Cleared Interview, Submitted Documents but yet no Job Offer from HR

Question

Recently 2 months back I gave an interview at a software company. Soon after that they told me I cleared the interview and asked me to fill certain forms.

However, after hearing my expected salary, there was no reply from HR. When I called him to ask the status he told me X, which is slightly greater than my current salary, is their maximum offer. After several negotiation rounds we both settled on amount Y.

He still didn't send me an offer letter, so I asked him what the issue was. He told me I had to give a couple more interviews for amount Y. I again gave the interviews he then again asked me to fill the same forms but this time he asked me for salary slips and an appraisal letter.

Now it's been 2 months since I gave the first interview and one week has passed since the second interview.

My question is why did HR repeatedly ask me for details and yet show no interest in giving me an offer? My second question is should I follow up with them again or should I wait for their response?

Answer 1

It sounds like the situation is as follows, please correct me if im wrong here, - First sets of interviews went well and they gave you a number (salary) keep in mind if someone tells you a number that is not an official offer. Did you get a letter with that number on it? - You went back with a counter off, came up with a new number (still presumably not an official offer) but were told more interviews were necessary to make such a number a reality. - You went back for said interviews and have not heard back as of yet.

I see a few things that could be the case.

1. Its only been a week, give them some time to discuss the issue at hand and assess what they want to do. This is what I think the case is.

2. They dont want you at the price you are looking for. If this is the case I would be surprised if they simply say nothing to you although I know many people who this has happened to. The unfortunate fact is sometimes with big companies things get lost in the paperwork.

3. There was a miss communication internal to them. This could also be a likely case in which case I would give it another week or two and call them to follow up.

To directly answer your question, that was most likely HR doing their due diligence. It sounds to me like when you asked for more that put you in a different position in the company as apposed to simply a higher pay at the initial position. In this case it is no surprise HR made you fill out more paperwork. Yes it is extremely common for HR to require a lot of seemingly useless paperwork, this is mainly to cover a variety of laws and things that companies must comply with.

As for following up I would say 3 weeks is the max it should take them to get back to you and if you hear nothing by then call them and see what is going on.

Answer 2

Is it a HR job or a Software type Job?

If it's HR and you negotiated a salary they should have confirmed your position there and then. You shouldn't be calling after X amount of time only to find out that you need to go for an interview again. Sounds a bit odd.

If it's a Software job then its not really HR's job but the Managers Job for Negotiating and getting back to you ASAP.

Usually its only one or two interviews but some jobs require up to five.

I had a similar experience. I applied for a job directly to a company and it took 2.5 months for a reply. I went for the interview and shortly after I received an email from HR saying "Thank you...", and "We will let you know in a Week". I received another email after 2.5 months to say "Sorry but ...".

Personally, If i apply for a job directly and not through an Agency i don't bother if they respond or not, nor i call back for updates as it's their responsibility not mine.

I'm not saying that's what you should be doing, but what it stands to show is that in situations like these, it portrays how a company functions.

Answer 3

My question is why did HR repeatedly ask me for details and yet show no interest in giving me an offer?

Nobody here can really know why - it's just guessing.

Most likely they thought you were a good candidate and worth X, but may not yet have decided if you are actually worth Y.

Perhaps they are having a difficult time internally justifying Y. Sometimes that means they had budgeted only X, or that Y is outside their typical salary range.

My second question is should I follow up with them again or should I wait for their response?

It's only been one week since your last interview. Wait at least one more week before following up.

If the Y salary is outside their typical salary range, then it takes time to justify the exception internally. Try to be patient.

Answer 4

Sad to say, it is standard practice in the software industry in the USA for companies to ignore applicants when they decide not to give a formal offer of employment. This is not a good practice, but it is standard.

If you haven't heard from them, they don't want to hire you.

There's a very small chance somebody has gone on vacation and forgotten to follow up with you. You can ping the HR person and ask for status. But if I were you I'd move on to other opportunities.