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Annetta Moses
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1.31k
Consumer Insights and Strategy Leader
08/30/20 at 3:26AM UTC
in
Career

Understanding Why You Didn’t Receive a Job Offer

This post is to provide suggestions of what you can do to help you understand why you didn’t get a job offer. Most of these suggestions require you to know the job requirements most important to the hiring managers and to honestly evaluate yourself against the requirements. 1) You didn’t have the preferred skills The desired skill set is usually defined on the job description. If not, did you ask HR or your recruiter what skills and work experience was most important for someone to have for the position? Job descriptions will list basic, or preferred requirements, many will even list optimal skills and experiences. Usually, three to five of these qualifications are the most important to the hiring manager. For example, with a job description listing a bachelor’s degree as a basic requirement and a master’s as a preferred requirement, the hiring manager will frequently lean towards someone with a master’s degree. While you may have satisfied all the other criteria for the position, the job may go to someone with a master’s degree because that is what the hiring manager wanted. Evaluate yourself against the first three to five qualifications listed to decide if you had the basic or preferred requirements, and if you had any of the optimal skills. If you had only basic or preferred requirements, the position may have gone to someone who had a better mix of preferred and optimal qualifications. 2) You didn’t demonstrate that you had the desired skills required for the job During the interview you need to ask the hiring manager and other interviewers what they consider the most important qualifications and skills needed to be successful in the position. These are the skills and experiences you need to speak to in the interview. As succinctly as possible talk about how you can meet those requirements. Provide examples of your work that demonstrate you can do the job. 3) Recruiting team had concerns about your qualifications During the interview did you ask the hiring manager and other interviews if they had any concerns based on your application, resume, or stated experiences? This is a key question you should be asking in each interview so that you can close any gaps in their assessment of you and your ability to successfully do the job. Interviewers may tell you they believe you are lacking a specific experience, or they’re concerned about your ability to communicate clearly. Knowing what they perceive to be your shortcomings opens the door for you to point out or expand on resume points they were not fully considered. If after addressing these points you don’t get the job offer, you have some potential reasons why. You can then decide if the skills gap was real, or you need to work on how you present yourself. perceived shortcomings. Looking through this list you can see that several of these points required you to have critically evaluated yourself against the job requirements up front; and then continue to ask questions during the interview process. You can’t effectively sell yourself without understanding the job both as it was presented in the ad, and as you learn more about it in the interview process. 4) Compare yourself to the person who accepted the job For the next one to six months, scan the employee profiles on LinkedIn for the company. You are looking for the person with the job title of the position for which you didn’t receive an offer. Look at the person’s profile and evaluate who you compare to this individual. The gaps you see in education and experience between you and the person hired provide you with hints of why you didn’t get the job offer. During the recruiting process, you do your best to prove that you’re a good fit for the job and the company, but you also need to accept that there are times when the decision of who received the job offer was influenced by factors you couldn’t control. For example, you were equally qualified, but you required relocation and the other person didn’t. The job went to the local, more cost effective hire. You were equally qualified, but your competitor was referred by a company employee and the internal referral receive preference. I hope that these suggestions will not only provide some clarity on why you might not have received the job offer, but also help you better present yourself in the future.

