As a job seeker, rejection can be quite troubling. It’s easy to get your hopes up, especially if you applied for a job that you were particularly excited about, or if your back is against the wall, financially. Oftentimes, employers may even ghost job applicants completely, which can be detrimental to the job hunting process, as it is both a waste of time and emotionally deflating. So what is it that could have gone wrong? Why didn’t you get that new job? Sometimes, it isn’t your fault at all. Though hiring managers don’t like to admit it, there are plenty of external factors that play into recruiting, hiring, and staffing. Below, the experts at Canduit Connection break down the top five reasons you didn’t get the job that aren’t necessarily your fault.
Bad Interview Timing
If you were the first candidate that the employer or hiring manager interviewed, you may have been overlooked because they didn’t have a good sense of the job pool just yet. When filling an open position, managers often have a perfect hypothetical candidate in their mind that you couldn’t possibly live up to. Then, by the time they finish interviewing, they’ve seen so many applicants that they forgot about interviewee number one. But going dead-last may also have its disadvantages. If you’re the last person to be interviewed, the hiring manager may already have a candidate picked out, or even an offer on the table. At that point, your interview is more of a formality and they may only be partly paying attention. For this reason, it’s always good to ask the employer some questions to try to stand out.
You Used a Job Board
Job boards these days are often oversaturated with excessive numbers of applicants, both qualified and underqualified. It is thoroughly challenging to stand out with the templated job submissions that job boards like Monster or Indeed provide for hiring managers. Aside from being highly impersonal, job boards are often a last resort for businesses, and they may even be turning to these platforms simply to hit a quota. For these reasons, job boards should only be utilized as a last resort for job seekers as well.
Personal Bias
Whether or not the recruiting industry likes to acknowledge it, personal bias most certainly plays a role in the interviewing process. Sometimes, hiring managers have candidates that they just liked more than others, even though they were “less qualified.” Family ties, friendships, alma maters, and other origins of personal relationships also might affect the outcome of a hiring process. In situations like these, there’s unfortunately not much you could have done to obtain the open position. It’s solely helpful to be aware of this circumstance as a possibility, so as to not get down on yourself after a rejection and avoid taking it personally.
Over-Qualifications
Being overqualified for a job is something that doesn’t always occur to many job seekers, but sure enough, this is one of the top reasons candidates are dismissed. When you are overqualified for a position, good hiring managers know that they either can’t pay you what you deserve, or won’t be able to keep you engaged for long enough that it’s a worthwhile hire. The last thing an employer wants to do is hire someone, train them, and then have to do it all over again. Turnover looks bad for a business’ clients and also costs the company and the staffing agency a lot of money. For this reason, it’s crucial that both the job seeker and the company are good fits for each other.
Internal Candidate
Hiring an internal candidate is one of the most common reasons that an employer overlooked you as an applicant. Sometimes, the business’ policy requires external job posting even if they plan on hiring someone internally. In these situations, the hiring manager may not even have seen your resume at all. And if you did interview, an internal candidate probably already knows the inner workings of the company, which gives them a substantial advantage. Don’t take this personally, either; hiring internally is typically a smart move for the well-being of a business. Working with an experienced talent sourcing agency will help you avoid these types of scenarios.
Streamline Your Job Search with Canduit Connection
Canduit Connection brings partnerships, knowledge, and experience together to open the door to more opportunities, faster. Whether you’re just starting your career or looking to pivot and change positions, we strive to level the playing field by showcasing job seekers to several well-suited employers at once. As a people-first organization, Canduit Connection has transformed the modern recruiting experience to quickly and efficiently find the best fit and cultivate a long-term relationship. Contact us today to build a connection and take the next steps.