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Your milage may vary but for me, being a pest after I put in a application/interview always get positive results.
Call at least every other day and ask if they reviewed your application. It shows you want the job and employers take notice of this most of all in my experience. At worst you get told quicker that you aren't what they need.
Also apply to multiple places at once.

>Why does this always happen?
There's three common reasons:
A) you're under-qualified
B) you're bombing the interview
C) you seem unreliable
D) your background check is screwing you

>Why do they take so long to reject you?
The person in HR has to interview a batch of candidates, then determine who the best candidate is within the batch and whether or not that candidate should be hired. After the interview phase, notifications are sent out.

>How do I get a faster response so I know right away whether or not I got the job or not?
You could call the person in HR and demand a status update.

I work for a recruitment company and if you called me more than once to chase up an application I'd cross you off the list unless yours was the best resume I had received.

It shows a lack of respect for the other things I've got going on at the moment to repeatedly call me and ask for an update on a process that I know you know can take a few weeks even at a reasonable pace.

>You could call the person in HR and demand a status update.
Demanding things from the person your job application hinges on probably isn't good advice.

Don't apply for just one job at a time? If you're really seriously looking then there's nothing wrong with just applying to anything that you're qualified for. These companies aren't talking to each other to find out who has been applying for what and even if they did you're welcome to sell your labour to whomever you choose.

I've failed every job interview I ever had. I got lucky once and someone in my family hooked me up with a shitty ass job where I was working under the table. After a summer of doing that shitty job I decided I wanna learn a trade so now I'm back to the beginning.

If you're getting interviews but bombing them, it means that your interview skills are shit. Don't be complacent, work on them.

That's one thing. I also have a large work gap. I'm not sure if I can do anything about that one.

Again I said in my experience. Also you are one person, I was hired by many in my life following that advice. Odds are still good, based on our 2 experiences, that my advice is better than yours.
Actually you haven't given any advice, just tried to refute mine.
Now if you said me and my fellow employees at said recruitment office then maybe your argument would have a little more merit.

Interviews are easy once you've got some practice. Prepare some talking points for commonly asked questions, don't tell any lies you'll be caught out on, be polite, be funny, tell jokes, tell (shortened) personal anecdotes where applicable, demonstrate you understand what the interviewer wants and is looking for by asking intelligent questions or even just by asking them to clarify certain points. You need to come across as engaging and intelligent and interested, but not desperate.

As an HR manager, chill.

It takes a lot fucking time to go through everything, and a lot of companies have several people to go through and consider. The usual time frame at my company, after your interview, is:
>Discussion with you potential future manager
>Discussion with the department responsible (boss of the department/company CEO if the position is sufficiently high)
>Evaluation and individual ranking of the interviewed candidates, by me, the manager, and the responsible, another is discussion as a team to figure out who is actually at the top of the list
>Pick out the best ones, usually 2-5 candidates, and start checking up on that person's resume (verifying you are telling the truth, essentially), while simultaneously contacting the other people to let them know they didn't get the position. This is usually about a week after the LAST interview
And here I'd like to point out that we usually hold interviews over 2 to 3 weeks.
>after everything is checked, they do a final decision on who to employ.

This entire process AFTER THE LAST INTERVIEW can take up to 3 weeks, because these managers are busy as well with a lot of other things than hiring processes.

This stuff takes a lot of time. Hell, my last company was an international one, and the hiring process easily took 3 to 4 months. Chill and calm down, and don't stop searching. In fact, getting offers elsewhere is a great way to speed up the process and make you look more attractive. I've hired someone who had another offer they didn't even want, just because they came up and said they were about to sign a different contract if we couldn't give him one, and suddenly the manager scrambled to get it done.

Don't focus on one application.

Agreed, but hey, OP doesn't want to wait around.

I am not the only person who will toss a resume if the person is being annoying, but it's also individual. If you get a newbie who is still tolerant it might not be an issue, but if you get a hardass who has been doing it for 10 years you could get thrown out even if you're outstanding.

Nothing wrong with putting in a call or email to chase up your application, but only do it once, and only do it after a week or so has passed. If the job ad listed an 'apply before' date, then don't contact them until a few days or a week past that date. Hiring practices vary, some HR departments prefer to accept all applications then sort through them all at once, while others will sort through them as they come in. Either way it's far more typical for interviews to all be scheduled around the same time so if you've sent in an outstanding application and have been marked to receive an interview then it could still be a couple of weeks before they call you to arrange it.

dude, yesterday I got my first interview ever
I just woke up, and I got messages that I got the job. I'm so fucking happy

Are you more likely to hire someone if they show up with an application in person? I really need to get a job because the guy we rent with is selling his house in the next month so we need to gtfo asap. I'm a pretty good bullshitter but I've been literally shoving dozens of applications online a day and haven't heard anything back in over 3 weeks. I've had pretty bad gaps in my job history due to previous drug problems but this hasn't been a problem for me in about a year. I don't have a car and it's a spread out area so I've been avoiding walking around and shoving applications in but now I don't feel like I gotta choice in the matter and if it's a slightly higher chance at getting an interview, then I probably should get off my ass.

If there is a prescribed application process, you're expected to follow that. If they ask you to email in applications and you drop yours off in person, you're just going to look like a moron who can't follow basic instructions.

Yeah, this If the ad is listed online and they want you to apply through their website/a third party service/send them an email then you do that. Hiring is a pain in the ass as it is without people trying to jump the queue by being overachievers.

If you want work in a trade or a retail/fast food setting then by all means apply in person.

>If you want work in a trade or a retail/fast food setting then by all means apply in person.
Again, a lot of them have a preferred way of handling applications. Some might even have specific websites. The people involved in the hiring process usually aren't even people who work at the store itself if it's a big chain, so you're not doing yourself any favours by trying to hand them a resume.

And if there's a specific job application form, make sure that you use it. A copy of your resume without the form is just going to go in the trash

Beat me to it.

It's fine. I'm never bothered about when they get back to me and I just move on. And chances are these days that they will never give you any response, even a rejection. So, think of it like a job lottery. Put your tickets in and they'll call you if you win.

I even treat phone screens that way. They mean nothing. Only if I get a walk-in do I actually think I have a shot.

In an odd way, the longer they take, the more promising it is. They reject the real losers instantly. You probably made it through a couple of stages before being beaten out by someone better.

The problem is always at the point that you stall. Did you get as far as interviews? Then your letter and resume are fine but you screwed up the interview. If you don't even get as far as interviews, there is something wrong with your letter and resume.