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Call Me Old Fashioned But...there's A Way To Communicate Bad News
17 Answers
Call me old fashioned but...there's a way to communicate bad news
I've recently been on the job hunt. It's been joyous.
One job let me down after four months on conversations by telling me they were going to a hiring freeze via email. Hadn't been mentioned anything previously.
Another told me I'd lost out on a job after six interviews, when I was expecting an offer imminently as they'd told me I was the top candidate. They gave me a two line email to let me know a couple of days before Christmas.
Another told me I'd lost out on a job after six interviews, one of which was a presentation, that took me a week to prepare. We'd discussed the package and my start date. Told me I was their top candidate too. They told me via a two min voicemail that I didn't get the job. They said I was to senior for the role.
Am I that old fashioned that I think a phone call would be the decent thing here? If it was an early stage interview I wouldn't mind but given the time and effort that's gone in surely a call is not to much to ask.
I've recently been on the job hunt. It's been joyous.
One job let me down after four months on conversations by telling me they were going to a hiring freeze via email. Hadn't been mentioned anything previously.
Another told me I'd lost out on a job after six interviews, when I was expecting an offer imminently as they'd told me I was the top candidate. They gave me a two line email to let me know a couple of days before Christmas.
Another told me I'd lost out on a job after six interviews, one of which was a presentation, that took me a week to prepare. We'd discussed the package and my start date. Told me I was their top candidate too. They told me via a two min voicemail that I didn't get the job. They said I was to senior for the role.
Am I that old fashioned that I think a phone call would be the decent thing here? If it was an early stage interview I wouldn't mind but given the time and effort that's gone in surely a call is not to much to ask.
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In the days when I was one of the long-term unemployed, I applied for a job as a mentor to others who were in a similar position. (The post was with a private company who were receiving government funding to work with the long-term unemployed).
The guy who carried out what passed for an interview clearly hadn't got a clue about interviewing people. All he kept going on about was that, if I was given the job, an important part of my role would be to work with employers to ensure that the job candidates, who were referred to them through the scheme, received "prompt and positive feedback" (rather than just a brief rejection).
He mentioned "prompt and positive feedback" so many times that I started counting. He used that phrase over 40 times from the start of my count, which means that he must have used it more than 50 times in total!
When I left the interview I hoped that, even if I'd not got the job, I'd receive "prompt and positive feedback" from the company. After all, that was the core message of what they were doing.
What did I actually receive as "prompt and positive feedback" from them? A ONE SENTENCE rejection letter, posted TEN MONTHS after my interview!
The guy who carried out what passed for an interview clearly hadn't got a clue about interviewing people. All he kept going on about was that, if I was given the job, an important part of my role would be to work with employers to ensure that the job candidates, who were referred to them through the scheme, received "prompt and positive feedback" (rather than just a brief rejection).
He mentioned "prompt and positive feedback" so many times that I started counting. He used that phrase over 40 times from the start of my count, which means that he must have used it more than 50 times in total!
When I left the interview I hoped that, even if I'd not got the job, I'd receive "prompt and positive feedback" from the company. After all, that was the core message of what they were doing.
What did I actually receive as "prompt and positive feedback" from them? A ONE SENTENCE rejection letter, posted TEN MONTHS after my interview!
During a later period of unemployment, I applied for over 2,000 posts. Only 110 bothered to even acknowledge my applications. Out of those, I got just three interviews.
At the first interview I was told that I might well be ideal for the post and got invited to a day's unpaid work trial. On that day, I worked for 13 hours, from 5am to 6pm, without any proper breaks. Then, despite me trying to make contact with the firm, I never heard from them again. (i.e. they couldn't even be bothered to tell me that I'd not got the job).
At the second interview I was told that I'd got the job, subject only to the approval of the 'big boss' when he returned from holiday at the end of the week, and that they'd be in touch the following week. When I didn't hear from them, I phoned the company, only be told that the big boss had decided to reorganise the company and that there was no longer a vacancy. (Once again, they simply couldn't be bothered to let me know).
At the third interview, I was again invited to do a day's unpaid work trial. The boss was so impressed with the work that I'd done by the end of that day (sorting out several problems that he'd been battling with for months) that he asked me to go in for a second (and this time paid) day of work where, once again, he seemed extremely satisfied with my performance. When I didn't hear from him though, I wrote to him, asking to be paid for the second day. He sent a cheque, together with a very apologetic letter, explaining that he couldn't employ me because I was too intelligent for the job!
From then on, until I reached State Pension Age, I NEVER got another full-time job, surviving only on money from unemployment benefit and occasional casual work.
I hope that your luck is better than mine!
