Tuesday, July 23 - "Was I Ghosted?"

Good morning!

Here’s what’s on the JD today:

1. A medical company with truly global impact is expanding worldwide.

2. Franklin asks, “It has been a week since my last interview. I have followed up but haven’t heard anything. Was I ghosted?”

IN HIRING

Merck (MSD)

• With 70k employees worldwide, Merck is one of the best pharma names a resume can hold with a wide variety of career paths.

• The company has an interesting job side where they ask you a few questions to see which departments and roles would be a best fit. It’s worth checking out using the link below.

• Here are a few of the most interesting roles available

  • Associate Director, Campaign Development Lead - Click here for full details

  • Project Manager - Click here for full details

  • Manager, Operations - Click here for full details

Click here for the company’s career page

TODAY’S QUESTION

Franklin asks, “It has been a week since my last interview. I have followed up but haven’t heard anything. Was I ghosted?”

After the first few days, you can feel the hope drain from your body as you begin to think they aren’t going to live up to those cultural buzzwords they mentioned in the interview.

Recommendation: A week isn’t game over yet but here is what I recommend in terms of follow up & ghosting:

• First, be real when setting expectations. If the hiring manager has said they will get back to you in a week or two and it’s been 12 minutes, it’s too early to panic.

• Second, if you weren’t given a time horizon, then expect that most teams will get back to the successful candidate within 3 days and within a week at the latest. There are outliers but this is a good general set of expectations.

• Finally, make it part of your process to send a follow up email 4 business days after an interview asking when they will be making a decision, rather than what the decision was. If you do not get a response, assume the position is lost and move on.

  • A final shot in the dark is to reach out to anyone you know at the company or the people who interviewed you and ask if they know when next steps will be made clear. It’s unlikely to help but you may as well try everything available.

Conclusion:

If you don’t hear back after a week and a follow up email, move on. It doesn’t mean the company is terrible but it’s just not worth any more effort.

Get your question answered by replying to this email (or just say hi 😊).