I connected with the company on LinkedIn. I connected both with the hiring manager and the VP. I told him I was very interested in coming to work there because I have many years of experience in the HCM world. The manager called me and seemed very standoffish during the call. Was not really impressed by my experience, even though I have been very successful in this field. He told me that they are growing their customer base and they need someone who can start and hit the pavement. When I asked what the next steps were, he told me that they were just passively interviewing until they find the right candidate. What a waste of both of our time. Why would a company that needs salespeople only be passively interviewing? And what are they waiting for? Jesus to apply? Anyway, I followed up a week later, and the manager sent me back an email in an annoyed tone, saying that "as he mentioned last week", they were just passively interviewing. Not being deterred, I sent an email to the VP who I also connected with on linkedin trying to make the business case to move me forward in the process. The original manager emailed me back and was very pissed off. Instead of him being impressed by my tenacity and desire to work there, he felt like I went behind his back and try to get him in trouble Instead of being enamored by my ability to find contacts at their company and build inroads, he responded in such an offended way. Such a pointless experience, and their loss for not hiring me. My persistence and my ability to build inroads is what has made me a major success, and they just lost out. I guess they just want their sales reps to not be persistent and to wait for the phone to ring.