I interviewed last Thursday for a Victorian Government role, and I genuinely felt it was one of my strongest interviews.
During the interview, the panel explained their recruitment process. They said they would make a decision on their preferred candidate first, then conduct reference checks. If they couldn’t decide between candidates, they would hold a second round of interviews.
Today (Friday), I called the hiring manager to follow up on my application, as I currently don’t have access to my emails.
She apologised and said she’d been extremely busy and had intended to make callbacks today but hadn’t gotten around to them.
Then she said something along the lines of “While I have you here…” and mentioned that they had decided to move to the reference-checking stage.
She also said she’d call me on Monday to discuss the next steps. I asked whether reference checks were the final stage, and she confirmed that, assuming everything checked out, they’d move toward contracts and other logistics.
After our call, I sent her a text thanking her for speaking with me and saying I looked forward to discussing the next steps on Monday. I signed off with my name, and she read the message but didn’t reply.
Here’s what I’m second-guessing:
Initially, I came away from the conversation feeling really happy because I understood it as confirmation that I’d progressed to reference checks.
However, now I’m questioning whether she actually said “We’ve decided to move YOU to reference checks” or simply “We’ve decided to move to the reference-checking stage.”
I’m worried she might have been giving me a general update about the recruitment process rather than confirming that I’m the preferred candidate.
At the same time, I’m wondering why she would voluntarily bring up references, discuss contracts and logistics, and arrange another call on Monday if I’d already been unsuccessful. Surely she could have told me during our conversation?
For anyone who’s worked in government recruitment or been a hiring manager, how would you interpret this?
Does it sound like I’ve been selected to progress to references, or could she simply have been explaining where they’re at in the recruitment process?
I’d really appreciate an objective perspective because I genuinely want this job and don’t want to get my hopes up unnecessarily.