Ask HN: Is it normal to never hear back after an initial 15 min phone screen?
I've been applying to full stack and backend engineer jobs for a week or week and a half and noticed that it's common for recruiters to ask about experience, describe a role, ask if you have any questions, and then list out next steps of either sending an online technical test, setting up a 30-60 minute coding test phone call with an engineer, or a similar step, only to never message you again after the call is over.
What percentage of the time is this to be expected? I assume sometimes it means they didn't like what you said during the screen, sometimes it means the engineering manager didn't like your resume or wanted to interview another candidate over you, and sometimes they just forgot about you / had other priorities.
I'm trying to determine if I should just chalk this up to a normal attrition rate of the interview stages or if its a sign I'm doing something wrong with my resume or my answers during the initial 15-30 min non-technical interview.
Most of these might be obvious, but here are my 2 cents,
1. The interviewer not responding after the initial call => Could be a number of reasons like waiting for other candidates so that they have a larger pool to pick from or not being able to find the time to send out a response or the general policy the company or hiring team maintains. This is not normal, most companies respond with an email of rejection even if it has a generic response.
2. The initial interview is usually a basic screening where they are looking for keywords that match what you can do or your attitude towards work or how you function as part of a team w.r.t. how their existing employees function. A good way to approach this would be to read up on the company values either via it's their home page or reviews on Glassdoor. It will give you a good impression of how to present yourself. Check their tech stack and format your initial `Tell me about yourself` to include and highlight those skills. Also have questions you can ask about how their team functions as it gives the idea that you are interested in working with them.