I’d like to share something that I believe many people in our community can relate to.
Baruch Hashem, Lakewood has become a place with countless businesses, organizations, and opportunities. Many people are looking for work, and many business owners are looking to hire. But there’s one part of the hiring process that seems to be disappearing—common courtesy.
People spend hours updating their resumes, preparing for interviews, taking time away from their families, and traveling to meetings. They walk out of an interview hopeful, sometimes even feeling it went very well. Then they wait… and wait… and never hear another word.
No one expects every interview to end with a job offer. We all understand that employers have to make difficult decisions and choose the person they believe is the best fit. But is it really too much to ask for a quick phone call, text, or email saying, “Thank you for your time, but we’ve decided to move in another direction”?
In our community, we pride ourselves on treating people with respect. We help each other with chesed, we care about our neighbors, and we try to act with derech eretz. That same derech eretz shouldn’t stop at the office door.
Many of the people interviewing are supporting families, paying mortgages, covering tuition, and trying to make an honest living. Being left without any response isn’t just frustrating—it can be painful. It leaves people wondering if they should keep waiting, if they did something wrong, or if they were simply forgotten.
The same goes for recruiters. Their job is to connect people with opportunities. Even if the answer isn’t what the candidate was hoping for, keeping them informed shows professionalism and respect.
A two-minute phone call or a short email won’t change the hiring decision, but it can make a world of difference to the person on the other end.
Hopefully, this small reminder encourages all of us—business owners, hiring managers, and recruiters alike—to remember that behind every résumé is a fellow Yid trying to support a family with dignity. Sometimes, the greatest Kiddush Hashem isn’t a grand gesture. It’s simply treating another person with the respect and consideration they deserve.
Sincerely,
A Fellow Community Member
Thanks for bringing it up
Very relatable
This problem starts at the very beginning when answering an ad and getting no response
Very True!
Agreed 100% every applicant deserves a quick response. Many have walked a mile in your shoes.
There is one factor you are overlooking. As a corporate director, I really don’t want a great candidate to be picked up by a competitor. I will do everything I can to hire the candidate, even if it means creating another opening to get the candidate involved and highlighting their expertise. This entails budgetary approval which may be delayed by others schedules. A delayed response might actually be hopeful. You can always email your continued interest in the position, which might just be what takes you across the finish line.
Every interview ends with asking the candidate if they have any questions. That is a great opportunity to ask point blank…can you please give me a timeline of when you will have a hiring decision. A company can always bypass parts of the ‘hiring process’ for the ideal candidate. If the answer is, we are just starting the process, that is usually a polite way of saying you aren’t being hired.
Someone I know with a master’s degree in education looking for a job, sent at least 10-15 resumes in the past month and received a grand total of 1 reply.
Most schools feel the applicant is way overqualified. They don’t want to pay for a Master’s, if you find another qualified cheaper option.
this is absolutely true, I have applied to many places and maybe one or two have responded. even if you feel I wont be good fit, how hard is it to just say no and not leave the person hanging? besides being hurtful, it is extremely unprofessional and reflects very poorly on the business.
I recently interviewed with a company, they made me sit through a 3 hour interview meeting about 7 different people, And then told me they’ll get back to me. I never heard a word from them.
Sounds like the experience I had a number of years back, when I took my fine son to numerous out-of-town Yeshivos for a farher to get into mesivta. Some of them never got back to us. One of them even made my son come and stay for a Shabbos, which I drove him erev Shabbos which was quite a distance, and never heard back from them. After getting the runaround, I kept calling until I managed to get a member of the hanhala on the phone who then told me, no the Yeshiva is not for him. It left a very bad taste in my mouth and a lessoning of respect for that particular mosad. What, am I not a mensch? BH, in the end he stayed on in the Yeshiva he was in for mesivta and he shteiged tremendously. But to your point, yes, looking for a job or Yeshiva or a shidduch, etc fellow Yidden should be treated with respect and dignity. A return call or email, one way or the other, is to be expected.
Yes this is a big problem. I’ve been in and out of jobs for the last couple of years trying to find the right career and I’ve not only applied to hundreds of jobs but have had interviews with a lot of places and very few get back to you with an answer, unless you follow up and not even then necessarily.
Yes it would be common decency to send an email or a text in order not to leave the person hanging.
