Silence Isn't Always Golden

(Est. Reading Time: 3 min)     

Have you ever done a test, like the kind of test that could change your life, and you don't get the results back for several days?

Job hunting is like that, repeated weekly. You spend all week doing applications, interviews, studying, practicing, putting on the best performances while stressed out of your mind, and then pause on the weekend. And when you need a job, badly, and you don't want to stop working toward getting one, you've got to remember it's not a solo exercise.

Not all silence is bad though. Glass half full, think of silence as not receiving a rejection email. It's still possible. They could still be moving forward with your candidacy. They might be still thinking about you, trying to get the stars aligned for you and the process they have for you. None of that is bad.

That kind of "good" silence is still bad, though. Oh, the contradiction of it all! We know the obvious reasons why silence is bad: ghosted, they don't prioritize you because they are going to reject you, or your application got filtered into oblivion without a human ever seeing it because of mysterious key words. But that good silence is also bad, because you don't know if it's good silence yet.

As a job seeker, what can you do about it? First, make sure you are communicating, preferably during their business hours, with positive tone, and simple messaging. Send a post-interview follow up saying how you enjoyed it and that you look forward to the next step. Don't let more than a business day or two pass before saying anything if they do not meet a deadline they expressed. Put yourself in their shoes, and what would you consider annoying, and don't do that. After all that, the only thing you have left to do, is wait.

What if you are on the hiring team? Communicate clearly, and use at least two forms of communication when possible. Send an email and call. Shoot them a message on LinkedIn and an email. Keep that dialog open. Even if you are overwhelmed by potential candidates, an occasional status email can go a long way. Most importantly, honor commitments about the process. Don't send a candidate an email saying they "made it to the next/final interview" and then wait 2 or 3 weeks to unexpectedly reject them without warning.

Most importantly, let's not forget how this world is trying its best to adapt to the new ways of scamming and fraudulent shenanigans in the job markets using AI and other tactics. Humans are still at the end of every real message out there. Despite the dehumanizing reality of things like social media, businesses requires cooperation and communication to succeed. If you can't seem to hire good people, you might not be letting yourself see that there are actual good people frantically trying to prove how good they are to you. These good people are losing to the new systems being implemented to counter the very realistic AI-using scammers and fraudsters.

That next email might just be a simple followup to you, but it could be drastically important for the other person's future, or even just their short-term well being. Silence disrupts resolution.