So I had an interview today for a web development position just before the Nor'easter decimated New England and it went really well. The guy told me that he's "pretty certain" he'll be giving me an offer and that we'll meet again on Tuesday. And then about 20 minutes ago, I was talking to a kid who interviewed for the same position with the same guy one month prior and he told him that he'd be getting an offer as well, only to find that he never heard from the guy again.

The difference between this kid and I is I brought in my notebook-computer and showed him a web-based application I wrote to prove to him that I haven't lied on my resume.

Is it normal for interviewers to give basically hire potential employees during the interview, giving them hope, and then never call them again?

If anyone has similar stories, I'd like to hear 'em.

I think two types of people do this
Salesmen who are use to sales pitches and
Insecure people who don't know how to say NO.

Then of course too there is the con artist.

It is just the person who interviews, some don't want to sound "mean or cruel" and tell all the people, that they looked good and will hear from them. And often that hear from them is no, or they just don't hear.

I would on that day, call and follow up.

Good news, I got an offer!

I have an idea why that kid was never contacted, they may have found a public account (Facebook, MySpace, personal website, etc.) that they did not like, or I applied just as he was being interviewed and my resume was more attractive.

The initial interview is with the principle owner, president and lead software developer; a real genuine guy. He screens applicants to see whether they have the skills and drive to do the work required. Then he hands over names of applicants he likes to his wife and co-owner for her to Google names to find any dirt on the applicants. If it clears, you get called back for a second interview with his wife and sister. Clearly, I was called back and interviewed. The wife actually found a MySpace page (not mine) with my name on it. It's my band's MySpace page, and we have some pretty racey stuff on the front page. At first I was scared, but she said if it was an issue I wouldn't' have been called in for a second interview and that everyone in the office got a kick out of it.

Some good advice: if you have a MySpace or a Facebook account, delete them or make them unsearchable (Facebook has an option to do this). Even having a MySpace account could possibly kill your chances because of the kind of people that have one, at least Facebook is centered around the collegiate crowd. I lucked out, but if these folks were real stiffs, I'm sure they would've canned my resume.

So, I have false hope again, but for a different company.

I had an interview last Thursday, which was arranged through a recruiter, for another web development position. It was a panel interview, but the atmosphere was calm. They were genuinely impressed with my work—I had to write a small but tricky app in Ruby on Rails to be considered for a personal interview—and since this organization is in the music industry, they want the candidates to have a strong passion for music, which I do. In short, I know for certain I nailed this interview, and I owe it to the simple fact that I truly want this job.

Now here's the bad news, I still haven't heard from them, and I'm beginning to think it's hopeless at this point. But, according to my recruiter, the hiring manager left a voicemail the day after my interview, and since then they've been playing phone-tag. My recruiter, who has been working with the hiring manager for over a year, says that she knows the hiring manager has stuff going on so not to worry.

This is the first time I've ever used a recruiter to find a job. Should I go above the recruiter's head and contact this guy myself? My instincts are telling me no.

My instincts tell me no too.