Why Didn’t I Get the Job?
You had the recruiter screen, the initial interview with the hiring manager, and you met with 3 other stakeholders. You’ve made it to the final round of the interview process, and the company graciously offers you the opportunity to showcase your talents and knowledge by preparing a presentation in which you present a solution to one of their business problems. You’re sure you killed it. But then? Crickets. No one returns your calls or replies to your emails. Then one day, it arrives. The email thanking you for taking the time to interview with them, telling you how impressed they were with your qualifications, but they’ve decided to go with another candidate. But don’t worry—they’re going to keep your resume on file should a suitable position open up in the future.
I get it. It’s beyond frustrating. You’re wondering why. Why didn’t they choose you? You replay every interaction in your mind, dissecting your words and responses, trying to figure out what you did wrong. You run your various theories by well-meaning friends and family who give you well-meaning advice. Next time, tell them you want the job in the interview! You should send a gift to the hiring manager after the final round! You should probably prepare more thoroughly and practice your interviewing skills. If you have contended with multiple rounds of interviews, all parties involved can assume that you want the job. Sending a fruit basket to the hiring manager to coax them into hiring you is not a good strategy. And lastly, if you are progressing through multiple rounds of interviews, rest assured that your interview technique is just fine.
The myth that the most qualified candidate is the one who gets the job fuels the idea that if you’re not selected, you must have done something wrong or be deficient in a critical area. Despite best hiring practices being widely accessible, the truth is that MOST hiring decisions come down to a gut-level feeling. Considering that most interviewers receive no formal training in conducting interviews, this is unsurprising.
Such gut-level feelings may be articulated in various ways. I took some time to mine Reddit for the most common reasons candidates are rejected out of pocket. Here is a small sample:
They gave me the “heebie jeebies.” How do you measure and evaluate the heebie jeebies?
We interviewed a guy who seemed to have watched too many YouTube videos about interviewing. Everything about him was so performative that I couldn’t get any real sense of who he was. But you don’t want people to be unprepared, either.
A coworker rejected someone due to their nasal voice. Is the tenor of someone’s voice critical to the business?
A woman clicked a pen too much during the interview. Uh, okay.
Turned down for not wearing makeup. The hiring manager said she clearly wasn’t even trying. I don’t even know what to say about this one.
One man was turned down for a manager role for saying he liked to come by everyone’s desk and say good morning every day. The peer-level manager said he must be a busybody. Checking in with your direct reports and coworkers on a daily basis is. . .bad?
The candidate had braces, and the manager found it weird to see a 30-year-old man with them. Weird thing to say.
One man was rejected for having a voice impediment despite giving one of the best interview answers I’ve ever heard. The hiring manager didn’t even give a reason; they just acted like we couldn’t hire someone with a voice impediment. Potentially illegal.
They liked the opposite sports team, and the guy didn't want to have to hear about it at work. Everyone on the team should have the same opinions about everything.
Had a manager ask a candidate in a panel interview what his favorite movie was. He said, “A Clockwork Orange.” She tried to veto the hire when the other 3 managers wanted to hire him. So she pulled the “he makes me uncomfortable with his movie choice” to disqualify him. Why is this an interview question at all?
Yes, there are times when one candidate edges out another with a specific perspective or experience. But assuming there is some truth to these anecdotes, we can conclude that at times the reason a company rejects you has nothing to do with your experience, background, or qualifications. It can be as mundane or as ridiculous as any of these examples. Ruminating on the reasons behind rejection is not a good use of your resources. The best advice is to stop dwelling on why you weren’t hired and put your energy into the other opportunities that you have brewing. You were likely rejected because of ludicrous biases on the part of the hiring team, or other factors that have absolutely nothing to do with you or your qualifications.
You cannot control the whims, biases, or inconsistencies of a hiring team, but you can control what you pursue next. Redirect your energy to the roles that clearly see your strengths. The right opportunity does not require you to guess what you “did wrong.”