Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:as a manager that handles hiring, I say there is nothing to lose in reaching out to your contact. we just had a similar scenario where we made an offer and then the day the new person was supposed to start she had "family issues" and could not take the job. we did not go back to our #2 and instead just reposted the job. If our #2 called I would probably consider them, as I would realize that they really want the job (but please note we also had a #3, and #4 that I would NOT give the job to if they called since they were never in the running). we never reached out to #2 because it has been well over a month since our interview we just figured we might as well start fresh.

HR Bitch here: Agree with the above. Sometimes people don't reach out b/c they think it'll look desperate. But what's worse? Looking desperate for a few minutes but then getting the job, or not reaching out and actually becoming desperate for work?

Anonymous wrote:I got the job being a #2 -- the guy initially offered the job was an internal transfer -- but then he didn't start.

The hiring manager just asked the recruiter to go down the list of other good candidates -- I don't know if it was just me or if there were others they'd have reached out to.

Many managers hate massive rounds of interviews as they can be a time sink.

Anonymous wrote:as a manager that handles hiring, I say there is nothing to lose in reaching out to your contact. we just had a similar scenario where we made an offer and then the day the new person was supposed to start she had "family issues" and could not take the job. we did not go back to our #2 and instead just reposted the job. If our #2 called I would probably consider them, as I would realize that they really want the job (but please note we also had a #3, and #4 that I would NOT give the job to if they called since they were never in the running). we never reached out to #2 because it has been well over a month since our interview we just figured we might as well start fresh.

Anonymous wrote:as a manager that handles hiring, I say there is nothing to lose in reaching out to your contact. we just had a similar scenario where we made an offer and then the day the new person was supposed to start she had "family issues" and could not take the job. we did not go back to our #2 and instead just reposted the job. If our #2 called I would probably consider them, as I would realize that they really want the job (but please note we also had a #3, and #4 that I would NOT give the job to if they called since they were never in the running). we never reached out to #2 because it has been well over a month since our interview we just figured we might as well start fresh.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here- thank you all for your advice. Also, this was an internal recruiter, i-e someone who works in the company's HR department, not an independent one. I am just wondering if they did like me at the interview, then why wouldn't they contact me again if the other candidate backed out? I would think if you interview a few people and then one person backs out, you would call someone else from your pool of candidates and offer them the job, no?

Your reasoning makes sense but you're giving them a lot of credit as well, since you don't know how their internal HR process works. It's quite possible the hiring manager said "I like x, make them an offer." The HR person did so and the offer was rejected, re-neged, etc. Then the hiring manager could have said "ok -- let's re-open the position." The HR person may not have even thought to go back to whoever was number 2 on the list and frankly may not even know who was no. 2. I find HR/internal recruiting to be better (sometimes) than outside commission based recruiters. I've sent polite emails re this type of situation in the past and have gotten a "we're not interested" reply (i.e. we are looking at an internal candidate or we'll keep you in mind) and have also gotten "I will follow up with the hiring manager about you," types of replies. You never know unless you ask and since you don't currently work there, you don't lose anything -- at most they say no, but the answer right now is already no.

Anonymous wrote:OP here- thank you all for your advice. Also, this was an internal recruiter, i-e someone who works in the company's HR department, not an independent one. I am just wondering if they did like me at the interview, then why wouldn't they contact me again if the other candidate backed out? I would think if you interview a few people and then one person backs out, you would call someone else from your pool of candidates and offer them the job, no?