Possibility of landing the job

Kepa47

Had a interview on Wednesday for a sales assistant in a national mobile phone store on Wednesday with store manager which went real. Around a hour later I got a phone call to attend a interview yesterday afternoon (Thursday) with the area manager. Again this interview went well I was asked similar questions and then asked ‘ would I prefer short term or long term contract’ I was also told I have a lot of qualifications and that I am very qualified for the role. I assured him I was totally committed. At the end of the interview he again remarked that I done very well and that I could relax now. He said the next process was to interview remaining candidates and speak to HR and I may hear word back early next week. I gave him references and I’m available to work ASAP. As of 17:30 today my current employer who I have a very good professional relationship with hasn’t been contacted by anyone yet.

What are my chances of landing the job?

Kepa47

Mr.S wrote: »

References are generally only contacted after an offer (with confirmation pending reference check) has been made - it would be rare for someone to contact a reference without telling you first that you've an offer.

Also these days a lot of time managers will skip the reference check for obvious reasons.

It's only been a day, and a Friday! He said you would hear back early next week, so wait until then.

Thanks for the swift reply.

I’m just too anxious for my own good. Will be a long weekend

OMM 0000

You gave your current employer as a reference? That's generally a bad idea.

> What are my chances of landing the job?

Impossible to say, but it sounds like it went quite well, so I think you should feel positive.

OMM 0000

Mr.S wrote: »

Nonsense, if you are on good terms with your current employer and they know you are applying for other roles it's fine to list them. Not all employers chain you down!

Yes, I said it's generally a bad idea.

You are very lucky.

I would still advise people to almost never use their current employer as a reference. By telling your employer you are looking for a job, you lose all power.

For example, if your boss gets told he needs to lay off people, you'll be first on the list. This may not suit you as it may take you months to find another job.

Kepa47

OMM 0000 wrote: »

Yes, I said it's generally a bad idea.

You are very lucky.

I would still advise people to almost never use their current employer as a reference. By telling your employer you are looking for a job, you lose all power.

For example, if your boss gets told he needs to lay off people, you'll be first on the list. This may not suit you as it may take you months to find another job.

I’m only in my current role since the beginning of the year. We both knew it was only going to be a short term role and now it’s run it’s conclusion. My current boss knew I was on the lookout for a different role.

GooglePlus

Current employer would be the best reference IMO. Only a bad idea if you're a bad employee.

OMM 0000

Mr.S wrote: »

You would only tell them after an offer is made, before the reference check, which is standard practise.

It is absolutely not standard practice to use your current employer as a reference.

OMM 0000

It is not standard practice to only provide reference details after an offer has been made.

No employer is going to offer you a job and then check your references later. They offer you the job after checking your references.

I've interviewed maybe 1000 people and I've never been given the reference of someone's current employer.

You're giving very peculiar advice here.

Foweva Awone

OMM 0000 wrote: »

It is not standard practice to only provide reference details after an offer has been made.

No employer is going to offer you a job and then check your references later. They offer you the job after checking your references.

I've interviewed maybe 1000 people and I've never been given the reference of someone's current employer.

You're giving very peculiar advice here.

In my experience, employers don't check your references until you've been given and accepted an offer. I've done tonnes of interviews in the past few years, I'm never usually even asked for references until I've got the offer.

Also in my experience, it would be normal to provide your current/most recent employer as a reference, however employers generally don't place a huge amount of weight on references anyways.

Kepa47

Mr.S wrote: »

It really is the current standard, to make a conditional offer pending a positive reference check - at which point the applicant would confirm the reference details. They may be asked to put down some reference details during the application process to streamline, but they aren't going to contacted out of the blue.

Do you put that much emphasis on references? They are becoming less and less important.

edit: totally sidetracking OP's thread! Best of luck to them and keep in mind interview processes tend to be slooooow and can be delayed for whatever reason, don't worry if you haven't heard back within the timeframe stated.

Thanks just a torture waiting all weekend but hopefully be worth it in the end.

After the employee giving positive feedback, going through perks of the job and telling me that I can breath after the interview it'd be a real kick in the teeth to miss out.

Osborne

OMM 0000 wrote: »

No employer is going to offer you a job and then check your references later. They offer you the job after checking your references.

