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Kristen Fife
Kristen Fife
🏳️🌈Senior Recruiter (Startup->SMB->Enterprise Global F50->500 exp) - Career Strategist| Freelance Writer/Author (check out my articles!) 🥥🌴Looking for nurses! (No 3rd parties)
Published Dec 6, 2022
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A lot of job seekers ask how long they should wait to hear back from an organization after applying to assume they are not moving forward. Let’s unpack this a bit. Assuming you are a high-factor match (as in you meet ~80%+ of the qualifications IF the emoloyer is not OFCCP compliant in the US)
1) Timing is crucial. The longer a job has been open when you apply, the less likely it is that you will be in consideration. Think about it: If I open a job on December 16 and get 245 applicants in 3 days, 8 of which are strong, I will get them into process ASAP. I am going to stagger my efforts from that point forward. I will still evaluate/consider new applicants, but until I “thin” the first batch I am going to slow walk the next few applicants.
2) If you were on a dating app, how long would you wait after messaging someone with no response would you wait? A week? Two? You are worth more than that; if the other party isn’t willing to invest in you, they aren’t worth YOUR efforts.
3) How rare is your skill set? Look at the rule of supply and demand…I am one of tens of thousands of recruiters. I have a breadth of experience that many of my peers don’t, but I am under no illusions as to being “special”, especially now with so MANY really amazing industry peers on the market. If I had a MS in Mechanical Engineering and 7 years in satellite communications? You can bet my buddy Amy Miller as well as her competitors at Starlink, EchoSat, and Swarm would be salivating at my application.
4) Fiscal factors: did the particular employer just release quarterly/year end earnings? Were they positive or poor? Is it the beginning, middle, or end of their fiscal year? This directly relates to budgets. There is generally more money when: the fiscal year starts (and that could also hold true with money the month BEFORE their fiscal year ends). When does the company pay out bonuses and what is their promotional cycle? Employees tend to leave AFTER those times, meaning more position backfills open up. How successful is the project/product? AWS is Amazon's cash cow, so it's a safe assumption roles in AWS that are posted are more stable than a VR designer role at Meta these days. Supporting roles (marketing, HR, administrative, customer support) are more likely to be on the chopping block. Look at how many tech recruiters and mortgage underwriters/processors are #OpenToWork here on LinkedIn.
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5) Has there been turnover on the specific employer's recruiting team? It could be layoffs or just attrition. Even with a smooth transition, there may be candidates that have fallen through the cracks. Often one recruiter will "babysit" a departing team members openings on top of their own workload, and depending on how long it takes to back fill the role, that could be a recruiting doing double duty. It generally takes a few weeks for a new recruiter to get ramped up - which means that there could be a significant lag in the transition and applicants may be left in limbo for a bit while a new recruiter learns the actual jobs' requirements. (You can easily identify this transition by using the company filters with "past" title of recruiter and if there is a new opening on the careers page.)
6) Has this employer been in the news/media lately, such as a "100 best places to work" list? Are they offering remote work? Are they in a "hot" industry, or in times of uncertainty like this a highly stable industry (ie finance)? Are they in some sort of exit process (M & A, IPO pending)? All of these increase desirability as a place to work. This time last year, Twitter was a highly desirable company to work for. I was super excited to get an offer, and I declined 6 other offers to work there in February. Look at them now - they are imploding.
In conclusion, I would say 2 - 3 weeks is a *generally* reasonable barometer. There will always be additional factors and outliers, but if you not heard from an employer regarding an application (other than an automated "thanks for your application"), it is probably a safe assumption that you are not a top pick. As any coach OR recruiter will tell you: until you have an offer (or offers) in writing, "ABL - always be looking" should be your job search philosophy.
And for goodness sakes, please don't "fall in love" with a job you haven't even interviewed for. That is like planning your wedding based on reading a profile on a dating app without even having a date. Remember: just because YOU think you are perfect, that doesn't necessitate the return of your affections. #JobSearch #ATS #resume #JobSeekerGuardians
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Cassandra Shelley PHR, CTR, CDR, CSMR
Senior Technical Recruiter @ Ford | Professional Stalker 🔍 | Purple Squirrel & Glitter Unicorn Hunter 🦄 | Autism and IDF Advocate 🧩| Coffee Addict ☕️| Trail Nerd🏃🏻♀️| Adventure Seeker🚵♀️
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Deborah Bosher Vouaux
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Vicki Cain, MBA
Customer Success Manager l I enable your customers to achieve their ROI goals by leveraging expert strategies, technical know-how, and effective relationships.
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ABL - always be looking - good advise. Thanks for the reminder Kristen Fife (she/her)
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Yvonne Robinson-Jackson, MBA Awarded Ottawa’s Best Career Coach
💎LinkedIn Top Voice | Leadership & Career Coach | Keynote Speaker | Workshop Facilitator | Professional Branding | Outplacement Services | Career Transition & Promotion | Job Search | Interview Prep | Salary Negotiation
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Kristen Fife (she/her) This is great information. I usually give the 2 weeks rule of thumb. We are in total alignment on this. I also like the idea of ABL = Always be looking. You don't have the job until you get the UN and PW. Love that suggestion from Robert. I have a YouTube Video that many people have used to find jobs on LinkedIn. Imagine I created it in the pandemic and it has helped dozens of people. Visit here ⬇ How to Find Jobs Using LinkedInhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiAtZXhtyac&t=20s
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Robert R.
CISOinTraining/ Advisor/ NIST & DoD RMF problem solver
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This and even after the interview "As any coach OR recruiter will tell you: until you have an offer (or offers)in writing, "ABL - always be looking" should be your job search philosophy." Note that offers can also fall through (onboarding is a good sign you made it). Helps to have a plan with short/long term methods: easy apply first/save the time-consuming applications last, periodic resume updates, continued training, and networking.
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Tim Johnson
Senior specialist Infrastructure Solutions Aerojet Rocketdyne/ Dynamic team builder
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This is great especially for the folks that have no reserves to go a couple months and need a job right away and Don’t want to commit to a job because they feel they should wait on another they really want. Lots of job seakers have FOMO and it can almost be debilitating. Thank you for sharing.
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