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A few months ago I was pretty certain I was about to be made redundant and acted rather unprofessionally (i.e. desperate as hell) to a company which I interviewed with and whom promised to give me a callback around New Years. Of course that call never came and later on I read in a popular LinkedIn post from a recruiter that yes, submitting multiple applications to the same company is a very big no-no and you could end up unofficially blacklisted for being desperate.

I've now realised my mistake but would like to confirm it and wonder how I can fix it, as this company has a high number of openings which fit very nicely with my expertise and experience. I was thinking of writing an email to my HR contact, but wonder if this is a good idea?

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  • You say they responded by saying they would call you back in the beginning of the year, so maybe you just need to follow up and see if you are still being considered. You say you acted "desperate as hell" but maybe from their side it was only slightly annoying (e.g. if you sent multiple emails or submitted multiple applications). – Brandin Jan 28 '16 at 16:17
  • @brandin I did but was given the silent treatment! – Evil Washing Machine Jan 28 '16 at 16:36
  • There are some questions on here about following up, how long to wait, etc. By the way, if you ask if they are still considering your application but they never give you an answer, it's probably safe to interpret that as a 'no'. – Brandin Jan 28 '16 at 18:39
  • By "recruiter" is that an employee of the company or a third party that gets a commission for placing someone? If it is an outside recruiter, applying more than once just puts you on shaky ground as to whether or not the recruiter gets paid if you get hired. After a certain period of time, you could possibly apply for a different position. – user8365 Jan 28 '16 at 20:53
  • @JeffO employee of the company! – Evil Washing Machine Jan 28 '16 at 20:58
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Not without being blacklisted, as enderland explains.

Most companies don't keep actual blacklists or do-not-hire lists, but many will consider people to be ineligible for rehire or interviews based on past behaviour.

You could create a fake resume that matches yours exactly in content and submit to see if they contact Fake You, but that's entering serious creep territory. Instead of resorting to identity fraud I'd advise you to cut your losses, forget about this company, and look elsewhere. But that's only if you indeed screwed up as badly as you feared. If you just acted unprofessionally but didn't salt the earth on your way out the door you can contact the company again to reiterate your interest.

As a general tip: do not ever apply for multiple positions at a single company without acknowledging that you did. In almost all cases, it's preferable to apply for a single position that best matches your interests and experience.

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  • What if you make an application and got no response? – Evil Washing Machine Jan 28 '16 at 16:37
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    @EvilWashingMachine it's common to get no response for an application, even for companies you are not blacklisted for... – enderland Jan 28 '16 at 16:50
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    @EvilWashingMachine The best advice for job searchers is to send in an application and promptly forget about it. If they do end up contacting you it's a pleasant surprise but worrying about it won't do you any good and contacting them again is generally a waste of time if they never once replied. – Lilienthal♦ Jan 28 '16 at 16:51
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Hypothetically, if you email and ask this question and:

  • Are blacklisted. Why would they bother responding? No benefit to them, possible downsides (you might argue with them, wasting time, might complain, etc)
  • Are not blacklisted. It's going to make you look even more desperate and cause any normal person to think, "maybe this person should be? why are they even wondering?"

Neither benefit you.

It's far better to just assume you are not blacklisted and proceed normally (applying to a job, etc).

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  • Agreed, if you're concerned that you've annoyed someone by excessive communications, it's probably not a great idea to contact them again to check. :) – Carson63000 Jan 29 '16 at 0:02

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