Companies don't benefit from sending out rejection letters unless they think they may want to hire someone they previously rejected. There is also the potential for legal liability if they say something. That on top of the time it would take an already super-busy person to send emails to all the candidates means that many companies don't bother.
Ask HN: Why do tech interview recruiters not reject me
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Re: Ask HN: Why do tech interview recruiters not reject me
#12In my experience:
1. You apply, you do okay. Let's call you applicant A.
2. Company has found someone else they want more, so they start moving forward with that person (applicant B).
3. Recruiter knows that that applicant B might reject their offer or take a different gig, so he doesn't tell you (applicant A) any of this. He waits until things are 100% finalized between the company and applicant B before he gets back to you at all.
4. In some cases, after a month of silence, he comes back and says "they're ready to hire you" (because Applicant B turned them down), or he'll say "they just hired someone else", or he'll forget to respond to you entirely.
Moral of the story: Just keep moving, keep interviewing elsewhere. If they get back to you someday, great. If they don't, no sweat.
Re: Ask HN: Why do tech interview recruiters not reject me
#13After interviewing enough, my conclusion has been to not get so enamored with a particular company. It is just like falling in love with a particular university, or a particular person on first sight - irrational, and usually ends up with dashed hopes & missed opportunities from being too single-minded (and even lower pay).
I have had this experience with big and small companies - one big company gave the silent treatment during salary negotiations. Some smaller companies have lost track of the process at various stages. My approach now is to just mentally tally the companies I am interviewing with and if one falls on the wayside, I keep it in mind as negative signal for any future interaction with anyone with an association with the company - the strength of the signal depends on the size of the company (the larger, the smaller weight) and the nature of the problem.
Re: Ask HN: Why do tech interview recruiters not reject me
#14As a hiring manager in a large company, I can tell you that most of the people you are interviewing with aren't being actively rude, they are overwhelmed. If I took the time to contact all the people I passed on to give them an explanation, it would consume more time than I can afford. The people making the decision to hire are - usually - the ones with the most to do. The safest bet is to consider any lack of commun…
> If I took the time to contact all the people I passed on to give them an explanation, it would consume more time than I can afford.
Maybe so, but a mail merge to say something to the effect of,
'Dear X,
Thankyou for taking the time to interview. On this occassion another candidate was a better fit, but we invite you to reapply if you see something you like in the future and wish you the best of luck finding suitable employment.
Kind regards, Y'
Takes a few minutes.