TIRED OF THE CV ‘TUMBLEWEED’ MOMENT? TELL US ABOUT IT
Most graduates have experienced the ‘CV black hole’ and ‘tumbleweed moment’ – when you spend hours on a job application and then never hear back. But which employer is the worst when it comes to ignoring job applications?
Graduate Fog wants to make it the norm for ALL employers to respond to EVERY job application. Even if it’s just a one-line email saying “Thanks – but no thanks,” we think it’s the very least that diligent young job-seekers deserve. Especially when many employers demand that candidates fill in lengthy application forms and complete labour-intensive selection tasks.
Thankfully, a growing number of employers are now replying to all applications – but we still need to put more pressure on those that don’t to change their policy, update their systems and start showing candidates the respect and courtesy that you deserve.
But to do this, we need YOUR help. We want to know… Have you ever applied for a job and not heard back? Who was the employer? What had they asked you to do, and how long did you spend on the application?
We’re particularly keen to hear about big or famous organisations that don’t reply, or just say “If you haven’t heard from us by [a certain date], you have been unsuccessful.” (So rude!) We’d also like to know how their failure to respond made you feel and whether you shared your disappointment with friends and family. Also, if the employer is a consumer brand, has the experience made you less likely to buy their products or services in the future?
Please post your story below, or contact us privately if you prefer. Thank you!
Happens most of the time. It’s become a norm and you keep hearing generic reasons on numerous occasions. No wonder so many graduates are fed up
Fantastic idea – I don’t need to say anything more
The vast majority of them get blanked.
Once candidates secure more experience, they will appreciate that the majority of employers and agencies invite candidates to a) apriorily assume automatic failure from the ouset unless notified to the contrary, and b) be wary of canvassing lest their application be withdrawn.
Why on earth spend hours on any application ….with automated processing of CV’s by AI, if an AI is going to reject a candidate on the grounds of age, gender, ethnicity, attending a Russel Group University (as opposed to Former Polytechnic), the AI will reach a decision within a matter of milliseconds, and automatically send a rejection email.
If the employer is going to receive 1000 CV’s or Applications for a single job, why on earth would the employer waste any time, spending hours per application, simply to invite 20 candidates to an interview.
I normally offer the employer a reciprocal degree of commitment…waste 20 seconds per application, and move on.
It’s always worth getting your CV out there – all the jobs I’ve got have been down to the manpower shortfall overcoming the ludicrously long list of perfect educational qualifications… At the end of the day someone always has to do the work.
I have to say I never apply for jobs that stipulate Russell Group Universities and I went to one – if you’re an intellectual snob fair enough but you should at least be ashamed of the fact.
I applied for an engineering role a few weeks ago. It was through the stem graduates website which is suppost to guarentee a reply. I haven’t heard a thing from them. I applied for another role on there, and also applied for it on the REED website. Again, no reply. The only company who have got back to me have been GCHQ to check some of my details, but with interviews in March I still haven’t had an outcome from them.
I only get replies from volunteer roles. Actually I tell a lie – NEXT contacted me in January… to say I had been unsuccessful for a Christmas role. To be fair they did say they had been inundated with applications.
Hi all,
Sorry to hear so many of you have had a disappointing experience with employers failing to respond to your applications. Let’s hope the campaign I have in mind will ‘persuade’ them to do better in future?
@Richard I’d be interested to hear more about your experience with Next. How long did the application take you, what were you asked to do for it, and do you still have the (dated?) letter / email from them saying you’d been unsuccessful? It sounds like a really good example of the sort of thing I’m talking about.
Has anyone else had a bad experience like this with a big-name employer? Post here or email me directly through the Contact Graduate Fog page http://bit.ly/duLICY
Thanks!
Tanya
Hi Tanya,
I spent around 45 minutes on the application as I wanted to make sure it was right. It could be done in 20.
One section was analysing text, another was on percentages and the last was a set of role play questions. The NEXT application was easy. I also did one for M&S which was far worse with long, drawn out role play videos.
I will check if I still have the email.
Thanks
Thanks Richard. What was the Next job? And did M&S reply (and, again, what was the job)?
For me, the absolute worst people when it comes to ‘blanking’ applications are recruitment agencies and consultancies. If you submit your CV through the company’s submission portal, you often get an automated ‘if you don’t hear from us within 5 days assume you have been unsuccessful’ response. Alternatively, you can call the consultant to discuss the opportunity and after a long winded call discussing your CV and the job opportunity in question they say they will send your CV to the Hiring Manager and then you hear absolutely nothing and just give up.
Because I want to be a town planner where work is either in the private sector or at local authorities, I have submitted several applications to local authorities who have generally been ‘saints’ when it comes to responding to applications. I have had a high response rate regardless of whether or not it’s an invite to interview or a rejection. In fact, some graduate recruiters in local government give you the chance to log in and track the progress of your application. The Your Council Jobs site where local government employers in Greater Manchester advertise vacancies and through which applications are submitted is very good at informing you on application outcomes. Not once have I received a ‘if you haven’t heard from us within xx days, assume you’ve been unsuccessful’ message through this site.
Hi Tanya,
I applied to be a Christmas temp / whipping boy. Ditto for M&S. I don’t think they replied actually.
I feel different to a lot of people on here. I don’t know what I want to do for a career. I spend more time looking at courses and running away to travel.
@ Richard – thanks for this info. Did you manage to find the reply from Next?
Tanya, it has been deleted unfortunately. From memory it was just a standard copypasta email. At least they actually sent one. “stemgraduates” and “Reed” hardly ever reply. They work through recruitment consultants which ruin everything.
@Richard – Oh no, that’s really disappointing! If you find it, let me know 🙂
Anyone else have any horror stories?
I’ve found a lack of response at all to be the norm unfortunately.
I recently applied to a few jobs with general admin roles and in the NHS and apart from an acknowledgement that they received the application there tends to be radio silence on the other end.
Two of them asked for a handwritten cover letter and application by post which seems very outdated which is also frustrating after spending a lot of time and money I don’t have filling everything in by hand and posting, and to not even have an automated reply that I wasn’t successful feels at times discourteous and rude.
@ Jen
I worked in NHS admin before I went to uni and I wouldn’t do it again given a choice. You get treated like a slave and take the blame for minimum wage. Absolutely no progression and the office manager would monitor us like a hawk whilst the social workers got to swan about and take flexi whenever they liked! The environment was unbalanced and unfair.
I’m at the stage where I don’t know how high (or low) to set my abmitions. Just now I was reading about a guy with my degree who is on 30k for 4 days work AND he has a patchy work history. How does that work then? I think it’s time to speculative CVs.