Besides HR is not going to spend time on that it opens businesses up to lawsuits.
As an HR guy, not hearing back after a week or two is rarely a good sign.
And while on this topic if I can mention something else that’s been bothering me for a very long time and while it’s not exactly the same point as the letter writer is making, however they both speak to a similar common problem. I’m referring to online raffles. There is almost not a day that some organization, school or tzedakah etc. has a raffle going on, and in many cases these raffles are to benefit our own community and so people respond more, and yet very rarely do we get to learn if the raffle was even drawn , much less who the winner is. We all would like to be that lucky winner but even if we didn’t get that phone call, most of us would be very happy to know that someone actually won and maybe that someone is someone that we know. I think it’s about time that these mosdos and organizations post the name of the person that won or initials if the person gave only their initials. I could name several raffles that I gave in the past and have no idea if it was ever drawn.
Thank you for your attention to this matter..
G-D For Bit! What are you talking about! They always give what advertised. One of my daughters won an entire house of furniture from an organization. I recently won a $2,000 gift certificate to a Local Jewelry store from my grandson’s yeshiva. I told my wife to go buy herself some jewelry from that store using our credit card thus I feel like donating that certificate back to the yeshiva. My son in law said No for some reasons, he said just take it and enjoy it. So my wife picked out a beautiful latest style necklace for $3,800 of which I added $1,800 for it.
Sometimes the interviewing and hiring process takes a long time – to find an appropriate pool of candidates, to meet the right people in the company and internal consensus on a decision to make an offer. Sometimes your status isn’t known until you are compared with those other applicants. Sometimes the company can’t find other people to interview — maybe you were “ok” but they feel a need to keep looking. They are undecided. Sometimes people think silence is better than telling a candidate “not sure about you.” I don’t believe people are trying to be rude.
It’s also best if you send a thank you email right after your interview and then follow up with a short email asking about status at 7-10 days and again at the 3 week mark.
Yes. I know how it feels. I’ve been through it. Back in 1980 I was a 19 year old Bachur of which I completed a 2 year college program to be a semi-professional. So I begun looking for a job in that field. I checked the NY times daily of which 10’s were listed; I took the subway to manhattan, downtown Brooklyn, queens etc. It was an aggravating nightmare:
The frum practice’s said: “ we’re busy now! Come back Wednesday, & than come back , come back” .
The Not frum practice’s: Sat me down and gave me a shmuez: “ go get a job first, go work for free and get some experience, than come back” so I answered, “ but I was top in my class, I’m very good” so they answered: “ yea yea we know we know” etc.
The Non Jewish practices told me:” we’re going to call you “ so I answered “when” and they responded “ “ we are going to call you. We’re going to call you” they called me like a luch in kuhp.
Than I finally found in a job in Bay Ridge by a 50 year old yid whom bought a franchise and was struggling with it, his Russian worker got paid minimum wage and left ; that 50 year old yid davened Veseekin 7 days a week and opened the store on Shabbos after davening. So I told him just pay me what you can and when you can and I worked hard and did beautiful work for him, his business begun improving so the company than took it back from him and shmatuhd me for not working on Shabbos, so I quit and started my own business, I got married etc
I was so angry at that field of how they acted to me when I looked for a job. So in my own business, I worked very hard and for less than half the amount that the others worked for, I provided all products and services. Very very cheap.. It was ruff at first; But after about two years, I’ve begun seeing profits and it grew for years thus I became wealthy from it.
baruch HaShem.
Calm down kubby.
Such a well written letter with excellent points.
It’s funny seeing so many downvotes on the posts suggesting sending a Thank You follow-up email. What’s so bad being a mentch?
Why can’t the job applications come back? It would be easier for everyone else
Yes so true most people do not reply ANOTHER big issue is most businesses pay for multiple weeks of advertising wich is prob easer for them but also causes them to get a lot of resumes wich they don’t feel like replying to after the already found a candidate
How come you never post my comments
Because we don’t have to.
All good points. I suppose that being told “we’re really looking for someone younger” can be added to the mix. Yes, I was told that.
As a business owner, I can tell you this works both ways. Do you know how often people don’t show up for scheduled interviews?
Most times I schedule someone to come in it means that multiple members of my organization must clear their calendars for that time. And then the interviewee is a no show. And they don’t respond to a call, email or text. Just gone.