Waiting on a callback from a company that you interviewed with can be painful and nerve-wracking.
And that’s particularly the case when an interviewer said that they would call today, but have not yet.
To that end, this article is going to unpack what it means when an interviewer said they would call today but didn’t. We’ll also cover what to do, and some related questions around interviewers calling job offer candidates.
Contents
What does it mean if an interviewer said they would call today but didn’t?
There are a variety of different things that it could mean if an interviewer said they would call today, but didn’t. Let’s unpack each of them below.
1. There is a delay in the decision process
The first possibility is that there could be a delay in the hiring decision process, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing for your job prospects.
The delay could be for a variety of different reasons:
- The interviewer is waiting on approval for a job offer salary
- The interviewer is waiting on input from all members of the hiring committee
- The interviewer is waiting to talk to all of your job references
- The interviewer is working through unexpected internal dynamics around the requisition
2. The interviewer is out of the office
The interviewer could have had to take an unexpected day off when they were supposed to call you. Maybe they’re out sick, or one of their kids got sick, or something came up.
As someone with young kids, I can tell you that unexpected issues come up frequently that could cause someone to be out of the office for a day or two.
3. The interviewer got busy
The interviewer may miss the day that they committed to call simply because they got busy. There could be an unexpected fire at work that came up, or maybe there were some all day meetings that got scheduled that precluded them from getting back to you.
4. They offered a different candidate
It’s also possible that the company may have made a job offer to a different candidate. They may have expected to hear back from that candidate by the date they committed to communicate with you, but haven’t heard a decision from them yet.
If the company liked you and wants to offer you the job if the other candidate rejects them, they may be waiting to inform you until they hear from the other candidate.
5. You will not be receiving a job offer
Unfortunately, an interviewer not calling back on the day they said they would could be a sign that you won’t be getting a job offer. In fact, a missed deadline on a follow up communication is one of the more common signs that you didn’t get the job.
What to do if an interviewer said they would call today but didn’t
Now, if you’re in a situation where an interviewer said that they would call today but didn’t, the question is what you should do about it. Below we’ll cover the actions that you should take if you don’t get a call from an interviewer when they said they would.
1. Send an email follow up the next day
Once an interviewer has missed the deadline by which they committed to sending you a follow up email, you’re good to follow up with them.
In general, your first follow up should be via email and it should not be done until after they missed the deadline.
Here is sample email content that you can use for a follow up for if an interviewer said that they would call but didn’t:
Hi {Hiring Manager Name},
I hope that you’re doing well.
I’m sending this note to follow up on our last interview and check in on the status of a hiring decision from the team.
During that interview, you had mentioned that you would be reaching out by {yesterday’s date}, and I didn’t see any correspondence so figured that I would send a friendly check in on the status.
Thank you!
{First Name}
Note that Best Fit Work also has a more in-depth post that more generally reviews how long to wait until you should follow up with an interviewer.
2. Make a phone call
After you’ve sent your email, wait a few business days and if you still haven’t heard anything back, it would be appropriate to make a phone call to the interviewer at that point.
Note that a phone call would be an optional step and it would be fine to continue to follow up via email. However, the advantage of the phone call is that you’re following up via a different channel so you may feel like a bit less of a pester.
Also, if you get in touch with someone, you’re likely to get more context on what is causing the delay from an actual conversation than via email.
3. Don’t get discouraged
It’s easy to get discouraged and assume the worst if you don’t hear back from the interviewer on the day that they said that they would call. However, until you’ve heard definitive word from that that you didn’t get the job, you don’t know that you’re out of the running. So remain hopeful and optimistic up to that point.
And even if you don’t end up getting the job, you’re going to face some rejection on your job search. In fact, 98% of all online resume submissions are rejected, and about 50% of full interviews result in rejection. So keep your chin up, keep moving forward, and don’t get discouraged.
4. Continue your job search
Until you’ve received a job offer that you’re ready to accept, you’re want to continue on with your job search. Keep sending out resumes, keep interviewing, and continue on with the process. That’s especially true if the interviewer for an opportunity you were interested in said they would call and didn’t.
Related questions
As you’re waiting for the interviewer to call you about a potential job offer, you may have some related questions that you’re thinking through. A couple of the more common ones are answered below.
What time of day do interviewers normally call?
In general, there is no set time that interviewers most often call candidates. That said, from my experience, you will often receive a call in the middle of the week (Tuesday – Thursday) between mid morning and the end of the day. Note that is not a hard and fast rule, and interviewers may call at different times of day and days of the week, depending upon when a decision has been reached and approval given for the job req.
The most common rule of thumb is that an offer will almost always be made during a work day and during normal working hours.
For additional perspective on common job interviewer call times, UpJourney has a great article.
Do interviewers call rejects?
In general, if you made it to a second or third round interview, you will be notified by the interviewer if you will not be receiving a job offer. However, note that the notification will most commonly come via email, rather than a phone call.
Note that in some cases, you may not be alerted by the interviewer at all. Most commonly, you wont hear from the interviewer if you don’t make it past the initial application review or phone screen phase. However, unfortunately, there are rare cases where you won’t hear back from the company at all, even if you invested a lot of time in the interview process.
Conclusion
There are a variety of reasons why an interviewer may have said that they would call today but didn’t. And it doesn’t necessarily mean that you won’t be getting a job. You can feel free to follow up the day after the missed deadline and continue on in your job search until you hear definitive word from the interviewer as to whether or not you will be receiving a job offer.
