3 Lies By Recruiters And How To Handle Them

By Selipha Kihagi

“I went for an interview three weeks ago and the interviewer told me they would get back to me in two weeks time. Two weeks later without contact, I decided to call and was asked to be patient for a response. As I write to you, I am yet to hear from the company. What does this mean?” Clara writes in an email.

Job applications are tough in themselves and so is the interview process. Recruiters will invite a number of suitably qualified candidates for a position (based on their CVs) to the interview, but will only end up picking one. This means that the remaining number of candidates will not get the jobs and recruiters have to disappoint them with the bad news…or not.

A decision on whom to hire and not hire will almost always be made during the interview, but no recruiter wants to tell a job seeker to their face that they will not get the job. Unless of course you had a really bad attitude that couldn’t go unmentioned.

Not wanting to crush the job seeker’s feelings at face value, recruiters end up coating the truth with a few lies and half-truths.

Here are some lies that recruiters tell

1. We will let you know in 2 weeks if you got the job
If the recruiter or interviewer is certain that you are the right person for the job, they will offer you the job either during the interview or as soon as possible. This is because they know you are applying to other jobs and could get another offer – no employer wants to risk this.

So, like Clara’s situation, chances are they picked somebody else for the position or you are their plan B. Make a phone call to the recruiting manager to confirm and if they ask you to wait, don’t keep your job search on hold. Keep searching for other opportunities.

2. We will consider you for open positions in the future
While this could be true at the time the recruiter says it, if you did not leave a long standing impression during the interview you should not expect the recruiter to call you. With numerous applications to consider and candidates to interview, recruiters may not remember you for a similar position in the next month.

To make sure you are considered, keep tabs with the company for their open jobs and when you see one, contact the recruitment manager and remind them to consider you. But always make a fresh application, your CV may not be found in the employer’s database.

3. We really like you for the position but are not done with the interviews
As mentioned in point number 1, this is usually more of a stalling tactic. If you are told this during the interview or when you call for a follow up, don’t stay by the phone waiting for when they are done with interviews. At this point, the employer will probably have made an offer to another candidate and are waiting for their response.

When you hear this, avoid keeping your job search on hold because you have high hopes that you’ll get the job. Instead, keep making other applications until you get an offer letter.

Recruiters may say various things to candidates because they do not want to hurt your feelings or as a tactic to their advantage. So, until you have received an offer letter in your email or been asked to report to work – in those very words – don’t assume you got the job.

Suspect you were told a lie in your last interview? Share with us in the comments section.

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8 Comments

  1. My question

    I went for an interview and along the way one of the interviewers told me what I thought about being over-qualified for the job. I met the requirements for the job as they had stipulated in the advert. I have always wondered what did they take into consideration to declare I was over-qualified or was it another way of saying ‘I was not successful’? As HR experts what constitutes ‘over-qualification’? Thank you.

  2. i have applied for many openings and qualify for many job descriptions.i am fifty years old.how do i deal with age factor

  3. An insightful article. since March of this year i have attended several interviews and all seemed positive during the interviewing session. In some instances I was even asked,” when do you think you will take up your new role?”this gave me a false impression that i have got the job.I have also been told” we shall contact you in two weeks time’ which never happened until i lost hope but now i shall be smarter in my job search.

  4. Thanks so so much for the feedback, at least am learning that most interview if not all, feedback is given within a period of a month.

    However I have decided to book an appointment with the recruitment manager, so that I can get to not only know the exact answer but also know where the interview I went wrong in case it was unsuccessful.

    Hope this shall be a networking exercise with the recruitment manager in case of future opportunities.

    Kindly advice.

    Kind regards
    Arthur Owino

  5. Hi Arthur,

    One month is a long time to wait for feedback. However, before concluding it was unsuccessful, (some companies do take their time in the hiring process) make a follow up by phone to know for sure.

    If you still don’t get a concrete answer, move along with your job search and if the client ever finally responds and want to hire you, then good for you. But don’t let it tie you from applying to other jobs.

  6. very very educative. small comments that we have never put much thought into. now we know what to look out for.

    thank you

  7. This case study is like it was specifically targeted to me because it is just recently that I applied for a job, was Invited for the first interview.

    After the interview I was told they shall get back to me within a weeks time.

    After two weeks l made a follow-up through email but there was no response,I decided to make a phone call to speak to the contact person.

    Was told that my first interview was successful, but their client is yet to respond due to some protocol issues.

    It’s a month now and am yet to receive any communication regarding the interview.

    Kindly advice if I should make a follow-up or consider that interview unsuccessful.

    Looking forward to hearing from you soon.

    Kind regards
    Arthur Owino

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