Thanks But No Thanks Signed: The People You Wanted To Work For

Throughout the job hunt we send out countless resumes, go on countless interviews, interview with many people, and hopefully follow up through as many thank you notes for making these connections.  After these thank you notes are sent out all we can do is sit and wait for a response (or we can be that obnoxious person who calls the interviewer to see if they’ve made an answer…but that’s not my style.)

Now that I’ve been on a handful of interviews through this job search I’ve had an e-mail rejection and several “we’ll call you back”s who never actually did.  Today, in the mail I received my first “thanks but no thanks” letter this go around (I’ve gotten them before though).  Just a side note, last go around one of the hiring managers even called me and said they weren’t going to hire me. That had to have been hard to do.   Now, I’ve had this conversation with a handful of friends and family members and the answers vary. Which is better? Waiting by the phone or mail to hear that you didn’t get the job or waiting in vain for weeks waiting for someone never to call you back?

On one hand, most people are good at reading how first impressions go. It’s been estimated that first impressions take less than 5 seconds to make. If you don’t make that “you’re the one” impression for the job right away no matter how stellar your answers are or how stellar your “damage control” thank you note is you probably aren’t going to get the job. So, if you believe that first impression wasn’t perfection then not getting a call back isn’t that big of a deal.

However, being able to check that job off the list is a good thing. Keeping all your ducks in a row is a great thing. The note I got today was short, to the point and said “thanks for interviewing we’ll keep you in our system.”  That’s great to hear. But, really…are you going to call me if you go through all your candidates?

So, in the season of cards and giving I have a thanks but no thanks card on my desk from a company I wanted to work for.  Am I going to keep it? I don’t know. I’m not sure. Sometimes I have to deal with rejection.