As an employer, I offer pending references. It's not unusual.

OMM 0000

Osborne wrote: »

As an employer, I offer pending references. It's not unusual.

Well that's fine, but it's not quite an offer. You're saying "we'll offer you the job if your references are ok". Which is my point.

It would be crazy to offer someone the job, they accept, and when you later check their references you can see you shouldn't have offered them the job.

Only a person who has never really interviewed before would think that's the process. I know boards is full of this - people with strong opinions on things yet they've no experience in the area.

Foweva Awone

OMM 0000 wrote: »

Well that's fine, but it's not quite an offer. You're saying "we'll offer you the job if your references are ok". Which is my point.

It would be crazy to offer someone the job, they accept, and when you later check their references you can see you shouldn't have offered them the job.

Only a person who has never really interviewed before would think that's the process. I know boards is full of this - people with strong opinions on things yet they've no experience in the area.

You're going by your own experience of interviewing and hiring, and the way you do it.

The rest of us are telling you that your way is not what is standard currently. And for good reason.

A formal job offer is made to a candidate. The candidate accepts. Only then will the employer check references (and often, reference details are not requested until this point.)

Of course, if a bad reference is given, the employer can revoke the offer. But who on earth is going to provide details of someone who will give them a crap reference? That's why references really aren't the be-all and end-all - we all use referees who we know are going to give us a glowing reference.

jay1988

OMM 0000 wrote: »

Well that's fine, but it's not quite an offer. You're saying "we'll offer you the job if your references are ok". Which is my point.

It would be crazy to offer someone the job, they accept, and when you later check their references you can see you shouldn't have offered them the job.

Only a person who has never really interviewed before would think that's the process. I know boards is full of this - people with strong opinions on things yet they've no experience in the area.

Seems to me you're the one who is "full of this", the job i'm currently in offered me the job pending references, so did my last job, plenty of examples given by other posters too, its definitely standard practice at this stage.

OMM 0000

By "offer" do you mean they are telling you the salary, working conditions, and sending a contract to you?

And this "offer" is before they checked your references?

OMM 0000

Are these employers actually checking your references?

Or are they just offering you the job?

I have a feeling they're just offering you the job as most references these days just confirm your employment dates.

OMM 0000

I've never seen this, and I've worked in loads of companies (multinationals, starts, mid-sized companies, etc.)

The process I've used and seen seems much safer - no offer at all until references are checked.

I agree with you - why would an applicant give a reference that wouldn't back up what they've been saying?

But I've seen it a few times. One example in particular was utterly comical:

(I'm mentioning his nationality because it's relevant.)

A Nigerian guy applied for a QA role. His interview was just OK, but we felt we would take a chance on him. We ring his two references - both Nigerian guys who would only say things like "ten out of ten". They couldn't answer any questions regarding his role or skills. So... he didn't get an offer.

Imagine we had of made an offer before checking his references? He could have made some sort of racism accusation.

OMM 0000

I always check references. It's just another sanity test. As you say, it only takes 30 seconds. If their references are odd or don't exist or just don't seem right, I move onto someone else.

Hiring people is too risky to do it in a lazy way.

thenightman

Last few public jobs I've gotten, I've been provisional offered and accepted the role pending my references check out. They ring me and ask permission to contact referees and then get an email saying they're satisfied with reference and send me contract. Fairly standard, common sense approach like.

road_high

Whenever I got a successful job offer the tone of the interview was often talking about “when you start the role” etc - always a very good sign

Phoebas

OMM 0000 wrote: »

Imagine we had of made an offer before checking his references? He could have made some sort of racism accusation.

Isn't an assumption that he might make a racism accusation kind of ... racist?

OMM 0000

Phoebas wrote: »

Isn't an assumption that he might make a racism accusation kind of ... racist?

No, that's not what racism is.

Kepa47

So still no word as of now. Still remaining positive as was told early this week so maybe tomorrow.

Kepa47

Mr.S wrote: »

If you haven't heard by Thursday I would send a chaser email. No news either way is still good!

Don't have their email address I just have store phone number.

Kepa47

Still no word and no reference check
Very frustrating!!

Kepa47

Bit the bullet and phoned up manager who I was speaking to today. No decision has been made and they are still interviewing candidates.

