I want to preface by saying that I know the default advice is going to be “move on from this company, they obviously don’t have their shit together” and I get that. I wish I had other opportunities that I could fall back on but realistically, I don’t. I have been applying in intervals for the last year now. There are weeks I pump out 40+ applications and corresponding cover letters, and there are weeks I can only bring myself to do 1 or 2. Regardless, this is the second company to ever follow up with more than a “we went with other applicants” email, and the only one that I got to a zoom interview for. I’m qualified and a very hard worker, not that any of the places I apply for would ever find out.
I received an invitation to a screening call for a company a bit over a month ago. They liked me a lot and let me continue to a second interview which was a bit outside the norm, but I nailed that interview. I moved on to a third zoom interview. That interview went so well that the person interviewing me asked if I had extra time at the end to join another call with the head of the department. That conversation went extremely well. The department head gave me all of their email addresses so I could email them directly if I needed anything, so I imagine they liked me. They also let me know that the anticipated start date was Sept 18th. The recruiter went on vacation for a week after this so I heard nothing. When he came back I was told that it may take another week or so for me to hear anything further. They had to contact my references, who all gave stellar feedback. They had everything they needed on September 11th. I continued to follow up. I was told the following on September 15th:
“I'm very sorry for the slow turnaround time on our end. We take candidate experience very seriously, but we've run into some roadblocks that caused an abnormally long wait time. To be more specific, the team is working on putting together a meaningful offer for you, but we're waiting on budget approval from our finance team to finalize the details of the offer. Realistically, I don’t expect another update until next week”
This got me really excited. The word “offer” (not to mention meaningful). I was happy to wait until “next week”. I followed up on the following Tuesday and expressed my worries (professionally) and wanted to make sure I was still being considered. Also at this point it was past the anticipated start date. I got this response on the 20th:
“To put it bluntly, you are absolutely still in consideration for this position. If it were up to (department head) and the team, we would be ready to make an offer. We're still waiting on final budget approval from our finance team before we're able to move forward. We are expecting the approval to go through, but the process is taking longer than expected due to their workload.
That's pretty much where we're at, and why there's been such a delay. We truly apologize for the trouble, but I can assure you that (department head) and I are doing everything we can to get the approval as quickly as possible.“
It’s now been another week. This is taking over my life. Every hour feels like a year. I am checking my emails every 5 minutes. I can’t sleep. I get migraines every few days. I’m crying constantly. This job would be life changing and get me out of the unsafe apartment I’m currently in. I’m currently on food stamps that last me only half the month with how much groceries are now. I could afford to buy food, and god forbid, leisurely things. I’ve been trying to apply myself harder at school (I’m pursuing a bachelors degree online) but I can’t focus. OR I get it all done like I have this week and I have nothing else to do.
I did break down and email again yesterday just asking if there are any updates and I haven’t heard anything back. (My emails are brief and the recruiter has mentioned he appreciates me keeping up with him, it makes his job “enjoyable”). At this point I’m scared they’ll just ghost me.
I think my reason for posting here is to vent but also seek advice for how to get through this. Or if based on this, anyone thinks I should even keep my hopes up. Has anyone seen a decision like this take so long (or longer)? It’s something that is hard to research. I am still applying other places, but it feels like throwing my information to a void.
TL;DR
I’ve been waiting a month to hear back from a company I excelled in the interviews for due to the “financial department” needing to green light my offer. Has anyone seen something like this take so long, or longer?