Job follow up? URGENT

I applied for a research assistant role on 4th Aug. Closing date was 8th Aug.

On 21st Aug, I emailed HR asking about an update and they said my application is still in shortlisting stage and once the state is completed, they will send us an outcome/interview invite.

However, nothing so far.

I really wanted this role but I think I have been rejected. Should I follow up or forget about it?

IMHO, I don't see the harm in chasing, as you've nothing to lose by asking. There may be legitimate reasons for a delay (e.g. funding issues, people on leave as said above, other commitments (e.g. new semester preparation) taking priority etc.). ... not to mention if there are additional checks depending on the nature of the research. The way I see it, following it up tells them that you're keen on the post.

The very worst that can happen is that you have your suspicions confirmed. In which case, try asking for some feedback.

Will they think I'm pushy???

Nah, I think it's a legit thing to ask.

The deadline was 8th Aug and you followed it up on 21st Aug. That's over 2 weeks ago, so no harm in chasing it up.

Maybe wait until towards the end of the week, and ask where they are with the shortlisting stage.

It's not like you've been chasing them every day on this (is it lol)

No I haven't followed it up after 21st. Do you think I have been rejected and they haven't emailed the ones who got rejected?

It could be... but it could also be that they haven't seriously considered your application yet (i.e. you made a fairly decent application, but not their first choice, they could choose to interview you, if their preferred candidates didn't work out) .

If it's a position where they would get a lot of applications, then the chances are they wouldn't write back to you if they weren't interested. However, if it's one where they only expect a few (or a handful at most) of very specific applications, I would have thought they would be polite enough to write back to tell you that your application was unsuccessful. Given the nature of the role you're applying for (Academic research within a University), I would expect the latter to apply to you.

The only way you're going t find out for sure is if you chase them up on it.

They said they will let me know whatever the outcome is once all applications are reviewed and shortlisting has been completed but 2 weeks gone and nothing

If they said they will let you know the outcome (regardless of whether you were successful or not), then chances are it's still in progress.

For most academic type positions, they can be very very specific about the sort of experience / qualities they want the right candidate to have. They might be reviewing their experience... so looking into their listed project work, reviewing all previous conference / journal publications as well. This could take a substantial amount of time, depending on the quality of the applicants.

I know you're dead keen to get this particular application, but you've just got to be patient and play the waiting game (for my current job, I didn't hear back from them until about 2 months after the interview, and I honestly thought I didn't get it). Having said that, definitely once it's been about 3-4 weeks after the last contact, I don't think it's unreasonable to chase them.

They are hiring 5 research assistants to help conduct interviews for their project and interviews are supposed to be held online in September . Hence I'm worried that why aren't they sending any update when they will interview people in September?

Well we're barely a week into September... as I said, you can probably chase them again next week if you don't get an update this week.

do other applicants know the outcome date?

I did email HR today but no reply from them yet

I did email HR today but no reply from them yet

HR are generally very very slow and generally useless in my experience. Least you did get in touch so they will need to reply soon. Good luck