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The subject might be all you need to understand the essence of the question, but for some context of my personal situation please read on:

I asked in an interview:

‘What would be your main concern regarding employing me?’

His reply was that one skill of mine wasn't as good as another. The implication being that he was hoping for both skills to be good.

He said he’d give me a chance to prove I had the skill in question by sending through something for me to do.

Great! I can work this thing out, let’s do it!

I still haven't received it.

I figure he’s either: swamped at work and busy, made a decision other than me, decided that the test was redundant/unhelpful after all.

Should I contact him? How to phrase it so that I come off in no way ‘less employable’?

Any advice appreciated

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marked as duplicate by The Wandering Dev Manager, scaaahu, gnat, David K, IDrinkandIKnowThings May 6 '15 at 2:19

This question has been asked before and already has an answer. If those answers do not fully address your question, please ask a new question.

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    he has failed to follow through on something. Why would you think he has any obligation to follow through? He already told you your skills weren't as great as he was hoping for. – scaaahu May 5 '15 at 9:38
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    I voted to close as duplicate. In particular, the answer would be useful to you, in my opinion. And I really like the last sentence: Any time you spend waiting and hoping is potentially wasted time. which is exactly what I was going to say. You already sent him two e-mails after the interview. In the second e-mail, you did mention the project. This should be enough. Good luck on the next interview! (You never know if the next one is much better than this one). – scaaahu May 5 '15 at 10:42
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    You would have to elaborate how your question is non-trivially different from the other ones. My first impression of the question from the description was, "No communication from hiring manager after the interview. Should I follow up, and if so, how?" – Masked Man May 5 '15 at 11:29
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    See this answer for a whole variety of reasons this is way more important to you than it is to the manager who interviewed you. As I said there, "chill out." You've already sent two followup emails in three days after the interview. – enderland May 5 '15 at 11:58
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    Hi Lamar, a question being closed as a "duplicate" just means that all the answers there are also applicable here. It's not a bad thing at all. If your question is significantly different than the other, feel free to edit your question to be clear what the difference is or post on meta to request community involvement. But you don't need to edit your question to be exactly the same. Hope this helps! – enderland May 7 '15 at 13:11
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"Hi, I'm touching base because I haven't received anything from you regarding what we discussed last week. The last message I received from you was on X; if I'm missing later messages please let me know. Thank you again for your time."

In other words, do not display entitlement or accuse him of "failing to do something." You're not going to do yourself any favors by getting into a proverbial pissing match. This potential employer does not owe you any kind of courtesy, and any given is freely given out of the goodness of his heart.

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Call him

If I were you, I'd try to call him via whatever professional phone number he provided, to ask if he's already sent something which somehow landed in e-mail limbo.

Skype

You also mentioned you talked with him on Skype, which usually indicated if a person is online or not. So try calling him on there. If he doesn't pick up, you can send a instant message explaining your situation.

Approach

Since you were also curious on how to phrase your questions. Just make sure to stay polite and honest. You were expecting a try-out project before the decision day. But you didn't get that yet. So just stay on point with what you want. Which is the project ofcourse.

Tip: It's probably also better to not say or imply he has 'failed' to do something. Even if he did, accidents happen and if he's still interested in you, you've got nothing to worry about.

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    Calling - perhaps I've read too much about interviewing lately but it's not recommended in general, it affords the receiver much less ability to manage their time. I wouldn't want to be the person who introduces any more of that. Skype, similar issues, but with the whole 'sorry, can you say that again?' and talking over each other because of the terrible latency. In person also out of the question as we're in different countries now. But thanks yes for the general advice, it makes sense – Lamar Latrell May 5 '15 at 9:58

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