I finished the first round of interviews and send out a round of thank you e-mails, including to the HR people who organized the meetings.
I received a response from one of the HR reps shortly after, saying "You're welcome! We will be in touch with you regarding next steps."
Interpretation? Positive? Neutral? Ambiguous?
What Does it Mean to Get A Response to A Thank You Note?
Getting a response from HR representative can be a tricky ordeal. At the very least it would be considered a neutral response considering most firms decide whether you receive an offer before an email goes out. More often than not it is just courtesy from the representative.
An interesting point from HR representatives and their response to emails
Your natural instinct is to be helpful, to tell the candidate where he went wrong. But you can't; you might get sued, you might offend someone. And in any case, there's no benefit to the company in being so, well, caring. Instead, you clam up, a smile that lips-together fake smile that corporate HR people are so good at, and say to the candidate: "We'll be in touch."
Based on your email, dissecting their intentions can be tricky and ultimately not worth your time. Sometime emails may include “best of luck with job searching”, but they still got the job offer. The best course of action may be to wait until the final decision on the offer has been made clear to you.
Just Interviewed? Find out what's next on WSO
- Negotiating Offer Before, During, And After Interview (Follow Up)
- When To Follow Up With A Recruiter After A Superday?
- After Interview Thank You Email
Preparing for Investment Banking Interviews?
The WSO investment banking interview course is designed by countless professionals with real-world experience, tailored to people aspiring to break into the industry. This guide will help you learn how to answer these questions and many, many more.
Neutral, I think everyone says this.
I agree with "neutral".
This is what HR always says, is trained to say, and they can potentially place themselves at risk of litigation if they say anything else.
I don't know, it seems somewhat positive. I've almost never gotten a reply from HR to a thank you note. I did once - and it was from a firm that I did end up getting an offer from.
That said, I'm basing my opinion on a very small sample size, who knows, and the litigation point (above) makes sense, so I wouldn't read too much into it anyways. Best of luck!
Neutral with a slight edge towards positive
Ok, got another e-mail. What does it mean, if anything, that HR wants to meet with me for a few minutes before my next interview round (first round with another group)?
It's neutral at worst. If you had been dinged already they wouldn't have bothered to apply. Same thing, same response was given to me, and I eventually got the offer.
you didn't get it, tough luck kid
Is this based on experience? Thanks.
He's kidding. Hard to interpret the second email, but I agree it's neutral at worst.
Thanks.
My worry is that if there were actual next steps (i.e. second rounds), they would have simply told me or waited to e-mail once they were ready to schedule something.
On the other hand, they could easily have not responded to my thank you e-mails at all.
But what if they think you're thinking about what they're thinking? Maybe they want you to think that they think you're thinking you got the offer when really they think you think they think they didn't give you the offer? :/
lol
I realize I'm overthinking.
Always think positive! if the job is yours, it is yours, if it is not yours then move on and apply again. dammit!!!
So did you get it? Huh?? Huh?? Did you?
"We'll be in touch as soon as we determine our next steps." (Originally Posted: 01/26/2015)
Hi All,
I recently had an interview with a recruiter on the phone and then with 3 people on the team in person two days later (last Friday). It was scheduled to be a 1.5 hour interview with all three people back to back. I was really nervous and stuttered a bit, but the interview still ended up to be over 2 hours long. I sent a thank you letter to each of the three people individually a few hours after my interview. Earlier today, I got a response back from one of the people (manager on the team and I believe he's the highest level person out of the three I interviewed with) saying "Thanks for following up. We'll be in touch as soon as we determine our next steps."
My question is, is this a good, neutral, or bad sign? Thanks for your responses!
It means almost nothing. I got a "we'll be in touch in the next two weeks or so" and then got an offer the next day. I also just literally never heard back one time after 2 rounds of phone interviews, in person, and 2 rounds of follow-up interviews on the phone (with a few attempts to contact HR over the next month before giving up). It's just a thing people say to get you off the phone and be polite.
The response you got almost means nothing. It's pretty much a standard answer. In fact it probably skews towards being negative since you got the standard bolierplate response.
If he had said something more personal or just something besides the usual response, you would have a bit of reason to be positive.
Nope, keep looking. It seems to be a common question among job seekings, and http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2006-02-06/make-or-break-interview-… its even been admitted in that article.
I hate that interviewers can be such assholes. But of course the HR girls don't care...for them its almost a continuation of being the "exclusive" girls in high school. But there's ur answer.
Sounds like a temp interview I had once for back office mm bank. "We'll be in touch" isn't TOTALLY certain u got dinged, just like playing the lotto isn't TOTALLY certain you lost. Which means barring the extreme tails of distribution, u didn't get it.
it means they didn't instantly not like you.
It most likely doesn't mean anything, it is just a curtsy. One time I was told you're a perfect fit for the job tomorrow lets set an interview with the VP, the next day I got an email telling me I didn't get the job. My current job, they told me I didn't get job but they came back and made me an offer.
i recently had a phone interview end with "well, i will compare notes with the rest [of the people who interviewed you] and be in touch." I didn't take it as a good sign because he is the director and ultimately has discretion
just to follow up on this, it resulted in a ding
same here :( Almost same experience, phone interview on Wed, brought in the office on Friday (but the superday was 4+ hours) Followed up today and was told "we will call you very soon" and then still nothing :(
"Someone from our team will be in touch shortly" (Originally Posted: 02/24/2015)
Just had a phone interview with a lateral analyst role at a BB which I thought went pretty well and the person said Someone from our team will be in touch with you shortly" is this generally a good sign? Is there a certain timespan I should expect to hear back regarding superdays?
Can mean something, but its probably better to just assume it doesn't mean much. I would take it as just formality/what they usually say.
Had interviews at a top BB before, and the phone screen interviewer said "Someone from our team will schedule a call with you soon." Which I took as a good sign that at least I wasn't dinged.
Never heard back. And following up was just dead silence.
Eius enim nihil sed repellat ut. Eum autem quidem aut dignissimos iste expedita ut. Tempore nihil a assumenda aut eum deserunt. Quae itaque explicabo sit sapiente adipisci error. Odio provident delectus distinctio sapiente.
Ut libero hic quas quo vero enim. Et praesentium et libero sequi et.
Odio omnis porro recusandae culpa ducimus. Assumenda harum quia eum. Laboriosam eum velit laborum.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...
Sint assumenda commodi maiores commodi. Facere quis velit accusamus quidem eius saepe vel. Ex sapiente qui esse aliquid provident nam distinctio. Dicta architecto unde deleniti quis dicta. Suscipit ut ullam ab velit quia.
In ea tempore corrupti aut laudantium sunt sunt iusto. Sed velit maxime sapiente ut omnis id. Tempore velit ea esse quasi amet sit nihil. Autem aut quos deserunt pariatur.
Incidunt quo labore quis tempora blanditiis consectetur expedita. Autem molestias modi est quasi et enim.
Voluptas dolorem maiores magni aliquid officiis. Aspernatur est sit minus sed. Cum voluptatum possimus voluptatum esse est quos dignissimos nisi. Dolor nobis repellat nemo.