4 Final Interviews no job offers

westbridgfordguy

I was looking for some helpful advice or feedback please to calm my paranoia; over the past 12 months I have had 4 final interviews for the roles I have applied for which have all resulted in no job offer being made, summary as below:-

1. Final interview with Amazon, didn't think I did myself justice on the day, was interestingly interviewed by an old line manager I had for about 3 months 10 years ago. Amazon offered no feedback on request.
2. Competitor to the current business I work in, went for final interview and meet the team session, again interestingly one of these staff was an ex engineering manager I used to work with about 10 years before, feedback was that they had no doubts I could do the job but they questioned my ability to take the site to the next level.
3. Bespoke plastic company, had final interview again, was asked to provide references before a job offer was considered; a week later no references had been taken and subsequently told by HR that I did not have enough experience in a certain area for them to progress my application despite this being evident from my CV and interviews from the start of the process.
4. This week food manufacturer had final interview with Site Director/HR function, feedback today via agency was that I didn't have enough experience in a certain area for them to make a job offer. I told the agency that this had been apparent from day 1 as per Interview number 3 above which they agreed with but fedback they could only inform me what HR had told them.

I am mainly applying for manufacturing management roles.

All of the above have been 4 successive final interviews without any success; I am now getting paranoid that there is something else which is deciding the companies not to make job offers rather than my interview technique and that they are not willing to divulge this information for fear of litigation or other reasons so instead making "false" reasons to reject my application.

Would appreciate some thoughts and balance to my own opinion

marliepanda

What is your current job? Is it possible you are aiming a little bit too high based on your current responsibilities and experience (based on interview 2 saying they didnt think you could take it 'to the next level)

Sometimes you can be absolutely amazing in an interview, but if someones better than you it doesnt really matter for much. In my old work I was on revolving FTC and desperately wanted a permanent contract. I interviewed many times, and every time someone came along who interviewed better than me, said the right things, got all the 'buzz words' ticked off. 9/10 they couldnt actually do the job and I ended up training them and helping them with things which annoyed me, as they were permanent and therefore had additional benefits over me. Eventually I gave up and realised my face would never fit there, despite working there for 3 years!

so interview 1: You say yourself you didn't do yourself justice, so youve learned your lesson from that.

Interview 2: How could you have shown them vision and ideas for what they COULD do with their company. This can be tricky as you dont want to slag off their current practice whilst suggesting improvements!

Interview 3: It is annoying but these things happen. Ive been for interviews too where something has been glaring obvious from my CV that I didnt have, yet be told that was the thing they wanted. Maybe they didnt expect some of the applicants to have it, and maybe 3/4 did in the end and they decided that actually we do think our new employee should have this. Job roles can change throughout the interview process, which is annoying to you but its just one of those things.

Interview 4: Similar to above, with the added element of agency? Are you currently working for an agency? Are you only applying to jobs through agencies? This isnt a definite but something I have come across before, but agencies charge companies finders fees which can be hefty. If they have a candidate who is independent and a candidate who is agency, they may favour the independent... Unless the agency is finding you things youd never find without them, Id consider looking for jobs independently.

Only you know if there is something else lurking which is putting them off. 4 interviews without success isnt that bad! When I was younger I got every job I ever interviewed for, but as soon as I graduated at was applying for 'proper' jobs those rejections came thick and fast!

Gavin83

For the two jobs where you were interviewed by ex colleagues how was your relationship with them? If they viewed you as a valued employee at the time I'd imagine this would work massively in your favour. Similarly if they had negative opinions of you there's little chance of you getting the job.

As noted most companies will either refuse to give you feedback or lie. This is probably to avoid any legal issues or just to stop you arguing back. It's not really worth it for them when they get nothing back for it. Could be a hundred reasons you didn't get the job, maybe someone else better came along or maybe they just didn't think you were the right fit.

Also I second the above, are the jobs you're applying for a promotion compared to your current position?

