You had job interviews at a place you’d like to work. The interviews seemed to go well. Maybe one of the interviewers said they looked forward to working with you. But, not a word from them since then.

　　你参与了心仪公司的一场面试。面试过程似乎都很顺利。可能其中一位面试官还表示他们很希望与你共事。但自那之后，就毫无音讯了。

　　The recruiter/HR person/hiring manager said they’d make a decision before the end of last week. Or by the middle of last week. Or before the end of last month. Or some other time in the past. Their own deadline has passed — maybe days, maybe weeks ago. But, you haven’t heard from them. And, you may never hear from them. Or, you may hear from them tomorrow...

　　招募者/人力资源管理者/招聘经理说，他们会在上周末之前作出决定，或者是上周三之前，或上个月底前，或过去的某个时间。他们的最终决定时间早已过去了，或许就在几天或几周之前。但是，你没有收到他们的回音。并且，你可能永远都不会收到他们的回音。或者，你可能会明天才收到他们的回音……

　　Don’t “pause” your job search while you wait for an answer.

　　在等待回音的时候不要“暂停”你的求职。

　　Do NOT put your job search on hold while you wait to hear the news on any job! Keep your job search momentum rolling. Until you hold a job offer (with the right job title, salary, and start date) in your hand, you don’t have a new job.

　　千万不要在你等待任何工作消息的时候搁置求职的过程!不要停下求职的车轮。直到你拿到了工作机会(既定的工作头衔，薪水，开始上班日期)，你才算得到了新工作。

　　But, don’t assume that no news is bad news for your job search!

　　但是，不要认为没有消息就是坏消息!

　　You will probably not be told what happened, but don’t give up on an opportunity too soon. Employers almost always need more time to fill a job than they believe they will. Particularly if it has only been few days or a couple of weeks past the date the employer said they’d get back to you, don’t give up on the job. Yet!

　　可能没有人告诉你发生了什么事情，但不要太快放弃一个机会。雇主们通常都需要比他们相信的更多时间去填补职位空缺。尤其是如果只是过了雇主说了给予回复的时间的几天或几周，也不要放弃这份工作。还不能!

　　10 Things that Could Be Happening While You Wait

　　等待回音过程可能发生的10件事

　　Job seekers always seem to assume that the process works perfectly and smoothly on the employer’s side. But, speaking as someone who has been on the “other side” of the process, that assumption is often totally wrong. The reason you haven’t heard from them probably has little to do with you. Or it could have everything to do with you.

　　求职者似乎总以为雇主那边的招聘流程是完美且顺利的。但是，作为那个曾经在招聘过程中的“另一方”说话，这种猜测常常是大错特错的。你没有收到任何消息的原因，可能跟你关系不大。或者，完全跟你有关。

　　Without intending, the employer’s plans for the timing of the next step in the hiring process are almost always too optimistic. Many things can disrupt the schedule, particularly in large organizations.

　　雇主们给招聘的下一阶段的时间计划常常是过于乐观的，这不是故意的。许多事情都会影响时间安排，特别是大型的公司机构。

　　At the start of the process

　　在求职过程的开始阶段

　　1. Someone necessary to the process is missing.

　　1. 招聘过程的重要人物不在。

　　Hiring someone usually involves more than one person, and someone necessary to the process might be missing — out of the office (vacation, illness, death in the family, business travel, fired or quit, etc.) or handling an emergency. Until that person is available, the process waits.

　　招聘新员工常常需要多人参与，并且最重要的那个人有可能不在场——不在办公室里(度假，生病，家里的丧事，出差，被解雇或辞职，等等)或者正在处理一件紧急事件。这个过程得等到那个人有空在场的时候才能继续下去。

　　2. The other interviews are taking more time than expected.

　　2. 别人的面试花了比预期更多的时间。

　　Whether or not you were the first candidate interviewed, it may be a long wait. Interviews with other candidates are scheduled and re-scheduled as necessary people become available and unavailable (see #1).

　　无论你是否是第一个被面试的求职者，都可能需要等待很久。按照重要人物的行程给其他面试者安排或重新安排的面试。(见第一点)

　　3. They are getting ready for the next round.

　　3. 他们在为下一轮做准备。

　　Then, they may be scheduling a second (or third or fourth) round of interviews for the people who did well on the early round(s), after they determine who made it to the next round. And, figuring out who gets invited back is often a very complicated process involving meetings, discussions, email, and more meetings and discussions.

　　然后，他们可能正在给首轮表现出色的求职者安排第二轮(或第三或第四轮)面试，就在他们决定谁能晋级之后。然后，考虑谁能被再次邀请是一个非常复杂的过程，需要经过多次会议，讨论，邮件沟通，然后更多的会议和讨论。

　　After a round (or two) of interviews

　　经过了一或两轮的面试

　　If you’ve been through multiple rounds of interviews and are still waiting to hear, other things can get in the way:

　　如果你已经参与了多轮面试了，仍然处于等待的状态，还有其他的事情会阻碍招聘的过程。

　　4. They are working their process, tying up all the loose ends, checking off all the to-dos.

　　4. 他们在努力过着他们的流程，拉紧松弛的环节，检查所有待办事项。

　　They are checking references and running background checks on all the finalists, and waiting for results before they make their decision.

　　他们在检查推荐信和对最后的候选者进行背景检查，等待结果，再做决定。

　　5. Someone is missing, again.

　　5. 又，有人不见了。

　　Again, someone critical to the process may be unavailable, and nothing goes forward until they rejoin the process.