Why Haven't You Been Called for an Interview Yet?
Published May 22, 2009 @ 12:16PM PT
It's Friday, the end of the week, and your phone is as silent as an empty library. If you're a young professional that's been job hunting since Monday, and no one has contacted you yet, you may be feeling a little frustrated. Maybe you applied for several jobs that were perfect for you. You thought they were a slam dunk. Shoot, they'd be lucky to have you work for their nonprofit! Maybe so, but you have to maintain a little patience here. Especially in the beginning stages of your nonprofit job search, it's important not to get discouraged. There may be several reasons the organization hasn't gotten back to you yet.
The deadline to apply hasn't passed. Many job ads have a date by which they would like all applicants to apply. Some organizations wait until the end of that timeframe to begin contacting candidates for interviews after they've compared you against other applicants.
The organization is still sorting through the hundreds of applications they received. This is why it's often an advantage to apply on the very first day a job opening is posted so your resume is at the top of the pile.
They're just not that into you. This is harsh, but true. Maybe the hiring manager just didn't see how fabulous you were by looking at your resume. Yours may have gotten tossed because they didn't think you'd be a good fit or your qualifications didn't match up. You like the organization, but they don't like you. Whatever the reason, the feeling just isn't mutual.
If it makes you feel better, go ahead and give the contact person a call to check the status of your application. After that, move on. Keep searching until you find an organization that represents a cause you care about and can appreciate your unique talents.
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Comments (2)
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Author
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Rosetta is a blogger, fundraiser, and leadership development consultant who currently serves as the Director of Development and Special Programs at the Nonprofit Roundtable of Greater Washington.
This is right on Rosetta and it's so difficult to be patient when job seeking.
Posted by Erin O'Connor Jones on 05/25/2009 @ 07:50PM PT
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I agree with you on this as well, but I also think that job hunters learn to be helpless, because in their experience there is little correlation between their traditional job hunting efforts and whether they win a job. So they become one of millions of people who helplessly repeat unprofitable behavior, just hoping the employer will call them back with a job offer.
I am very guilty of this myself and I am working on it but I have recognized that most people get extremely frustrated if they aren't out there interviewing and sending out a million resumes. They relinquish their control in interviews, and they wonder why they didn't get an offer or no one has called them.
I have been repeatedly told that if you don't expend the effort necessary to identify where you want to go, you will never get there. I hear it over and over again. If job hunters don't select interviews with nonprofits you really care about carefully, you can be certain that you won't really know enough about a job to even be talking intelligently about it, much less demonstrate how well you can get the job done. When you think you aced the interview, the employer is still not convinced that you can the job they need done. Why would anyone offer you the job? Why would YOU even want it? You get what you put in: nothing. It is simple. Do nothing, gain nothing. I am working every day to master the power I have by finding organizations with missions I care about and applying my skills to the work they need done.
Posted by Jonathon Carrington on 05/26/2009 @ 07:53AM PT
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