As many job search experts have observed, looking for a new gig is a lot like dating. It’s totally possible to hit it off with the hiring manager and think things are going well, only to have them disappear into the ether without another word.
If you’ve been ghosted like this, your biggest question is probably, “Is it me or them?” The answer might be either, but our lead story this week offers tips for how to deal with the problem either way. That, plus how to identify a bad boss and the best way to learn new things, in this week’s roundup.
Tim Sackett at The Tim Sackett Project: Why Am I Being Ghosted After I Interviewed?
A reader writes in to ask:
I recently applied for a position that I’m perfect for! A recruiter from the company contacted me and scheduled me for an interview with the manager. I went, the interview was a little over an hour and it went great! I immediately followed up with an email to the recruiter and the manager thanking them, but since then I’ve heard nothing and it’s been weeks. I’ve sent follow-up emails to both the recruiter and the manager and I’ve gotten no reply.
What should I do? Why do companies do this to candidates? I would rather they just tell me they aren’t interested than have them say nothing at all!
Sackett’s insight and tips for what to do next will be useful for anyone who’s ever found themselves in this spot (which is to say, most of us, at one time or another).
Skip Prichard at his blog: 39 Traits of a Bad Boss
Bad managers are the No. 1 reason people leave their jobs. If you’ve ever suffered under a terrible manager, that’s probably not a surprise. But sometimes, it’s tricky to recognize a bad boss when you run into one: is your supervisor a micromanager or just attentive to the details? Is your plainspoken team leader abusive or merely direct?
This post offers some tips on figuring out where your manager lands on the bad-boss spectrum. For instance, self-confidence is one thing; self-centeredness is another. Here’s what the latter looks like in a boss:
“Everything is about him,” Prichard writes. “Not the organizational goals, but his bonus. Not about the team, but about his individual performance. ‘How I look’ is more important than anything else.”
See if any of these other traits ring a bell.
Jessica Stillman at Inc: Science Says This Is the Most Effective Way to Learn (but You Weren’t Taught It in School)
From the time you were a kid, you probably learned in tightly scheduled blocks, with one subject allocated to each period of time, followed by another and another and so on.
“It seems like a sensible enough way to keep chaos at bay and help teachers plan their days, but according to science there’s one not-so-minor problem with this way of arranging learning: It forces schools to move away from a study method that’s been proved to help us actually learn the fastest,” Stillman writes.
What’s the best way to pick up new skills, now that you’re in charge of your own learning (for the most part)? “Distributed practice.” Find out what that is and how to do it, in this post.
Tell Us What You Think
What’s the best career advice you’ve read this week? We want to hear from you. Tell us your thoughts in the comments or join the conversation on Twitter.
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