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Hospital Recruiter Interview Limbo--is this typical?


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Hello fellow PAs!

I am a new grad that is going through the wonderful agony of first job hunting and I would love your input on my situation.

I had a series of interviews, the position I am most interested in is with a large hospital.  I had the initial phone interview 3 weeks ago with a recruiter which I felt went very well and I was told to follow up in a week.  I followed up and received a reply stating that some key players are out of the office due to the flu but they will be in touch shortly.  It's been roughly 2 weeks from that correspondence and I sent another follow up yesterday with no response yet.  Humorously, I joked with numerous friends that job hunting is like online dating with the unsettling feeling of being lead on/ghosted on. 

I guess my question is, what is the typical time frame for a large organization to go through the interview process and extend an offer?  I am still applying and have some more interviews coming up, but it's difficult to fully let this great position go or not over analyze the waiting in between.

Thank you for all your help!

 

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Most hospitals have recruiters that are basically "screeners." Their interviews are to weed out the crazies. Ultimately the decision to do a real interview with you lies with the department you are applying for. I would continue to be patient though because application process, interview process, hiring process, credentialing process, etc. takes forever at most large institutions. It's about a 2 to 3 month process from application to start date at large hospitals and can even go longer if you don't have all of your stuff together (license, DEA, etc.)

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It can take a long time. It depends on where in the hiring/interview process they were when your application popped up (and also how competitive an applicant you are aka how badly they want you). My first job: I applied, was phone interviewed, live interviewed, and offered the job all within 2 weeks. My impression was that my application landed at the exact right time and they were ready to hire, so quickly got me through everything. Second job (in the same system) was four MONTHS from application to offer. When I applied they were at the end of the interview cycle but hadn't taken down the posting. So my application hung out in limbo for a long time.

Patience and persistence, without being irritating. It's a fine line.

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4 hours ago, JDayBFL said:

Most hospitals have recruiters that are basically "screeners." Their interviews are to weed out the crazies. Ultimately the decision to do a real interview with you lies with the department you are applying for. I would continue to be patient though because application process, interview process, hiring process, credentialing process, etc. takes forever at most large institutions. It's about a 2 to 3 month process from application to start date at large hospitals and can even go longer if you don't have all of your stuff together (license, DEA, etc.)

Thanks for your response!  Waiting for credentialing is fine as long as I happily have that contract signed, so fingers crossed.

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4 hours ago, greenmood said:

It can take a long time. It depends on where in the hiring/interview process they were when your application popped up (and also how competitive an applicant you are aka how badly they want you). My first job: I applied, was phone interviewed, live interviewed, and offered the job all within 2 weeks. My impression was that my application landed at the exact right time and they were ready to hire, so quickly got me through everything. Second job (in the same system) was four MONTHS from application to offer. When I applied they were at the end of the interview cycle but hadn't taken down the posting. So my application hung out in limbo for a long time.

Patience and persistence, without being irritating. It's a fine line.

Thanks for breaking down your own experience, it helps.  Any tips in regards to the fine line between persistence and pestering?  I try to keep my follows up to a minimum but I also want to be persistent.  I would assume if I was to be pass for the position, HR would say something along those lines, right?  So far, I give a tug and seem to get a weak tug in response.

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7 minutes ago, rev ronin said:

The more eager you appear, the more they can lowball you on salary.  NEVER call them back--send a polite letter, and keep on with your job search: first place providing a good offer wins.  You owe them nothing, and they owe you less.

Thanks for your response--it actually sparked a question for me:  salary has already been discussed--recruiter readily gave me the 'step-wise' chat, and it's very strong--is it typical however for what was said verbally to change by the time a physical contract is presented? 

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10 hours ago, ettezag said:

Thanks for breaking down your own experience, it helps.  Any tips in regards to the fine line between persistence and pestering?  I try to keep my follows up to a minimum but I also want to be persistent.  I would assume if I was to be pass for the position, HR would say something along those lines, right?  So far, I give a tug and seem to get a weak tug in response.

I would be done at this point. HR may not follow up every phone interview, I don’t know. But you’ve done you due diligence. Now keep on with the search. Don’t get too caught up on one maybe job to the detriment of your search.

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So a good way to get through the job hunting process is to treat it a lot like dating.

In this situation the employers hold the advantage---you have essentially no leverage as a new grad, and want them to offer you a job. However, you also have to set realistic standards for yourself and not chase uninterested parties. 

When I was dating I always operated under the premise that interested people dont act with ambiguity. They return calls and texts, initiate conversation, ask questions, make themselves available to you, and extend themselves to you as long as you are reciprocating. This seems obvious but you can get lost in how "good" the first date or first few conversations were. Then as days go by and you havent heard from them, you start wondering, or maybe even making excuses for them like 'oh they must be busy, im just being needy, etc'. Then if you still havent heard from them you start second-guessing yourself like 'what did I do, was it something I said?', that whole game. The point is it doesn't matter. The absence of action IS the message. Move on.

If you find yourself questioning whether or not someone is really interested, the answer is no. 

Big corporate employers can take their sweet time getting back to you for any number of reasons, this is common. But constantly be generating new options, and if their specified time frame for follow up has passed I would proceed as if they arent offering you the job.

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4 hours ago, greenmood said:

I would be done at this point. HR may not follow up every phone interview, I don’t know. But you’ve done you due diligence. Now keep on with the search. Don’t get too caught up on one maybe job to the detriment of your search.

Thanks, greenmood.  I have done my due diligence and need to move forward.  Thanks for your response!

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3 hours ago, BruceBanner said:

So a good way to get through the job hunting process is to treat it a lot like dating.

In this situation the employers hold the advantage---you have essentially no leverage as a new grad, and want them to offer you a job. However, you also have to set realistic standards for yourself and not chase uninterested parties. 

When I was dating I always operated under the premise that interested people dont act with ambiguity. They return calls and texts, initiate conversation, ask questions, make themselves available to you, and extend themselves to you as long as you are reciprocating. This seems obvious but you can get lost in how "good" the first date or first few conversations were. Then as days go by and you havent heard from them, you start wondering, or maybe even making excuses for them like 'oh they must be busy, im just being needy, etc'. Then if you still havent heard from them you start second-guessing yourself like 'what did I do, was it something I said?', that whole game. The point is it doesn't matter. The absence of action IS the message. Move on.

If you find yourself questioning whether or not someone is really interested, the answer is no. 

Big corporate employers can take their sweet time getting back to you for any number of reasons, this is common. But constantly be generating new options, and if their specified time frame for follow up has passed I would proceed as if they arent offering you the job.

Thanks for your response!  It's been a struggle as a new grad, more than I had anticipated and it is unfortunate that there are so many parallels between job hunting and online dating.  Thanks for the break down, as awesome as this job opportunity is I am put off by the lack of clear communication--even if it's a rejection, it would still be appreciated and professional.  Fingers crossed and carrying forward, thanks!

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