Career Cube Blog

Don’t you wish you knew why you didn’t get that job?  You worked so hard on your resume, got through the phone interview and was called in for the in person interview. You think you’re on a roll, but you never hear back from the interviewer.  What happened?

Here’s a peek behind the interviewer’s desk.

They saw something promising on your resume and decided to call you for a phone interview. That went well-you handled yourself well on the phone and answered the basic questions they asked.

Something happened when they met you in person.

Each interviewer is different, but here are some common reasons why you may not hear back from them.

You weren’t dressed appropriately for the position or company.  Think about the way others at the company were dressed, and the status of the position you were interviewed for.  Were you “dressed to impress”?  One time I interviewed someone for an account manager position that might be a bit of a stretch from what he was currently doing.  I was willing to give him a chance.  However when he showed up for the interview he was dressed pretty casually and didn’t even bring a notebook to take notes during the interview, or a pen to write with.  I needed him to show me that he was going to project a professional image without my having to follow him around to remind him to bring a notebook when he meets with a client.  I expected him to look more pulled-together, and that he was hungry for this job.  I didn’t see that in him, and was turned off.

Your body language was a turn-off.  Did you maintain eye contact with the interviewer?  Not in a creepy-staring contest kind of way, but in an honest, sincere, and interested way?  Did you look comfortable?  Were you jumpy and nervous?  Did you talk very quickly?  What was your interviewer’s facial and body language while you were speaking?  Try to be objective about how you were presenting yourself.  You want to learn from each interview, not perpetuate your problems because you refuse to admit what you do wrong.

You just weren’t a good fit for the organization or with the interviewer.  Remember that they need to work with you day in and day out.  If they think that you’ll be irritating-for whatever reason-unfortunately it’s their prerogative to not hire you.  Period. End quote.  It isn’t fair, but better that they eliminate you now, than you get on each other’s nerves after you are hired.   There isn’t anything you can do to improve your chances if it was just a personality-thing, but just hope that you will have a better fit in your next interview.

So why don’t you hear from an interviewer after the in-person interview?  Consider the possible reasons I’ve outlined above and then imagine yourself in the interviewer’s position.  Would you rather have them cite one of the reasons above, or give you a polite but inaccurate reason, or not reply at all?  There isn’t a best answer, but those are the choices most interviewers are faced with.  So send your followup email, but if you don’t hear back from them, just move on with your search and try to improve your performance in your next interview as best you can.

Popularity: 91% [?]

Watch out for those that use cute catchphrases like “Internet savvy” and “hiring (fill in the blank) superstars” or wants you to “unselfishly invest your talents.”  If you have been in the workforce and held at least one job out of college, you should NOT be applying to jobs with these alarming catchphrases.  The term “savvy” and “superstars” in a description are appealing to your emotional side.  Everyone wants to be thought of as savvy or a superstar, it sounds cool, it sounds hip, you want that-and hiring managers know that.  They’re appealing to a broad audience.  The phrase “unselfishly invest your talents” translates into-”you’ll be working crazy hours and not getting paid nearly enough, so get over it.”  Not my first choice of a job.

Job postings that are overeager, and vague also serve companies or  (temp agencies) one of two ways:  First, they are good bait to attract ambitious, young, hard working candidates who are desperate for a shot in the real world.  Second, they can provide a wealth of resumes for a headhunter to build their database.  It’s expensive for them to place numerous ads for the different jobs they’re representing, so they can post one vague catch-all posting (knowing that people who are under-and over-qualified will respond) further beefing up their database.  You get your hopes up thinking it might be a real job, they have no intention of calling you because they don’t have a job for you.

Also be aware that there are companies out there that are hiring for multiple positions, but the ad will read as if they’re filling one position.  These are typically Financial Services advisors, help desk or call center employees, sales or Insurance brokers, among others.  Nothing against these jobs at all, but be aware that they’re probably looking to bring in quite a few people and put them through an intensive training process that serves to weed out people who aren’t suited to the position.

And third, do NOT send your resume through one of those “resume distribution” services.  I have it on reliable authority that those resume services are nothing more than Spam to the recruiters. And yes, back when I was looking for a job about 7 years ago, I did pay for one to send out my resume.  I was a little concerned when after they sent it out, I got numerous email bouncebacks from individual recruiters with their out of office messages.  The whole process just seemed so transparent-the company just had a database of email addresses of recruiters that they had compiled, I sent my resume to them, they blind copied everyone and hit send.  I’m sure that there are a few people who have success with this (SPAM emails would stop if people stopped buying things), but it’s based on the chance that the recruiter who gets your resume has a position they’re looking to fill and you’re a perfect candidate.  You can calculate the odds, but they ain’t too good.  Don’t waste your money.  You’re better off researching recruiting firms who hire in your industry and contacting them directly.

In summary, only apply to jobs that provide you with a detailed description of their expectations for you-without a lot of hype.  If you do want to take a chance on the questionable ones, feel free, but again, it’s a Hail Mary application, so try not to take it too seriously if you don’t hear back from them.

Popularity: 12% [?]

Everyone knows that they should apply for jobs that they’re qualified for.  Engineers apply for engineering positions, marketers apply for marketing positions, and everyone stays within their industries.

However, the trouble arises when jobseekers start to apply for those jobs that they think they’re “perfect” for, but neglect to really read the ad and what they’re looking for.  Here’s an example of what I mean.

The ad states that they’re looking for someone with 2-3 years of experience, and you have 10+ years of experience.  In your mind you’re probably thinking one of two things:

1.    Hey, I’ve got even MORE than what they need, I’m a shoe in!

Rationale #1:  A hiring manager has listed 2-3 years of experience on there for a reason.  First, they don’t have the salary line to pay what you would want with your 10 years of experience, and second, the tasks that this person will be doing are actually what you were doing 7 or 8 years ago-in other words-menial.  There is NO WAY that they would look at your resume and think-yeah, I’m sure this person wants to take a STEP BACK in their career.  I’m so exited that they want to go back to grunt-work.  I’ll give them a call. Makes no sense.  Your only hope of this working is if you directly discuss and acknowledge it in your cover letter-that you’re trying to make a career change and completely understand that the pay scale is totally different since you are starting out in a new career.  It’s still a long shot, but sending in a resume without calling out the discrepancy is instant suicide.

2.    I’ll apply to this and they’ll see how fabulous I am, they’ll call me for another position in the company.

Rationale #2:  Yes, this could happen.  I know that the HR Directors who read this will send me nastygrams saying that it is so rare that it’s the same as an impossibility, but I do know a case where it did come true.  Basically with this strategy, you’re banking on whoever is reading the resumes to know who else in the company is hiring and to care enough to forward your resume to that person, or to hang onto yours because they’re so overwhelmingly impressed that they will pass it along when something opens up.  This can happen, but if you do decide to take a shot and apply, at the very least, call out your intent in the cover letter so they know that you’re not dumb enough to assume that your 10 years of experience is going to get you an entry level job. THEN, in your mind where you’re keeping score of all the jobs you’re applying for-do NOT count this one as a possibility.  It’s a Hail Mary application.  Nothing more.  Let it go.  You’re better served networking your way into a company.

Popularity: 13% [?]