Kepa47

Guess at this stage I won’t be getting the job, After 2 interviews you’d think they would at least email and say I didn’t get the role. Strange thing is the sign is still on the shop window advertising the role.

Just checked back on emails and managed to find email address for HR should I throw one last role of the dice and email them on any update or just move on?

Plasandrunt

I'm in a similar position at the moment.

Had 2 interviews with the same company in the space of 10 days about a month ago, both I felt went well such that I turned down a job offer as this job suits me more. Didn't hear anything for nearly 2 weeks so sent a chaser mail and was told that the hiring manager was on annual leave.

Then a week later I see the role has been reposted so I sent a mail just looking for confirmation that I hadn't got the position, lady in HR replyed saying they wanted to have more candidates to benchmark, I was still under consideration and they would get back to me in due course. Nearly 2 weeks later I still haven't heard anythng.

Very frustrating

road_high

Kepa47 wrote: »

Bit the bullet and phoned up manager who I was speaking to today. No decision has been made and they are still interviewing candidates.

Unfortunately bad sign when still interviewing others- code for they are looking for more experience or skills than you can offer. Keep applying and don’t lose faith!

road_high

Plasandrunt wrote: »

I'm in a similar position at the moment.

Had 2 interviews with the same company in the space of 10 days about a month ago, both I felt went well such that I turned down a job offer as this job suits me more. Didn't hear anything for nearly 2 weeks so sent a chaser mail and was told that the hiring manager was on annual leave.

Then a week later I see the role has been reposted so I sent a mail just looking for confirmation that I hadn't got the position, lady in HR replyed saying they wanted to have more candidates to benchmark, I was still under consideration and they would get back to me in due course. Nearly 2 weeks later I still haven't heard anythng.

Very frustrating

Oh god never turn down a job on a Maybe like that! “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush” not to mention the experience and money you’d be making..

Kepa47

road_high wrote: »

Unfortunately bad sign when still interviewing others- code for they are looking for more experience or skills than you can offer. Keep applying and don’t lose faith!

Yeah my thoughts exactly. She said that because she's spread around different locations so couldn't interview all at once.

road_high

Kepa47 wrote: »

Yeah my thoughts exactly. She said that because she's spread around different locations so couldn't interview all at once.

I know you wanted this particularly job but (and I mean this with the greatest respect) it’s only a Sales assistant role which are two a penny. Shops and business are crying out for staff so just apply for lots of anything remotely suitable and that way you can build up your experience.
Working in a mobile phone job always seemed slightly head wrecking to me as a customer anyhow

OMM 0000

Kepa47 wrote: »

should I throw one last role of the dice and email them on any update or just move on?

You should move on. They're obviously not that interested in hiring you. Sorry!

chite

In the space of a month I got 3 jobs with positive interviews and was told there'd be a follow up for a trial only to never hear from them again, despite calls, emails, etc. So bloody annoying - phone interviews should be more of the norm tbh, which was the case in the 2 other jobs I had applied for afterwards, both offered a trial run during the call. However the former one took ages to get back to me as it had turned out the head manager had a family thing going on at the time I did the trial. The Manager in the latter one had his mind made up on hiring me, the trial was just a formality more than anything.
At this time of year full-time staff whip up jobs almost immediately with people going to college at this time of year, it's not clear if this is what you're going for.

Kepa47

chite wrote: »

In the space of a month I got 3 jobs with positive interviews and was told there'd be a follow up for a trial only to never hear from them again, despite calls, emails, etc. So bloody annoying - phone interviews should be more of the norm tbh, which was the case in the 2 other jobs I had applied for afterwards, both offered a trial run during the call. However the former one took ages to get back to me as it had turned out the head manager had a family thing going on at the time I did the trial. The Manager in the latter one had his mind made up on hiring me, the trial was just a formality more than anything.
At this time of year full-time staff whip up jobs almost immediately with people going to college at this time of year, it's not clear if this is what you're going for.

Yep I can resonate with you.

Was asked during the interview whether I’d want the full time role or part time role i said I’d obviously prefer full time but it’s to their discretion.

Anyway, lesson learned and have to keep looking forward.

Kepa47

Didn’t receive any follow up at all.

However, I applied for a few other jobs and got offered a role with a local based company. The manager seems really nice and it’s a tight knit group.