[alexchamberlain]

The biggest step I have a problem with is not getting back to someone. You've decided within a few hours, or at least a day or so, whether someone has the job. Is it too much to ask for you to send a copy and paste email to say "Sorry, not this time"!?! Argh!

Luckily, I now have a job when I leave Uni, so don't have to go to another interview for a while. :)

[demallien]

Actually often you haven't decided in a matter of hours. In a typical recruiting cycle, a company that is hiring might organise interviews with a half-dozen or so candidates after pre-screening. This is typical because you can't go through the whole process with one candidate, then if you don't like them, start a new search for another candidate and so on - if you need to do six or so interviews to find a good candidate, a serial procedure like that could drag on for 3-4 months.

So, knowing that other candidates are also in the pipe, candidates can't expect to be told whether they have got the job until after all of the candidates have been seen. I don't think that this is unreasonable on the company's part.

That said, the company should be able to give you a date for when the decision will be taken, and that date should be less than a day after the last interview, ie as soon as is possible.

[alexchamberlain]

Yes, I'm approaching this from a relatively simplistic point of view, but...

You have 6 interviewees. Get them to your office on one day. Find 6 interviewers and 6 rooms. Put each interviewee in each room and rotate the interviewers. Discuss, decide and communicate.

Is it that hard!?!

[demallien]

In a word, yes!

I'm assuming you've never actually tried to do this. But even so, you could try this experiment for yourself - try and organise an evening out for you and six of your friends. Not any six mind, but start out with a group of six and say "I need all these six and only these six, no-one else will do". Now have a look at how far you have to plan ahead to get all six to be available. If your friends are anything like my friends, you are looking at needing about 2 months warning.

Job interviews are even worse. They last longer. They happen during office hours, when most good candidates already have a job, so candidates are going to need to negotiate time off. Candidates will have holidays planned, for some certain days of the week will just be impossible due to family constraints, or sport constraints, or whatever.

[dangrossman]

Do you really want to be interviewed by whatever random employees had the most free time, instead of the person who's actually going to be managing you?