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So about a month ago I had my interview with a financial firm for a compliance position. I thought that the interview went well but since three weeks went by in silence I figured I didn't get the job and moved on. I have applied to other positions, for which I am in the middle of scheduling future interviews.

Then, last week, I get an email from the HR department, for the interview I did a month ago, about completing the second part of job application. The funny thing is that position is no longer available and it even states on the company's website that it has been filled.

I am curious do firms still require one to complete a job application for a position that might have been filled by someone else?

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    HR reps are not going to be wasting their time or yours if they did not have a position to fill. – paparazzo Mar 16 '16 at 19:28
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    I have seen HR do worse than that just to complete their records – Kilisi Mar 16 '16 at 19:54
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It's highly possible that they listed the position as filled either because:

  1. They did fill it, but the new hire did not work out

  2. They simply did not want to receive any more applicants for the position as they were working on interviewing very promising candidates

Either way I would suggest not asking them about it. If you're still interested in the job / don't have better prospects simply go in for the interview. If not, politely reply that you're no longer interested and move on.

Good luck!

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    I would imagine that even if you have better prospects, you may want to proceed anyway in the event that the other one doesn't work out for whatever reason. Probably wisest to keep your options open until you actually accept an offer from someone, no? (Obviously, if you no longer have any interest in the job at all anymore, don't bother, but if you applied in the first place, it seems unusual that you wouldn't be interested at all without another job in hand.) – jpmc26 Mar 16 '16 at 18:45
  • Not everyone who gets an offer, accepts. Some that accept get counter offered and turn it down later. – Sobrique Mar 16 '16 at 21:13
  • Good answer, but I agree with jpmc26, don't stop the job search until you have a (written) satisfactory offer in hand – Cronax Mar 17 '16 at 7:31
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To answer your question, yes.

The company may have decided that they have budget for 2 people to be employed instead of 1 and to save money they are doing a second round of interviews with the original set to pick a suitable candidate.

If you want the job then the offer is still very much there. If you are still concerned you could raise it as a question in the interview, it will show you have been interested and engaged in your application to them. However this could backfire as the other answers have suggested so consider carefully.

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Before you spend even one minute filling out an application, confirm that there is actually an opening that they intend to fill -- and be sure to ask if it's going to be filled immediately.

Once you get that question answered, you can work accordingly.

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    +1 no idea why you were downvoted, this is the thing to do. Confirm the position is actually open. – Kilisi Mar 16 '16 at 19:55
  • If the OP happened to be at the front of the queue of the first interviews, a 3-week wait until all the first interviews were completed and the second-round applicants selected doesn't seem at all unreasonable to me, especially if the company is a big one. Aside from the actual interviewing, background and security checks don't happen instantaneously - and if a finance firm doesn't make such checks for a compliance position, you probably don't want to work there anyway! – alephzero Mar 17 '16 at 2:35
  • Background and security usually don't happen until an offer is made and accepted. – Xavier J Mar 17 '16 at 15:40

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