I'm in the process of hiring my summer staff, and have come up against something interesting that I've not encountered in the past.
I receive all the applicants' resumes from the theatre, go through them, and then send e-mails to set up phone interviews with the top candidates. The email clearly describes the position, the dates and the pay. The applicant then replies with their interest in continuing the process (or the statement that they have another job, or can't work those dates, or for that money, etc.) and we mutually decide on an interview date and time.
Pretty easy? Pretty clear? It seems so, yet there is a large percentage of Stage Manager applicants who NEVER respond. It is both polite and professional to respond either way (I certainly don't take offense when someone says "no thank you" to an interview) yet some of the applicants clearly do not deem this necessary. It's a pity, because then I begin to have pre-conceived notions about whether I'd even care to work with them.
True, people get busy, but if one applies for a job, shouldn't one be serious (or smart) enough to reply when an prospective employer makes the first move?
Has anyone else run into this?
And what might I be missing here?