Career Cube Blog

You checked your ego at the door, were quite sure you WOWED each person with whom you met, then a letter, or a phone call or…..nothing. Rarely are candidates told why they didn’t get the job. Was it something you did? Maybe. But maybe not!

Even a courtesy letter can be a crushing blow - especially if you’ve been interviewing for ages and you feel an offer with one particular company is imminent. It’s difficult not to take the rejection personally.

Relax. While you are busy wondering what went wrong or trying to convince yourself it had nothing to do with you…sometimes that’s the truth! You and that company just weren’t meant to be - and nothing you might have done - or not done - would have made any difference.

Consider some of these factors, all of which often operate behind the scenes:

• A last-minute candidate appeared on the scene who was exactly what they were looking for. Timing can be everything, and sometimes it simply doesn’t work in your favor. If they were working with a recruiter, it’s entirely possible, because most recruiters keep recruiting until an offer has been extended, accepted, and a start date has been set.
• If the company continued to run the ad until a firm offer had been extended and accepted, again, it’s very possible that their perfect person surfaced at the last minute. Maybe you were almost perfect, but for some reason, the last-minute candidate was just a BIT more whatever they were looking for. If you experienced a delay in your interviewing late in the process, odds are very good your position as the top candidate was simply usurped at the last minute.
• An internal candidate suddenly came into the picture. Though many companies post open positions internally first and go outside only after exhausting internal options, that doesn’t account for someone changing his mind - especially if it was a person they were targeting for the opening to begin with.
• The company decided to eliminate the position or put the hiring process on hold for a period of time. Yes, you’d think they’d have looked at that before running the ad and bringing in people to interview, wouldn’t you? Maybe they did - but sometimes they don’t. Or the process might have been halted as a result of some event that changed the circumstances - and thus changed their decision about interviewing.
• The company felt you’d fit in so well, they didn’t hire you. What? Sometimes a company needs someone not like everyone else to balance out the department. Sometimes a candidate’s full personality isn’t really understood until the person has interviewed more than once and with additional people in the company. And yes, that’s partially why you are asked to interview with more than one person!
• One of the interviewers that came into the picture later in the process didn’t like you. Perhaps you reminded them of a former employee that didn’t work out. Maybe they were threatened by your expertise and skill. In any case, they carried enough weight or had enough of a valid point to get you jettisoned from the process.

Remember that interviewing is the process by which you find a company that you like, and by which a company hires you because they feel you are the best person for the job. Everything happens for a reason, and if you missed getting a job offer with one company, something better may be just around the corner.

So concentrate on what you can control and forget about what you can’t. If you mope around over a missed job offer, worrying about what you did or didn’t do and wonder why they didn’t like you or where you messed up - what you are effectively doing is letting your attitude bring about another negative outcome.

Keep your chin up. Look objectively at whether or not you can pinpoint something you might have done differently, and then learn from it. Otherwise, put it behind you and move forward with a confident and positive outlook!

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