the waiting game

I submitted a resume and coverletter last Monday. It was a centralized recruiting process by a leading company, and there was one deadline for everyone who wanted to apply from my school, and first round interviews are next week. I haven't heard anything, either way, about making it to interviews.

Last night, I ran into a couple of people at another event, and we happened to talk about this company's application deadline. It's always awkward in such situations to inquire about the status of another student's job application. All too often, especially with the types of people at my school, situations get competitive, and people start safeguarding information. I don't see any need for that, and I am completely happy being as honest and straightforward as I can about my job application process, as long as I feel the other person would return the favor.

I feel that I usually do a good job diffusing the situation by offering information of my own first. "I haven't heard back from Company X, but I did hear back from Company Y, who rejected my application. No chance to interview." Usually, when I am this forthright, the other person lets down their guard and is more than happy to engage me in detailed conversation about their, and my, application processes.

With that said, I have been told that I should be more wary about sharing so much information, that sharing doesn't do anything for me, and could potentially hurt me if I tell the wrong people, presumably people who are sneaky. I'm not sure how much I should listen to that, but I guess I do run a mental judgment check of the person in front of me before I share information. There has to be rapport of some kind between us, and I have to have a generally positive feeling about that person. More often than not, the person isn't a complete stranger, but rather someone I've met before doing this or that around campus.

Anyway, back to the point, which was that I haven't heard back about this job I applied for, and I talked to a couple of people about it last night. Both conversations were one-on-one. The first person had not heard back, like me. The second person had heard, but it was a rejection--he would not get a chance to interview.

When I said that I had not heard anything either way, the latter person commented that I probably "have something in [my] email inbox waiting as we speak, because the company was supposed to have gotten back to us all by the end of Monday" (yesterday). That got me excited about going home and checking my email, but my hopes were quickly dashed when there was no such email in my Inbox.

I did get a confirmation last week that they had received my application submission, so I know they got my application. And the fact that somebody had heard, albeit in the negative, is indication that I should hear soon. So then not hearing something is good because no news is good news, right?

Except I still didn't hear anything tody. So now I am worried that perhaps my application wasn't filed in the right place, or somehow I didn't actually meet the deadline because I submitted at 6pm, which would have been after work hours, or a slew of other things that could have gone wrong that I can't even think of.

I've wanted to email the contact listed on the website to ask about my application. I've really restrained myself from doing so because I don't want to be annoying, a decision that Broadway agrees with. What if they're still sorting through applications and not yet finalized their decisions on everyone? My email would just be in the way. If I were the human resources person in that situation, I know I would roll my eyes at such an email.

So I'm not sure what to do, and I'm getting pretty anxious just waiting for an email in my inbox. Maybe I will wait until tomorrow morning, and if I still haven't heard, I will send something to HR.