ALT-2 Reasons why you did not get the Job you Wanted
A rejection letter arrives in the morning mail. It may come as a surprise or it may just confirm the sinking feeling that you have had since the interview. You did not get the job that you so wanted. You feel rejected and hurt, and you are asking yourself why the interviewer did not like you enough to offer you that job.
The interview process means that a company hopes to see many prospective candidates and choose from amongst them the person most suitable for their position. In these hard economic times, when many people are chasing fewer jobs, a company may have many candidates for an open position and thus ultimate selection. Although, you are highly qualified for the job, another interview candidate may have been outstanding. It may have been a tiny thing that persuaded the interviewer to select another candidate. Another time you would have been the perfect candidate for the position.
However, sometimes you know in your heart that you did not interview well, for one reason or another. There are many reasons why prospective candidates fail to impress interviewers enough to succeed at interview.
Perhaps you did not have the correct qualifications or the interviewer was looking for a particular skill, or ability, that you lack. Perhaps it was not something that was written into the job advertisement. You cannot really do anything about this, since few people have telepathic ability.
The interviewer may have felt that you were just not suitable for the position. In hard economic times, people are desperate for a job and send their curriculum vitae out to any company that has an opening in the hope that they will get a job. This strategy works sometimes and can bring dividends, in making you apply for jobs outside your usual comfort zone. It can result in success and happiness in a job for which ordinarily you would not apply. However, it does not always work.
Interviews are all about how the interviewer perceives you in those 30 or 45 minutes that you are in the interview room. They are someone’s opinion and, therefore, subjective. Interviewers form their opinions based on their perceptions, which are colored by certain things.
If you are late for the interview, you are telling the interviewer that you do not feel that it was important enough to be on time. You are also saying that you are a disorganized person, who, were you to be hired, would be late for work on a regular basis.
If you do not dress properly for the interview, you are again telling the interviewer that you do not consider the interview important. For most interviews, men should wear a business suit and tie, women should wear a business suit, skirt and blouse or plain dress. Both sexes should have clean shoes and tidy hair. Apart from aesthetic reasons, a clean tidy person shows the interviewer that you dressed with care because you realize the interview’s importance. It also shows that you have self-respect as well as a tidy attitude; a person who is slovenly in their dress may have slovenly work habits.
If you are ill prepared for an interview, the interviewer will find you out. You should research the company before presenting yourself for interview and be ready for all likely questions that an interviewer might ask. It is a very fine line between selling your skills and abilities on your curriculum vitae and lying. Never fib on your C.V. interviewers are skilled at catching fibbers out at interview. Do not put on an act at interview, be yourself, interviewers know when someone is putting on a false front.
The interviewer may feel that your manner was over-friendly, cold, or unprofessional. It may be that you did not come across well at interview because you were lacking confidence for some reason. Sometimes interviewers not behavior outside the interview room itself. You should always count the entire time that you are in the company building as part of the interview. Interviewers often ask other members of staff for their impressions of you, for example, the interviewer may ask the receptionist how you treated her. One interviewer would station a cleaner sweeping, or polishing, in the corridor between reception and the interview room. She rejected any candidate, who was rude to, or short with, the cleaner on the way to the interview room, because they would not happily fit in at the company.
Sometimes it is difficult to know why you did not get a job that you particularly wanted. However, other times you know where you went wrong, being aware of interview pitfalls will help you to interview successfully next time and land that much wanted position.
