What's the worse reason you were given for not being hired?

Question

I had a job interview one time where I met with several people. I thought the interview went pretty well.  It was a job found by a headhunter.  When she followed up with me after the interview she told me I wasn't hired because I forgot to capitalize the second letter 'P' in PowerPoint.  I was shocked when I heard that reason. Needless to say we both agreed that if that was the only fault they found with me then it wasn't a company I wanted to work for.  You can be darn sure that I always capitalize the second 'P' in PowerPoint since then.

Katie Eksten Gomez · Answer

Sounds like you dodged a bullet!

Anonymous · Answer

In my experience, very few companies / hiring managers / HR people really tell the truth in terms of why they didn't hire someone. There's potential legal liability in stating things in the wrong way, the possibility of offending someone and also sometimes a reason that just sounds lame, e.g. 'I liked the other candidate better' or something touchy-feely like 'I think someone else could do a better job.' I'm so convinced of this that I've stopped asking why I didn't get the job because I think a 'false' reason has too much potential to be psychologically damaging (and this is the case even if it's a fabricated answer)!

Anonymous · Answer

After a really rigorous interview process (6 interviews, plus a sample pitch deck) at a startup, I was told that they didn't want to hire me because I didn't have startup experience. I was incredibly frustrated, because they knew that up front- I wasn't sure why we had to go through such a lengthy interview process to get to that point!

Anonymous · Answer

Wow... I have to agree you dodged a bullet with that one. You could've easily fallen victim to a perfectionist or micro-managing work culture, otherwise. My worst reason was no reason at all! I reached the third round of interviews and went IN on my writing assignment, and never heard back from them. I followed up with them three weeks later, and they said they were taking long to conduct the interviews. It's been five months since then... but I'm finally employed and LOVING my new job! :)

Carrie Topolski · Answer

I think so! Grateful I didn't get the job.

Maggie B · Answer

YIKES.
I'd have run far, far away if I'd gotten that feedback.  Sounds like the time I had a sales rep tell me that starting a follow up e-mail with 'Hello again, Karen!' was 'too aggressive.'  If they're just looking for an excuse to criticize, that is NOT a place you want to be.

Sierra Modro · Answer

Just last month, I was contacted by a recruiter for a job that sounded interesting. It didn’t have a written job description (red flag!), but I agreed to talk to the hiring manager. We had a rather rushed call and I had no chance to ask questions. The manager wanted me to do some “homework” which is fairly standard for tech interviews. Okay. But the homework was really tactical work like writing SQL queries when he said they were looking for a strategic product manager. I said no thanks. The recruiter convinced me to talk to the manager again. During that call, the manager was selling me on how strategic the role was, impact, opportunities, etc. I agreed to do a variation on the homework and move forward. After spending about a half a day doing the homework, the manager came back and said that, after thought, it wasn’t a good fit because they needed someone more tactical. ???

Amy Wasserman · Answer

I once interviewed for a job, and the CEO personally called to say how much they loved me, but then told me they 'didn't have the time to train me.' What new employee can jump right into a new role with zero onboarding time? I always wondered who they hired. After chatting with some friends in similar roles, I think I ultimately dodged a bullet.

Olivia Balatbat · Answer

perhaps you applied in a Language School, if I may say, but a bit funny for that reason...

Anonymous · Answer

In multiple instances I was interviewing / in the running for a job for months on end. They kept telling me to continue checking in every two weeks until we eventually stopped contacting each other altogether. It was very frustrating!

What's the worse reason you were given for not being hired?

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