nice to read. And put effort into a good cover letter/peronal statement. Opinion varies on their importance, and to some employers they won't be important, but to other they will, so make it a good one!

Zeek12

No spelling or punctuation errors should be a given in fairness. If you have any such errors in your CV you're most likely out of the running straight away. And probably with good cause; there's really no excuse for it!!
Definitely agree that good format and presentation of the CV is very important too. So much about job applications and interviews is about making a good impression....and first impressions last.

swimming in a sea

I don't think there is any excuse for an employer to not send a rejection email, just have a generic mail made up and you can BCC every reject.

But worse than that i've gone to a few interviews and then got no response, I must have been bad:D once i did a face to face interview followed by a phone interview and heard nothing back, I emailed recruiter after and he never mailed me back.

Zeek12

swimming in a sea wrote: »

I don't think there is any excuse for an employer to not send a rejection email, just have a generic mail made up and you can BCC every reject.

But worse than that i've gone to a few interviews and then got no response, I must have been bad:D once i did a face to face interview followed by a phone interview and heard nothing back, I emailed recruiter after and he never mailed me back.

That's pretty lousy. I wouldn't blame you for feeling put out at that.:( If you've done 2 interviews you are certainly entitled to at least a rejection decision in some form or other.

April O Neill

Zeek12 wrote: »

No spelling or punctuation errors should be a given in fairness.

Yes, of course.

April O Neill

April O Neill wrote: »

I’m not sure this is the best advice. If you have applied for 300 jobs, there’s no way each of those is a well thought out application. In my experience, doing fewer applications, but doing them well yields better results. If I put no effort in, I get no responses, personally.
I also think people applying for loads of jobs they are not in any way qualified for (not saying this is you) is masking the good CVs for each role, as recruiters aren’t going to get to look through them all. So good candidates are likely being overlooked.

It's not advice. You don't know what I do - in my field, sending that many applications is the norm, given that only 1-2% of applications result in a job. There's also no real need to tailor them because most employers do exactly the same thing and are looking for a specific skill set. I've spent up to several days filling in online applications for big employers offering in-house work.

I'm simply saying that expecting a reply from every employer - even a PFO - is unrealistic. The only times I've really received PFOs are when I actually went through a recruitment process with aptitude tests and everything or when I applied to European institutions, who are obliged to acknowledge your application and keep you updated about the progress. Most employers now just can't be bothered/don't have the time. There is nothing at all surprising or unusual about not hearing back about a job.

Jaxxon Low Grocer

Jaxxon Low Grocer wrote: »

I'm simply saying that expecting a reply from every employer - even a PFO - is unrealistic.

I'd agree with this. I know a plumber who mentioned working on a shop site last year, and I immediately applied to work there. I got an email 2 days later (bear in mind that not only was there no signage up yet, but you wouldn't even have known looking at the outside what the place was going to end up as) saying that they'd have to reject my application because they'd already had 1200 of them. I doubt they were still sending out rejection emails by the time that number doubled, tripled, went into the tens of thousands or however many applicants they ended up with after the shop was actually set up.

Around the same time, I applied to work in a newsagents, got an interview, it went well, and then got a second interview which was described to me as "not really an interview, more just a chance for you to meet your manager and for him to show you the ropes", went to the second interview, that also went well. No word after that.

And by the time I did get employed, I had definitely sent out 300 applications. It by no means implies that I didn't put lots of effort into each and every one.