Job Search Communications:
24 reasons why they aren't calling you for an interview

Jimbo posted a piece the other day about his frustration with job search communications - he found out, through the "grapevine," he didn't get a job he interviewed for, instead of through the people who interviewed him. This is a frustrating problem in the job search process - who hasn't felt that they're communication with a giant black hole in applying for and/or interviewing for a job? Jimbo's dilemma prompted me to dip into my years of applying for jobs and reviewing candidate resumes, and I've come up with 24 reasons why you never hear back from a company or organization once you've sent them your resume and cover letter:

1. there's no longer a job at the company;
2. nobody has time to review all the resumes;
3. the job's been changed and they need new resumes;
4. none of the resumes matched what their needs are, and they're really really picky;
5. they called you, and you called back and left a message, but they then decided not to call you again;
6. you're overqualified;
7. you're underqualified;
8. nothing on your resume, in their eyes, convinces them that you're even a slight match for the job;
9. they can't make a decision on who to call;
10. someone reviewing the resumes knows who you are and tells the hiring manager you should not be contacted;
11. it's taking them a really REALLY long time to review resumes;
12. you're just plain wrong for the job;
13. they think you'll ask for too much money;
14. your name reminds the chief reviewer of this bully that used to torment him in school;
15. they lost your resume;
16. the post office lost your resume;
17. you thought you sent your resume, but you really didn't;
18. the email you sent with your resume attached got lost;
19. the email attachment - your resume - got lost;
20. the resume attached was in WordPerfect and they have MSWord (or vice versa);
21. something about your resume turned them off;
22. you didn't send them all the information they asked for;
23. you're not the right sex, age, etc. even though this is illegal (it's tough to prove);
24. your background on the first five emperors of Holy Roman Empire is not up to snuff - that is, any reason whatsoever that you could never guess.