At the first interview I was told that I might well be ideal for the post and got invited to a day's unpaid work trial. On that day, I worked for 13 hours, from 5am to 6pm, without any proper breaks. Then, despite me trying to make contact with the firm, I never heard from them again. (i.e. they couldn't even be bothered to tell me that I'd not got the job).
At the second interview I was told that I'd got the job, subject only to the approval of the 'big boss' when he returned from holiday at the end of the week, and that they'd be in touch the following week. When I didn't hear from them, I phoned the company, only be told that the big boss had decided to reorganise the company and that there was no longer a vacancy. (Once again, they simply couldn't be bothered to let me know).
At the third interview, I was again invited to do a day's unpaid work trial. The boss was so impressed with the work that I'd done by the end of that day (sorting out several problems that he'd been battling with for months) that he asked me to go in for a second (and this time paid) day of work where, once again, he seemed extremely satisfied with my performance. When I didn't hear from him though, I wrote to him, asking to be paid for the second day. He sent a cheque, together with a very apologetic letter, explaining that he couldn't employ me because I was too intelligent for the job!
From then on, until I reached State Pension Age, I NEVER got another full-time job, surviving only on money from unemployment benefit and occasional casual work.
I hope that your luck is better than mine!
Chris you’ve been treated disrespectfully and disgracefully too many times. Those shoddy firms are an embarrassment to themselves and deserve to fail in business. But they won’t, because we tolerate this carp and even anticipate it. I despair at such inconsiderate incompetence, politeness costs nothing. I’m glad your in a better position financially now, your a top man.
Yes, Jack, once I was 60 but it's not massive (from about 15½ year's teaching) and I was hunting for full-time work from when I was about 52, so life wasn't too easy for many years. (Fortunately the casual self-employed work I got, supervising transport survey teams across East Anglia, London and the South-East, helped see me through but it was sporadic, so budgeting could be a bit tricky!)
^^^ An interesting question, Stickybottle.
In my first long period of unemployment (referred to me in my first post above) I had three interviews for a job, with one of them being a full-day process. The first interview screened the list of applicants down to just six people. (I obviously got through that one OK). The second interview cut the list just down to to applicants. (I got through that one too). It was the final hurdle that I fell at! The job was for a very senior position at a firm printing banknotes and security documents for many governments across the world, being in charge of ensuring that the latest anti-fraud technologies were always applied.
In the same week that I got reject for that job, I also got turned down, again at the final hurdle (after two interviews), for the post of Chief Executive with an organisation promoting foods from East Anglian producers.
Getting turned down for two very senior (and very well-paid) posts in the same week might not have been as bad if I hadn't also been turned down that week, by two major supermarkets, for work stacking shelves or pushing trolleys around their car parks. I repeatedly found that I was considered to be under-qualified for some jobs but over-qualified for others!
In my first long period of unemployment (referred to me in my first post above) I had three interviews for a job, with one of them being a full-day process. The first interview screened the list of applicants down to just six people. (I obviously got through that one OK). The second interview cut the list just down to to applicants. (I got through that one too). It was the final hurdle that I fell at! The job was for a very senior position at a firm printing banknotes and security documents for many governments across the world, being in charge of ensuring that the latest anti-fraud technologies were always applied.
In the same week that I got reject for that job, I also got turned down, again at the final hurdle (after two interviews), for the post of Chief Executive with an organisation promoting foods from East Anglian producers.
Getting turned down for two very senior (and very well-paid) posts in the same week might not have been as bad if I hadn't also been turned down that week, by two major supermarkets, for work stacking shelves or pushing trolleys around their car parks. I repeatedly found that I was considered to be under-qualified for some jobs but over-qualified for others!
Reading all these stories makes me realise how lucky I have been.
I had a job interview at the age of sixteen for a civil service post and got the job. I was given early retirement on health grounds when I was forty. How I lasted as long is puzzling. My manic depression was driving not only me nuts but my workmates were cracking up to.
I had an interview to volunteer at local Oxfam bookshop in 2005 and I am still there.
I had a job interview at the age of sixteen for a civil service post and got the job. I was given early retirement on health grounds when I was forty. How I lasted as long is puzzling. My manic depression was driving not only me nuts but my workmates were cracking up to.
I had an interview to volunteer at local Oxfam bookshop in 2005 and I am still there.
I have full empathy for all of you. I once found it necessary to work as a cleaner in a boys' school. This was a zero hours contract but I was promoted to supervisor for two other people as it was decided I was the most capable. Both of them were slightly educationally below par with all the usual problems and needed clear guidance on what they were supposed to do all the time. Flattering? I suppose so.
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