Applied and Heard Nothing? What Is Usually Going On

Say you send an application on a Monday. By Friday there is nothing. By the second Friday you have read your résumé four times and found a typo you now can't stop seeing.

It's a bad feeling, and it is very common. This is what is usually happening on the other side, and what is worth doing about it.

Why it goes quiet

We can't see inside any one hotel, so these are the usual reasons and not a diagnosis.

The person reading applications is also running a department. In many hotels, the manager who hires is the same person who covers the roster, answers guest complaints and joins the morning meeting. Hiring gets done in the gaps. In a busy season, the gaps are small.

Processes are manual. Applications arrive by email, in a spreadsheet or in a shared inbox. Things get missed, and nobody means to miss them.

Some employers don't tell unsuccessful applicants. There are employers who send nothing at all when the answer is no. It's poor practice, but it happens.

The decision is waiting on one person's calendar. Whether to interview often depends on a single manager who is on holiday or on a different shift pattern.

Almost none of this is about you.

What the stages mean

Each employer sets up its own stages, so the names differ. A typical sequence looks like: Applied, Screening, Interview, Offer, and then either Hired or Not selected.

Silence means different things at different stages.

• Still at "Applied" after a week or two: most likely nobody has looked yet.
• At "Screening": someone has read it and is deciding, or is waiting for other applicants to come in before deciding.
• After an interview: the hotel is usually comparing people. This is the point at which a polite follow-up is most reasonable.

A stage that hasn't changed is not a verdict. It normally means a person hasn't got to it.

What to do

Check the basics first. Look in your spam folder. Check that your email address and phone number are right in your profile. If you received a scheduling link and haven't used it, it may be the reason nothing has moved.

Read what the listing says about timing. Some state how long they take to reply. Use it.

If no timing is given, ten working days is a reasonable first checkpoint. That's our rule of thumb, not a standard. Peak seasons and holidays push it longer.

Send one polite follow-up. One. Keep it short and plain:

Dear [name],
I applied for the [role] position on [date]. I'm still very interested. If there is anything else I can send, please let me know.
Thank you for your time.
[Your name]

Don't send a second one in the same week. Don't ask why you weren't chosen.

Keep applying. The most useful thing you can do while waiting is to apply to other jobs. Waiting on one answer is a poor use of a week.

Make the next application stronger. A complete profile, clear availability and specific descriptions of what you've done all help. We covered the last one in Thinking About Moving Into Hotels?.

What you can see on KankoHR

Here is what the applicant side of KankoHR does today.

• Your applications page shows each application and the stage it is currently at, so you don't have to guess whether anything has moved.
• Invites. Employers can invite you to apply for a job. Invites appear in your account.
• Interview scheduling. Where the employer has it switched on, you can pick, change or cancel an interview slot using a link.
• Job alerts. You can ask for an email when a new job matches your department and area. This doesn't need an account.
• Your profile. You decide whether it can be found.

What we can't do is make a hotel answer. We can show you where each application stands, so the waiting is less of a guess.

Next

If you're waiting on something now, check the stage in your account, send one follow-up if the time has passed, and then go and apply to something else. If you haven't made a profile yet, it takes a few minutes, and everything above is easier with one.