Employer Responding to All Applicants?
 

should employers respond to all of their applicants for a specific position?

I have emailed coverletter + resume to many employers where I never recieve any sort of reply. Why can't they just say 'thank you for your interest, we'll let you know as soon as we consider a few candidates for interview?'

I was told by others to do a friendly follow up phone call a week later to see what's up ( i guess just in case it ends up in their junkmail?)

oh and this is for part-time positions for students if it makes a difference

its better to apply in person, emailing for a job is a joke...they aint gonna take you serious
get off your lazy ass and talk to the manager

Some employers don't want people going in person to get info unless the place says otherwise. More often than not I've gotten more results with online e-mails than going in-person.

yeah..the ad said apply by one of the following: e-mail

If you go in and drop off your resume and in the ad they say to fax or e-mail it to them, they'll either put a big note on it saying didn't listen to the ad, put it at the bottom of the pile or toss it out.

There are people who apply in-person for my department all the time, when they hand me their resume, I don't really know what to do with it, so I just toss it into the can. When our job ad specifically asks you to apply by e-mail, please don't do it any other way, it's just annoying.

If it's a corporate job, most often than not, forget doing follow-up calls, or applying in-person, you're just wasting your time.

everyone's job hunting right now
damnit!
my current employer just told he's gonna have 50 interviews this week

why would they waste time replying to people they have on interest for? its more convenient to email 25 people you want to interview, instead of 250 people you don't want to interview.

I would submit my resume the way I was told to (like if the web site said to submit it online, do it online).

Only exception is if I know a friend working there already, I'll give him a printed resume and let him hand it in to his boss or whoever that does the hiring.

I think it would be courteous if employers do reply back to you even if they find you not suited for the position. I took the time to write you a cover letter so please take a minute to tell me you don't think I'm suited for the job. Fuckers.

^ that's what im thinking
and at least you know not to expect anymore news from them instead of just waiting.

and when youve applied for many jobs you lose track of which employers you've contacted

^true

I do the interviews at my place and trust me I get tons of applications. Honestly a lot of them are crap, not saying yours is. Many people have these generic ones that get sent out automatically by some sort of system. I can have the same person sending 3 or 4 different emails for the same job. Each resume is completely different but looking for the same job. For example, they want a receptionist position but they have completely irrelevant skills like they have been driving trucks for years.



Couple tips but I'm sure you know already make it stand out, give them a reason to call you back. Its easier said then done, but I've been sending out a lot of resumes too and no luck. Also if you find that you don't have the specific skills required, try twisting the truth a little.

I work in office now, but before that I worked in a restaurant for like 7 years or so. For skills I put down like time management, organizing and keeping track of stock, correspond with suppliers etc instead of I can de-bone a fish or chicken, I can cook w/e.

Hope that made sense and good luck keep on looking your bound to get hired sooner or later.

Last time I placed an add for two days I had almost 100 people apply, no way I'm contacting every one of them I'd be on the phone all day long since we don't have an HR person. Only contacting those I'm interested in hiring and don't call us we'll call you. I did have this one guy call me and give me such a hard time for not getting back to him. It took me back a bit and even made me laugh, like he was actually scolding me. I'll give him props for being aggressive but seriously that isn't going to help you get a job.

I can speak from experience because I was on the other end of it one time and I made such a stupid error. After fighting my way through 150 applicants it was down to me and this other guy for one position and I was told I'd receive a call within a day and let me know there decision. I didn't hear anything for 3 days so I actually called them and I almost did the exact same thing as the guy I'm talking about did to me I was pretty much thanks for the call back. Then she's like, ya we're still checking references we'll call you back. They called me back later that day and of course I didn't get the job, can't say I blame them like seriously what was I thinking. :) It's only a really colossal mistake if you don't learn from it, I won't be doing that again. Also make sure you're references have daytime phone numbers and are easy to get a hold of, another bone headed mistake made by me that will not be repeated. :)

Why do they need to waste their time and reply to you?
If you don't get a call back within a week, isn't it obvious?

I've been job hunting before. I've sent out over 100 resumes in the past 2 years for 3 different accounting jobs and I know how you feel. But after a while you get used to not getting a reply.
I got a job within 3 weeks of sending out resumes.

^ It just sickens me how someone would say "I'll let you know my decision by (some date)" and then never call. I don't think I have to explain to you how that makes the applicant feel.

haha Pern I am afraid I am going to have to hack you up on this one... at least in the hospitality / food service industry, it is COMPLETELY different than on Vancouver Island.

- 85% of restaurants and clubs that were / are hiring right now want you to apply online, because they are too busy
- I've done several days worth (and 150+) resume walks in Vancouver and some in Surrey, I never received one single call back for an interview, this was over the 2 month period i have live in the GVRD
- I spammed some sites and all of their locations with my resumes when they had apply online buttons, and that resulted in the most amount of call backs (have had 4 call back in the past few days, you saw me take 2 of the calls in the shop during BBQ time lol)
- I just got a new job today from spamming their site with my resume, and of course, owning the interviews (4 of them)
- they never post on usedvancouver, but they do post all of em on craigslist

On the island:

- downtown is so small, you just spend an hour, and you've hit all of them
- you usually get at least 2 call backs
- you usually get a job within a week of looking
- they never post on craigslist for their jobs, but they do post on usedvictoria

This is from my experience breaking into a new towns hospitality industry, and it's not like I don't have experience (5+ years), it should probably be easier if you are a chick, with a decent set of tits.

But to respond to the OP:

I dont think everyone should respond, in my case, someone told me he received 1000 resumes in 2 days, and with no type of auto-response thing set up in his email, he would just wouldnt have the time to send a 'thank-you' to the 1000 people that applied. I have personally been 'thanked' 2 times out of 200, and both of these places I didnt want to work at anyways.