Robin,

I was just getting ready to say that : )

There are also other reasons for long delays.  Quite often a Museum may be
large and/or be part of a large parent organization like a university.  In
these cases the people actually doing the hiring may be discouraged or
outright barred from sending rejection letters.  An HR department may
require an official letter come from them.  This may take weeks of
bureaucracy to get done. And even when these letters can come from the
hiring office they sometimes can't do so until all of the proper paperwork
and related administrative gymnastics have been done which may include
background checks, filing equal opportunity forms, and other time consuming
tasks. I have known HR decisions to require the signature of up to 5 people
in 5 different offices.  This could take a month or more.  There is also the
sad fact that some museums sometimes advertise and/or interview for jobs
before they have full funding or decided on an exact job description or
organizational chart.  The long delay in an answer could reflect a delay in
funding or an organization in flux.  And this is not to mention regularly
scheduled vacations, sick days, and personal emergencies for any person in
the hiring chain.

None of this is to excuse not communicating with applicants in a complete
and timely fashion. But bear in mind there may be good, logical reasons for
the delay that may be out of the hands of the people who interviewed you and
with whom you will eventually work.  Absent a timely notification of
acceptance or rejection, I at least appreciate accurate information as to
how long I will have to wait for a reply.  I might be willing to wait a
month or even two, but tell me so up front.  I would consider rude treatment
in the hiring process as an important factor when weighing whether to take a
job or not.  For example (for all of you students who think you want to work
for a large well known museum), if it took weeks or even a month for an
application to wend its way through the HR maze of an organization, is that
an institution you want to work for? Chances are other projects are just as
difficult to get done.  Maybe that's fine with you, maybe not.  But keep it
in mind.


--
Matthew White
Director of Museums
Mount Washington Observatory

Want to know more? Visit our web site at
www.mountwashington.org




Panza, Robin Wrote:

> Sometimes the long delay is because the institution is negotiating with
> their first choice.  Until a contract is signed, there is always the
> possibility that negotiations will "break down" and the company will then go
> back to their short list and start talking to another candidate.  Therefore,
> they don't officially reject the rest of the short list until they know for
> sure the "backups" won't be needed.  I'm not saying this is right or wrong,
> just that it's a very common practice in industry.

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