The interview/hiring process

[Backstrom]

I'm curious to know what every job-seeker's experience is with prospective employers and their interview/hiring process. I know this is more of a general career-development topic rather than planning-related, but I feel it's relevant for many of us looking for full-time work.

For me, specifically, I made it to the top-two for a planning position, they flew me in to do an on-site interview (all paid for, I should add) in mid-September, took me out to lunch, and told me they were hoping to make a decision by the end of September. I politely shot one of the interviewers a check-in email last week only to hear no response so far. It's bugging me a bit since they made a fair bit of investment in flying me out to interview me, so I do feel that I at least deserve an update on their process. Anyway, just the post-interview blues talking here.

I'm wondering what others' experiences are. Are employers pretty responsive when you go through the interview process, especially planning agencies?

[CubbieBlue]

I'm curious to know what every job-seeker's experience is with prospective employers and their interview/hiring process. I know this is more of a general career-development topic rather than planning-related, but I feel it's relevant for many of us looking for full-time work.

For me, specifically, I made it to the top-two for a planning position, they flew me in to do an on-site interview (all paid for, I should add) in mid-September, took me out to lunch, and told me they were hoping to make a decision by the end of September. I politely shot one of the interviewers a check-in email last week only to hear no response so far. It's bugging me a bit since they made a fair bit of investment in flying me out to interview me, so I do feel that I at least deserve an update on their process. Anyway, just the post-interview blues talking here.

I'm wondering what others' experiences are. Are employers pretty responsive when you go through the interview process, especially planning agencies?

In my experience - if they want to hire you they are super responsive. If the agency is so bureaucratic that they want to hire you and they are unresponsive, you probably don't want to work there anyway.

[OfficialPlanner]

That might not be true in all cases. The agency might have an internal policy of not communicating with applicants outside the formal interview process until a selection has been made (although they should probably have state that rather than leaving the applicants left wondering when they follow-up). Another possibility is that they have been busy juggling other things at the end of the quarter which take priority.

It sounds like they're very interested in you since they flew you out for the interview, especially in this environment of diminishing budgets. And you did the right thing by following up with an email. I say sit tight with this one and continue looking at other openings until a firm job offer is in hand. Governments move notoriously slow so I would not be too worried if they don't get back to you by today.

[Threequalseven]

If you haven't heard anything yet, it's possible that they offered the job to the other guy and are waiting for confirmation. Anecdotally speaking, the director at my previous job once told me about a time when her friend approached her with the same kind of story as the OP. It turned out, she had been offered the job he was talking about! She was just taking a couple days to think about it.

What I'm curious about regarding the interview/hiring process is the employer side of things. How many resumes does the average small town planning position get? What are some of the instant disqualifiers (aside from the obvious, like typos and so forth)? If they can tell that your some guy in your 20s, are they likely to give you the brush-off right away?

[dvdneal]

I understand for my Kansas county planning director job there were 34 candidates and 15 were interviewed. I never asked if any were just thrown out, but they said only about 20 met the qualifications and just took what they thought were the best 15 to interview and narrowed it down to 3 before flying us in.

[Backstrom]

I understand for my Kansas county planning director job there were 34 candidates and 15 were interviewed. I never asked if any were just thrown out, but they said only about 20 met the qualifications and just took what they thought were the best 15 to interview and narrowed it down to 3 before flying us in.

I'm a bit surprised the applicant pool was this low. All the ones I've heard of had pools exceeding 90-100.

Anyway, as just an update, it turns out they did go with someone else. Dog eat dog world, eh?

[Whose Yur Planner]

I'm a bit surprised the applicant pool was this low. All the ones I've heard of had pools exceeding 90-100.

Anyway, as just an update, it turns out they did go with someone else. Dog eat dog world, eh?

It is Kansas. I've had people fly me out, pay my expenses and not hire me. This has happened more than once. As for turn around. The last several jobs, including this one, they offered me the job either the day of the interview or within 24 hours.

[Raf]

I understand for my Kansas county planning director job there were 34 candidates and 15 were interviewed. I never asked if any were just thrown out, but they said only about 20 met the qualifications and just took what they thought were the best 15 to interview and narrowed it down to 3 before flying us in.

I applied for a job at a local muni at a mid-level position. They only received 20 applications and of those, only 6 people were qualified candidates. The position was interesting mix of tech and planning and very specialized. Sometimes they just know what they are looking for.