Haven’t heard back yet?

You have had your first interview for a position you are keen to get, and thought it went well.  However the employer has not come back to you, even though its past the deadline they promised…  What do I do? 
 
Deal Breakers
 
Hopefully you haven’t presented them a ‘deal breaker’, ensuring you won’t get a job offer. A JazzHR survey found what hiring professionals say will kill any chance of progressing further.  The top two deal-breakers were even: 90% of respondents stated they wouldn’t hire someone who lied on their CV or answered their mobile phone during the interview.
 
Bad-mouthing previous employers killed 81% of the chance of a candidate getting a role, while 76% of employers wouldn’t hire someone they considered arrogant. 
 
As well as this, a CareerBuilder survey found that 57% of employers found content online that would cause them not to hire a candidate.  These examples included:

• Provocative or inappropriate photographs, videos or information: 40 percent
• Drinking inappropriately or using drugs: 36 percent
• Discriminatory comments related to race, gender, religion, etc.: 31 percent
• Linked to criminal behaviour: 30 percent
• Lied about qualifications: 27 percent
• Poor communication skills: 27 percent

 
Still okay
 
If you haven’t committed any of the above career or social media sins, there are a number of reasons why the recruiter or employer has not come back to you yet, not just that you don’t have the job.
 
A good friend of mine was promised by a recruiter that she would receive a call to organise a second interview by the end of Wednesday.  When the recruiter hadn’t contacted them by the end of the day, my friend phoned their voicemail and left a very blunt and rude message, telling them off in no uncertain terms.  Sadly the reason the recruiter had not come back to her by the agreed time, was that she had had a car accident, and was currently in hospital.  Suffice it to say that when the recruiter returned to work early the following week, they chose not to take my friend through to the next stage.
 
Can I contact them?
 
Personally I suggest if you have not heard from an employer by the agreed time, don’t take it personally, and follow up the following day with a pleasant and professional email or phone call.  Sometimes hiring decisions are delayed for a day or two for an almost infinite amount of reasons, so showing an engaging, confident and proactive approach is usually considered a positive in the mind of the employer.
 
One major issue for many people is that they stop their job hunt, confident that they have got the job ‘in the bag’.   Unfortunately this may not be the case, so always ensure you have plenty of ‘irons in the fire’, or you could miss out on some great opportunities elsewhere.