HACKER Q&A
📣 thrwAwyAmzGhst

What to do when your Amazon recruiter ghosts you?


I had an Amazon "phone interview" which was a video call on Chime, with general background questions, live coding exercises and "Leadership Principles" questions.

I don't think it was perfect, but I don't think it was bad either.

However it has been over a week and I have 0 feedback from my recruiter even though I sent 2 follow-up emails.

On the application tracking website it still says "under consideration", but I'm starting to get worried especially with recent layoff news.

Should I be worried, or is this normal?


  👤 softwaredoug Accepted Answer ✓
You handle ghosting by setting some kind of deadline, with what happens if you don't hear back. This lets them know you interpret their lack of response as lack of interest, but also clearly sets the expectation you're in demand, there's other fish in the sea, and you're moving on.

> Hey, thanks for chatting! I'm very enthusiastic about this [role|opportunity|etc]... I really enjoyed my chats with Sue and Bob...

> I just need to know by Monday next week if we're moving forward the the process, as I have other opportunities I'm simultaneously pursuing.

Then if/when you don't hear back, you move on with your life, and treat it like they're not interested.

(I would also try to do this verbally as well, being really clear you want to know next steps, when you should hear back, and that you're not putting life on hold forever)


👤 anon50118810
I don't know much about how hiring works at Amazon, but for most employers, at this point you should just forget about it and move on. Two emails in a week is at the very edge of crossing into pushy or desperate.

Of course there are also the layoffs, which you mentioned, and next week is a holiday in the U.S. which means hiring will slow down generally.


👤 ushercakes
I would just wait and see if you hear anything back from the email you sent today.

The reality with Amazon is that recruiters are swamped and have insane quotas to meet, they unfortunately lose track of stuff often.

On top of that, Amazon just laid off a bunch of people, and have publicly stated they plan to lay off a bunch more people. You may have been screwed by the hiring freeze, and basically signed up for an interview via an automated system with no real job on the other side.


👤 ActorNightly
2 things.

First, Amazon has a hiring freeze in place. Secondly, those 10k layoffs are concentrated heavy in the HR department, specifically in recruiting, where people are being offered pretty decent severance pay.

You could be stuck in limbo until this blows over, but I wouldn't bet on it. At this point, take whatever job you can get if you have others lined up.


👤 l33tc0de
You celebrate, because more likely than not you dodged a bullet

👤 rl1987
You do nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Ghosting candidates after wasting their time is the norm in the industry and you should focus on other interview processes.


👤 oldsklgdfth
Maybe your recruiter was affected by the recent layoffs.