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T. Humphrey
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76
VERSATILE BUSINESS ANALYST/PROJECT MANAGER
09/15/20 at 1:35PM UTC
Hi Everyone, I agree with Deb's comment too. Another factor may be monetary. The company may not want to pay the base salary you are asking for, and extend the interview process until they find someone with a lower base salary requirement. Remember your entire salary is the base, plus benefits and bonus, that all adds up to the their bottom line. Recently a Talent Acquisition (TA) representatives wanted to know what my salary range was, because they needed to determine if it was within the budget, if it was to high the interview process ended with the initial TA interview. I found that to be very refreshing.
Annetta Moses
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1.31k
Consumer Insights and Strategy Leader
09/16/20 at 4:02AM UTC
I see your point. When I am recruiting, I want to know if candidates consider my compensation bundle something they would consider. I have my TA rep share the range for salary, bonus and RSU. I also have the rep share benefits. Sometimes a lower base salary can be offset with a higher 401K match.
Guadalupe Orozco
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26
Educator and Advocate in Los Angeles
09/03/20 at 6:21PM UTC
I've made it a point to request guidance or advice on where my downfalls were that could have put me on top. But its also something I've made an effort to recognize is never personal when they don't chose you. Whether it was a fair decision or not, it ultimately doesn't have to do with your qualifications but rather the companies motto to doing things. Its hard to look past the possibilities of why but its important to walk away proud and grateful to have been able to practice, learn and use the company in an interview.
Deb Strickland
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181
Digital Marketing | Analytics & Tech Nomad
09/01/20 at 6:20PM UTC
Another common reason has nothing to do with logic - the job wasn't real to begin with OR they already knew who they wanted to hire and were just interviewing to check off some bogus HR requirement. These two happen a lot! It's horrific but real. So this means it has nothing to do with how qualified you are or how you performed in the interviews. You might as well have been a potted plant that they met with.
YASMINE KHALIL
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118
Client Development & Operations
09/03/20 at 10:58PM UTC
Good point & 100% agree with you, Deb! We can't feel down each time we don't get "the" job. So many variables in play, including the ones listed in this entire discussion. Point being...don't beat yourself up & instead keep your head held high & tell yourself it wasn't meant to be but another better opportunity will present itself. You have to keep your confidence & self-worth. Right now & with this job market...not easy!
Anonymous
09/01/20 at 5:05PM UTC
My question is the following, "who is being provided information about why they did not get the job." I ask because I have been through rounds and rounds of interviews with numerous companies. I have been searching for a position Since January 2018. I have location parameters which admittedly makes it tougher to find something in my location. However, I have made it to the final round many times and not gotten the position. I have years and years of experience. I have won awards for my work. I have fantastic references. I am able to make a connection with the interviewers at all levels. So I am totally baffled. I have spoken to career counselors about this. I have asked the hiring managers to provide feedback so that I can continue to improve myself. I get crickets. Nothing. No feedback. It is either ghosting or I am told they are not allowed to provide feedback (probably because they think it's a potential liability). So how do you get feedback to even know why you weren't chosen for the position?
Annetta Moses
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1.31k
Consumer Insights and Strategy Leader
09/02/20 at 4:06AM UTC
It is my experience that due to legal liability, most companies will not provide you with feedback. Has a career counselor conducted and video taped a mock interview? Did the counselor observe anything that could be the reason you didn't get an offer? Here are tips based on people I have coached. 1) During the interview, use the word "I" to describe your work. 2) Provide answers inthe STAR format. What was the SITUATION? What TASK were you given/What was your objective? What ACTIONS did you do? What were the RESULTS? Your results should be quantified. I am more likely to give a job offer to a person who completed a project that "increased sales $1 million or 20%" than a person who "increased sales". 3) Make sure your answers tie to the job description. If I have a job that involves working on a team and every interview response is about the candidate working solo, I have the impression that the candidate has zero experience working on a team. 4) Make sure you ask for the job. "Because of my XZ skills, I believe I am a great fit for this position. I want to be a part of the team at company ABC".
Aubrey Cirillo
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110
Recruiting Manager at Custom Ink in Virginia
08/31/20 at 10:53PM UTC
Agree with many of the responses - soft skills may also factor in, along with culture fit. Also, it sometimes comes down to a very competitive talent pool and even if you may check the boxes and appear to be just as qualified as the hire -- sometimes its in the delivery. Who was able to communicate and sell their experience the best -- as well as connection to the hiring team. Best takeaway is to learn from each and every experience, ask for the feedback and I even encourage candidates that fall in this bucket to continue to consider future roles.
Jessica Sweet, CPCC, LICSW
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21
Coach for midlife professionals and execs
08/31/20 at 8:19PM UTC
You may also not have the soft skills or fit in with the company culture in a certain way. Many companies are looking for employees that have a certain mindset like "curiosity," or "thinking big." If you don't demonstrate these, you won't make the team, no matter how well your resume fits the job description.
Brandy Beauchamp
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109
A day is successful if you have learned.
08/31/20 at 6:44PM UTC
Thank you for posting! These can really help you grow as you go through interviews.
Annetta Moses
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1.31k
Consumer Insights and Strategy Leader
09/02/20 at 3:36AM UTC
You are welcome. I hope the information is helpful.
Anonymous
08/31/20 at 6:13AM UTC
What suggestions do you have for someone who has anxiety doing the interview processing?
Laura Leach
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168
Professional Career Coach
08/31/20 at 9:48PM UTC
Practice, practice, practice. You will be more comfortable and have less anxiety if you know how you are going to answer questions.
Anonymous
08/30/20 at 8:57PM UTC
The way I see it, a closed door and another opens up. Learn from the experience to change how you prepare next time.
Sweet Caroline
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4.25k
08/30/20 at 12:49PM UTC
I think you missed the most common one, the hiring manager didn’t feel a connection with you. I often go with my gut to see if someone will fit well with our team and our corporate culture.
Anonymous
08/31/20 at 12:48PM UTC
Going with your gut can also undermine diversity. We connect to people who like us, meaning if someone is different you pass them on solely based on "gut" or basic instincts.
Sweet Caroline
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4.25k
08/31/20 at 2:58PM UTC
When I go with my gut it has more to do if the person will fit in, my last 2 hires were good gut feels and both represented minority and female hiring over white males. There are some folks who just can't mesh with a company culture, as a hiring manager you can't change that about someone. If they are unprepared for the interview, interrupt you while speaking, talk about using the job as a stepping stone right away, that gives me pause.
Annetta Moses
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1.31k
Consumer Insights and Strategy Leader
08/30/20 at 6:22PM UTC
You bring up a valid point that the manager or someone didn't have a connection with the candidate. When people are evaluating a candidate they want someone they want to work with.

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