The most common reasons for NOT getting the Job?

InsideInsurance

Most common will not be directly about you, so role withdrawn or simply "better candidate" as this avoids possible challenges or issues of deformation.

In practice I would argue the most common now is simply no feedback at all and radio silence being meant to be interpreted as unsuccessful.

Gavin83

J_i_m wrote: »

Latterly for me it's been;

"You interviewed very well, but someone else raised the bar and leapt over it"

Or

"You interviewed very well and impressed us, but we felt you were too clinical"

After a year of roughly 2 to 3 interviews per month, most of which have been complimentary in feedback I'm getting really tired or NOT getting the job.

It's a standard interview response, it won't be the real reason.

The problem is we now live in a country where people and companies can be sued extremely easily and discrimination is such a buzz word. No company is going to risk legal action by being honest with you, it's much easier for them to give a generic answer with no real meaning. Also by being complimentary they leave you in a more positive mood and less likely to pursue the matter.

If you've had that many interviews and still haven't got a job your doing something wrong. Have a think about what that might be.

bluenoseam wrote: »

I was getting sick & tired of hearing something along the lines of "too much experience" or "we feel you'd get bored in the role" - no, what I was bored of was being unemployed & since when has experience been a bad thing!

They're not doing it as a favour, they're thinking about themselves. Hiring staff is expensive, extremely expensive.

The issue is that you probably want any job just to get yourself into employment. If your overqualified for the role it'll only be so long before your asking for a pay rise or promotion because of your experience, or looking elsewhere. Alternatively, as most people know its easier to find employment while already in a job, so you may be using the role simply as a stepping stone into a better role. A company wants someone who can simply do the job they've advertised. They don't want to be paying out a 5 figure sum to recruit someone just to aid the new employee.

This might not be correct in your case but it's the way the employer will see it. I'd suggest either downplaying your experience or making it clear you have no ambition, in a positive way of course.

noelphobic

Gavin83 wrote: »

or making it clear you have no ambition, in a positive way of course.

How would you suggest doing this? I don't have any ambition so am dreading the 'where do you see yourself in five years time' question.

mattcanary

I don't know what other people think, but I'd have said that saying that you'd like to be enjoying your work and feel you are doing something worthwhile is just as valid an answer as saying that you would like to have advanced into a senior position within the company.

(bearing in mind the role is not as a management trainee or something similar).

Gavin83

Be honest. Say you don't have any specific plans. However you wish to take any training opportunities provided by the role to improve your knowledge and take on extra responsibilities as time goes on. Say that you hope to find a company that allows you to develop as a person and provide a suitable challenge. Maybe find a particular value of the company and state that your looking for a business that can provide this and you appreciate that they would be a good fit for this requirement.

It's difficult. Come across as too ambitious and the company will be put off, make yourself look unambitious completely and you'll likely seem lazy.

Just remember they'd expect you to clear off at any given opportunity, just make sure your answer reflects that you wish to stay there for a reasonable length of time and don't mention that you see yourself as the manager, etc. Just make it clear you want to get stuck in and improve your knowledge.

noelphobic

mattcanary wrote: »

I don't know what other people think, but I'd have said that saying that you'd like to be enjoying your work and feel you are doing something worthwhile is just as valid an answer as saying that you would like to have advanced into a senior position within the company.

(bearing in mind the role is not as a management trainee or something similar).

that sounds like a great answer and it's actually true. The job I am currently applying for is with a charity so it would really fit. It seems so obvious now and yet I didn't think of it.

I owe you one. :T

noelphobic

Gavin83 wrote: »

Be honest. Say you don't have any specific plans. However you wish to take any training opportunities provided by the role to improve your knowledge and take on extra responsibilities as time goes on. Say that you hope to find a company that allows you to develop as a person and provide a suitable challenge. Maybe find a particular value of the company and state that your looking for a business that can provide this and you appreciate that they would be a good fit for this requirement.

It's difficult. Come across as too ambitious and the company will be put off, make yourself look unambitious completely and you'll likely seem lazy.

Just remember they'd expect you to clear off at any given opportunity, just make sure your answer reflects that you wish to stay there for a reasonable length of time and don't mention that you see yourself as the manager, etc. Just make it clear you want to get stuck in and improve your knowledge.

Another great answer - there is no way I would say that I see myself as the manager as I really don't want to be the manager! I just need to find a way to say I don't want to be promoted without actually saying that, if you see what I mean. Thanks to your and mattcanary's answers I should be able to deal with that.

No doubt they won't ask the question now that I'm prepared! :mad::mad:

Prothet_of_Doom

The last interview I had, the feedback was : He was too flippant, and jokey. And we didn't feel he'd fit into the team.

I could have kicked myself hard (In fact I did).

Basically, it was a role I could do, would enjoy, people would enjoy working with me, but because I assumed it was obvious, I arrogantly thought it was mine.

Prothet_of_Doom

noelphobic wrote: »

How would you suggest doing this? I don't have any ambition so am dreading the 'where do you see yourself in five years time' question.

I'm contracting. I went as far as I wanted into a management position, hated it with a vengence, and I hated what I'd become, and the great thing about contracting is nobody ever asks you that.
The truth is that I want to be working on something that uses a fair proportion of my brain, needs at least some of the experience that I've got, forces me to learn new stuff, and pays well.

Takeaway_Addict

J_i_m wrote: »

I'm pretty sure I've been disadvantaged by that, I hate feeling like I've wasted my time and effort on an interview when the job has probably been promised to someone else well before.



It's almost as if interviewers like that think that they're doing you a favour by not offering you the job. I'm very much of the position that, if I weren't interested in a job than I wouldn't have applied for it and attended the interview. I'd like to be the one to decide whether i'd get bored or not, and it's a lame reason to be refused a job in my view.

I'm currently trying to move my career from clinical to clerical. And the past couple of feedbacks have called me "too clinical". Which is all very well.. but that forms the bulk of my experience, but still has plenty of clerical and administration as part of it. How are you supposed to demonstrate transferable skill without referring at least in part to your actual experience?

Not always. If I feel someone is going to be bored as the work might be a large step down from their current/last job or they are just going to use the job as a stepping stone onto another job and only last a matter of months then there is no way I would employ them because I would have to go through the whole process again.