Acing the Interview Without Results

You have interviewed.  It went very well.  Why did you not get the job? Great question, but unfortunately there are probably many reasons why a candidate does not receive an offer after feeling an interview went well. Some of the possible reasons include:  Several strong candidates were interviewed. For some reason, another candidate was selected. Especially in recent years there have been fewer opportunities available. When an opportunity does become available, many candidates apply. Sometimes these candidates are overqualified or beyond what the company even expected from the candidate pool. Companies and hiring personnel say that they feel like they could have offered the job to any one of the final candidates because all were qualified and capable. It could be that the opportunity no longer exists. It is uncommon, but sometimes an open position is put on hold and the company is no longer actively recruiting for the role.   Sometimes an internal employee is moved into the vacant position.  Job postings are often a requirement before filling a position but often the company has someone in mind.  Often HR or the hiring manager does not want to give candid feedback to candidates who are rejected. A candidate can sometimes become angry, hostile or downright nasty if you give them candid feedback. Or a candidate can be argumentative about the reasons for not selecting.  Sometimes a candidate’s skills, background, qualifications or compensation expectations are not on target for the role.

Interviewers can sometimes learn a lot during the hiring process. A hiring manager might think that 7-10 years of experience is required in the early stages of the recruitment process. Yet when the hiring manager interviews a candidate with 5 years of experience, the hiring manager now thinks that candidates with fewer years of experience should be considered. While you think this might be telling the interviewer how knowledgeable you are and how many certifications you have, it really may be telling the interviewer  that you’ve spent more time studying and taking tests than you have in dealing with the technology in the real world. When you overemphasize your certifications, an interviewer may think you don’t know how to use the technology in a practical sense.  Or it could be just simply that you think that you aced the interview, but the recruiter would not share your assessment.

The good news is that with each interview, your interviewing skills should be improving so you no longer have to worry about acing the interview without results. You should feel more relaxed and confident when meeting with recruiters, HR or hiring managers.

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