Ja7188

If you want to work on your interview & presentation skills (and with all due respect, most people could probably improve on these areas), there are various local groups that could help - this may or may not help you succeed in your next interview for the reasons others have noted, but it certainly couldn't hurt.

theoretica

How many people get through to final interviews in these roles? If they are interviewing four or more people then statistically speaking not getting four in a row is not surprising.

Detroit

Obviously, far more people attend final selections than get the job on offer.

Not being selected doesn't mean there's anything wrong with you, or that anything's 'going on', just that for that job, on that day, you were unlucky enough to be up against someone the panel preferred.

Maybe the companies would have been happy to have you had their dream candidate not also applied. Who knows?

If there was some underlying reason for your lack of success, I think with a little reflection, you'd know.

You've been interviewed by two previous managers. Did this worry you at the time, or did you think their experience of you would be a good thing?

Can you think of anything that might appear in a reference that would damage your chances?

Only you know the answers, so only you are in a position to assess if you're being paranoid or if your suspicions may have grounds.

Fireflyaway

I got a new job 4 months back. It took 8 interviews to get there! I was looking for a more senior role and so I guess I needed someone to see some potential rather than rely on proof I'd done it before.
I think you had some bad luck. Not easy if you used to work with the hiring managers! Many interviews are based on scoring. It might be someone scored just 1 or 2 more than you. Doesn't mean you did badly.
Keep positive. Don't get to the point you unintentionally act desperate. My main tip is ensure you have lots of examples up your sleeve. Even if they don't ask for examples ask if you could tell them about a time you did x. Good luck!

Savvy_Sue

Gavin83 wrote: »

For the two jobs where you were interviewed by ex colleagues how was your relationship with them? If they viewed you as a valued employee at the time I'd imagine this would work massively in your favour. Similarly if they had negative opinions of you there's little chance of you getting the job.

Although you do have to wonder why previous colleagues didn't veto prior to interview, unless they didn't have the authority.

Back in the days when I was occasionally involved in interviews, a manager I was shortlisting with said "oh yes, I've worked with this one before, we probably ought to see them."

This person gave almost completely useless answers, and I was left wondering why we were interviewing. Afterwards the manager said they felt we ought to interview this person, even though personally they had no desire to work with them again ...

Ho hum.

StevenB12

I've had about 3 final interviews where I got down to the last 5 or so people out of 100 or so that applied and at times it really has just come down to the fact that one has had more experience, or the other persons face was a better fit and may have clicked better with the interviewers at the time.

I try not to take it personally, it's still a hit when you wanted the job obviously but keep looking on. Take it as a positive that you can bet that when you made it down to the final interviews, you beat a lot of people to get there. Just a case of finding the right one and the right interviewer as well.

techra02

I can sympathise with you it can be very frustrating. I have been in a similar position, however in my position it get's re-advertised which means I can't fall back on the fact someone else was better on the day. I have no choice but to keep persevering, asking for constructive feedback and trying to reflect on my interview technique. I am afraid too that some organisations prefer younger candidates the 'age discrimination act' was brought in for a reason. The job centre do offer quite a number of courses to help such as Routes to Work etc. I am trying to make it positive by up-skilling myself - it does sometime make it hard though. Good Luck

ReadingTim

In my experience the first round of interviews are generally about you in isolation - have you got the necessary baseline skills, qualifications, potential etc to do the job. This you can work on. There's also the intangible "does your face fit?" which there's nothing you can do about, so don't worry about that.

In the next stage, it's about how you compare to the others they've also selected - are you more or less skilled, qualified, experienced, have potential than the rest? You can't do anything about this, as you can't control who else applies. So don't worry about it. Finally, there's the question about who they'd rather work with, spending all day in an office with, have a drink after work with, even being stuck in an airport on a layover with. Again, this is nothing you have any control over, so don't worry about it.

You won't like, or even get on with everyone you meet in your personal life, and exactly the same holds true about your working life. I think you've had a bad run, but at least you're getting both first and second round interviews, so not all is lost - to a certain extent it's a numbers game, so one of them will work out, and that's all it takes. Good luck.