Anyone else bothered by this?

[GlenQuagmire]

I'm bothered whenever I don't hear back. An e-mail takes what, ten seconds?

Let's 200 people apply for a given job. Taking the time to send an e-mail to every person who applied doesn't sound like too much to ask.

But in an age when everyone is having to do more with less, is anyone really shocked that only a select few usually get a response? Most of the places hiring are small shops, so most of these SEs don't have a lot of extra time.

Not saying I think it's right. I just think that's the way things are right now.

 

[Joe Williams]

This isn't a recent phenomena in any industry. I think it's probably gone on for ten or fifteen years.

Applying for a job is like auditioning for a theatre or film part. You go, do your audition and if they want a call back, they'll get in touch; otherwise, you'll hear nothing.

But I agree that in an age of instant communication, even a quick, "Thanks but no thanks" e-mail would be classy

I concur that this has gone on at a lot of places for a long time. Doesn't make it right, however.

To me, it's a symptom of what too often are lousy people skills of the folks in these managerial positions. Their inability or reluctance to deal with people -- at least those who might be or become their (hate these words) subordinates or underlings -- is a big reason for so much dysfunction in newsrooms. In good times or in horrific times now.

What used to be a "don't call us, we'll call you (maybe)" attitude about job applicants now is a "we're all stressed out and there aren't any jobs anyway and I've got my exit strategy to worry about" panic-as-excuse. Nope, not good enough. You treat people the way you'd want to be treated, good times or bad.

Undoubtedly, a number of these people who don't offer a simple acknowledgement of a job miss will soon be finding out what it feels like to be on that end of things, when their li'l fiefdoms are part of the big newspaper collapse.

Sorry to seem so harsh, but I've seen too many slobs ignore this basic civility. They're the same folks who would rag on a staffer who ignored readers' calls or e-mails.

 

[DirtyDeeds]

This isn't a recent phenomena in any industry. I think it's probably gone on for ten or fifteen years.

Applying for a job is like auditioning for a theatre or film part. You go, do your audition and if they want a call back, they'll get in touch; otherwise, you'll hear nothing.

But I agree that in an age of instant communication, even a quick, "Thanks but no thanks" e-mail would be classy

To me, it's a symptom of what too often are lousy people skills of the folks in these managerial positions. Their inability or reluctance to deal with people -- at least those who might be or become their (hate these words) subordinates or underlings -- is a big reason for so much dysfunction in newsrooms. In good times or in horrific times now.

That's an excellent point, Joe.

 

[Tom Petty]

Like I said, if you get a true interview and THEN you don't get called back, that is just ridiculous. And from what I hear, even that happens fairly regularly. But just to say "Hey, I got your stuff"? That's just wishful thinking. In a perfect world, sure, but we all know this is far from a perfect world.

agreed.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

We got so many resumes for our recent opening that my boss would have literally would've taken four hours or more doing callbacks. We are a small shop, so that's a pretty difficult task.

Blanket form e-mail, type all the recipient's addresses in the BCC box, press send.

 

[fossywriter8]

Can't they outsource it India?

 

[gretchd]

I understand why they can't call everyone back, but there's not much I find more depressing than applying for job after job after job and just never hearing back.

Say no if you're going to, but say SOMETHING.

 

[toolsofignorance]

What gets me even more than that is when you take the time, after sending a resume/clips packet and hearing nothing, to contact them and inquire whether they received your stuff and if the position is still open, etc., and you STILL hear nothing. A quick Y/N isn't really THAT hard and time-consuming, is it?

The only place in my three months of searching that I've actually heard back from, apart from the one place I've interviewed with, was a newspaper with an automated "we've received your resume/application" (the process was done online through their site" and then a few days later, another automated "thanks for applying, but we've decided to go with someone else." While I was disappointed, I was glad and THANKFUL to get the email because at least I could cross them off my list.

Funny enough, the only other places I've been able to cross off have been by checking in the Jobs threads here and hearing about the various hiring freezes, and the one or two times someone was actually hired.