What happens if you’ve been told you’re going to get the phone interview but then nothing happens?
They don’t say they changed their mind about you–they ju
st tell you it’s on hold and then you don’t hear anything more.
This happened to a real job candidate–a recruiter called to tell him about the job, submitted his resume, set up the phone interview, and gave him the name of the company and the manager. The next thing the candidate knew, the recruiter called back to say that he wasn’t going to get to do the phone interview because everything was on hold, but he would be in touch. After more than a week with no phone call, the candidate asked me for help. (I do individual career coaching.)
The solution:
If something like this happens to you, you should contact the hiring manager yourself. If the recruiter has already submitted you to the company, and you approach the company in a VERY professional way, I don’t think a recruiter would be upset by that. I know I certainly wouldn’t be. If you’re that far along in the process, it’s not a shot in the dark for you to contact them. They liked you enough to get this far.
If you write a nice note to the hiring manager on LinkedIn (who you can find because you have his name), saying something along the lines of, “So-and-so submitted my resume for such-and-such opportunity and I’m so excited about it. I know we’re on hold right now for the phone interview, but I just wanted to let you know that it looks like a position I could really excel at, and where I could provide some value for you and I’d like to chat with you about it as soon as possible.”
It’s polite and professional, but shows positive qualities like determination, enthusiasm, and follow-through that will almost certainly get the attention of a hiring manager.
(If you need a solution to some situation like this, contact me for individual career coaching.)