Depends if they have made a decision.

A 2 week interview period (time to interview multiple candidates). Then about a week to get an offer to the selected candidate (and hopefully declines to the candidates that are hard no's).

If you are 2nd, you will be waiting while they get an offer to the first pick, and wait for them to review & decide on it (could be 2 weeks), plus a few days for them to pull together an offer for you (or turn you down if they accept).

If you are third pick, add another cycle of the above paragraph.



Also note that just ghosting unsuccessful candidates is sadly common.

Depends on whether all of the internal approvals are in place. 

I had a perfect candidate, but was unable to make an offer until all of the internal checks and balances were complete. He'd already been through nearly 4 weeks of interviews and was probably expecting an offer. 
I'd instructed the recruitment team to make an offer and they took three weeks to do so - at which point the candidate had moved on - I then had to go and chase up the remaining candidates to see what the lay of the land was with them. 
We did another round of final interviews and then I had the wonderful experience of having the FTE approval pulled so couldn't offer a position to anyone. 

Some of those people had to wait for up to 8 weeks with no clue as to what was going on, as I couldn't provide any updates. 

Thankfully I am no longer a people leader. 

There should be some form of legislation that an organisation shouldn't be allowed to commence external recruitment until the headcount has been approved.  A kind of CGA for jobseekers if you like.

Handsomedan:

 

Depends on whether all of the internal approvals are in place. 

 

I had a perfect candidate, but was unable to make an offer until all of the internal checks and balances were complete. He'd already been through nearly 4 weeks of interviews and was probably expecting an offer. 
I'd instructed the recruitment team to make an offer and they took three weeks to do so - at which point the candidate had moved on - I then had to go and chase up the remaining candidates to see what the lay of the land was with them. 
We did another round of final interviews and then I had the wonderful experience of having the FTE approval pulled so couldn't offer a position to anyone. 

 

Some of those people had to wait for up to 8 weeks with no clue as to what was going on, as I couldn't provide any updates. 

 

 

 

Thankfully I am no longer a people leader. 

 

As always with answers in technology:  it depends :-)

Personally, that is one subject I always try to finish an interview with:  What are the next steps, and when will results be communicated? 

It at least attempts to set an expectation. 

It differs a lot depending on the organisation's processes and  the individuals involved (both in the business function and the HR team). 

I have worked with wonderful HR people and terrible HR people. Nothing surprises me any more. 

Memorably one of my colleagues received a rejection email ("unfortunately we have decided not to proceed with your application") from our HR team about five months after he had started working with us... 

cddt:

 

Memorably one of my colleagues received a rejection email ("unfortunately we have decided not to proceed with your application") from our HR team about five months after he had started working with us... 

 

That comment made me LOL. Boy, what a classic.

turtleattacks:

 

Off-topic but would you think salary ceiling is higher when you are a people leader? A specialist can only earn so much? 

 

Theoretically, I could be a Head of Department and not have direct reports at all, simply a responsibility for my business unit - that would be a more highly paid role than my current specialist role. 

Just remember that the more you are paid, the higher the expectation - as I have found out the hard way a few times in the past. 

floydbloke:

 

There should be some form of legislation that an organisation shouldn't be allowed to commence external recruitment until the headcount has been approved.  A kind of CGA for jobseekers if you like.

 

I agree - although in my case the headcount was approved and then removed  

It depends a lot, ideally there should be some communication after the interview even if it just to say you've been short-listed and we expect the final decision to take x days/weeks. Also I'd suggest if you haven't heard anything after a week or so touch base with the hiring manager or HR rep to find out what is going on.

I've seen a number of things drag the process out though:

 

1. Hiring manager came down sick partway through the interview process
2. Person was a very close second or first equal ranked and they wanted to get someone else's opinion/extra interview on the first ranked
3. A candidates references took an age to get back to the hiring manager
4. Offered the position to the first ranked, who either negotiated or eventually turned down the role, so offered it to the second ranked
5. Decided to hire more than one of the top ranked candidates when only had approval for one, so had to go back to senior management for approval for additional positions
6. HR forgot to send out the offers, or rejections or they got lost in spam (automated software for rejections)

Most of these should be communicated if the hiring manager knows what they're doing or the HR team does. Also if it's taking a while it's well worth reaching out for an update, you don't need to be passive in such situations. A polite request for an update after a reasonable period (defined by what they told you about the processing during the interview) maybe to your benefit if they're having problems with the first person they offered the role too, or are trying to decide between multiple equally qualified candidates.

Handsomedan:

 

floydbloke:

 

There should be some form of legislation that an organisation shouldn't be allowed to commence external recruitment until the headcount has been approved.  A kind of CGA for jobseekers if you like.

 

 

I agree - although in my case the headcount was approved and then removed  

 

It's also a reasonable and ethical thing for a business to decide not to employ someone if circumstances change. It's certainly better than the alternative of hiring someone and then immediately making their role redundant.

Things change which mean the role may no longer be required, most businesses don't waste time and money recruiting unnecessarily. 

Handsomedan:

 

turtleattacks:

 

Off-topic but would you think salary ceiling is higher when you are a people leader? A specialist can only earn so much? 

 

Not always. 
Unique specialists are highly paid at the right places and in the right industries. 

 

Theoretically, I could be a Head of Department and not have direct reports at all, simply a responsibility for my business unit - that would be a more highly paid role than my current specialist role. 

 

Just remember that the more you are paid, the higher the expectation - as I have found out the hard way a few times in the past. 

 

It all depends. I'm a sole contributor these days but in a corporate leadership role for a specialist topic. In NZ I was working in a local business unit with 14 direct reports.

I get paid a lot more now than I did then.