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I had the final round of a long interview process with the hiring manager Tuesday and was told he would discuss with the team and get back to me after a couple days. It’s been a couple days, and while I’m trying not to read into this obviously, I sent a thank you letter to the recruiter.

“ Thanks again for chatting with me over the last few weeks. I've enjoyed speaking with everyone, and it's clear that -‘s only getting started. Please send my thanks to the team!”

She kindly replies after 20 minutes:

“ Of course! Really enjoyed chatting with you as well. All the best,”

It seemed so final and didn’t touch on next steps, although I didn’t explicitly ask.

Is there anything I can glean from this? Based on miscommunication in the past, I went down a mental tunnel thinking that since she didn’t mention anything, I’ve already been rejected and that it seems by the text of my email that the word has already been sent.

I’m curious if this is normal- ie, replying to be kind prior to a final decision made.

I feel like if I email asking for clarification that I’ll come off as overeager. But as I’m sure you can imagine, I can’t think clearly and am concerned I won’t hear back about anything now.

Is there anything I can do?

Edit- question is different since I sent a thank you email (albeit a bad one) and got a reply, wanting to know how to interpret. Thanks for your answers.

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    The reply looks to me like a reply which could be sent to almost anybody. Maybe the manager didn't really look at the sender name (or did not recognize your name right away) and she just sent a standard reply without much thinking. If you want a clear answer you should probably ask a clear question which can't be answered like she did with your last mail.
    – Edgar
    Oct 18, 2019 at 3:18
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    "If you want a clear answer you should probably ask a clear question which can't be answered like she did with your last mail." - absolutely this. You haven't actually asked the recruiter anything but yet wanted them to give you an indication as to when you might hear something. You should have asked. Give it a few more days and if you don't hear anything further then follow up one final time.
    – AdzzzUK
    Oct 18, 2019 at 8:39
  • @AdzzzUK That could be an answer.
    – Llewellyn
    Oct 18, 2019 at 11:58

4 Answers 4

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That sounds like a standard noncommittal reply and/or actually being friendly. With recruiters, you never know which.

You have not signed anything, so you do not want to fixate on that particular job yet. Keep looking, and if something comes up, you ask the recruiter again if anything has developed so far, because now that you have two leads, you need to coordinate a bit so you don't waste anyone's time.

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Is there anything I can do?

Yes. Wait a few more days to see if you hear anything, and if not follow up next week.

As I mentioned in a comment, you didn't actually ask the recruiter a question, you just said thanks for their time. So why are you expecting an answer? If you wanted to know next steps and timelines, you should have asked the question in your email.

I'm not trying to read into this obviously

But.... you are doing. You want the job, I get it, and I would be the same in your shoes. But you're massively overthinking this. Have the other candidate(s) even had their final interviews yet? You have no way of knowing what else is going on behind the scenes.

The hiring manager said he wanted to discuss with the team - you don't know if that's happened yet, and the recruiter will only be told of the decision once one has been reached.

As others have answered/commented, the recruiter was indeed just thanking you for your email. Could she have given you an idea of timeline? Sure. But you didn't ask for one, so she was just being polite. "All the best" could be her way of saying "Good luck!". It's not final, you haven't been rejected, and you shouldn't think that you have. Just... bide your time for a few more days and if you don't hear anything else, follow up and ASK those questions.

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Today is friday, you posted your question 4 hours ago so I assume you sent this email yesterday, which was thursday (so 2 days after the interview), it is pretty common that HR need / take more than 2 days to decide if they actually want to hire or not someone.

Taking that into account, to me her answer just means be more patient, we will get back to you.

I know it's annoying and I've also been facing long processes when I was looking for a job but that's how it works. You should have at least waited end of afternoon of next monday.

So don't overthink and wait for the real answer, there is nothing you can figure out from this one.

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You are correct in surmising that you should wait a fair bit longer before sending a second email. One email is probably fine to show that you are keen but I don't think you can justify sending more than one in the space of a week.

If you have an urgent reason to contact them (e.g. because you have an offer from another company) then it would be reasonable to do so but if that were the case you should probably phone them instead.

"Is there anything I can glean from this?"

No.

You didn't ask any questions and they didn't provide any answers.

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