To ask why I wasn't invited for an interview?

[Avaganda]

Three weeks ago I applied for what I thought was the perfect job for me. I researched the company for hours, got familiar with the team and their roles and spent ages writing a covering letter. I had the job/person specification in front of me and ticked off each and every point as I went along. I submitted my application 2 days before the deadline and received an email to acknowledge that it had arrived. I wasn't 100% sure I'd get the job but I was very certain I'd be contacted for an interview. However, this was the week that interviews were supposed to take place and I haven't heard a peep, so can assume I was unsuccessful
My confidence hasn't been great for a few years and this has really knocked me because I was so sure this was something I would be good at. I can't think where I went wrong and it's really bothering me and making me anxious about applying for anything else. Would I be unreasonable to ask them why? I don't want to be annoying but surely there must be some reason?

I don't think it's unreasonable, and as a recruiter I wouldn't be fazed by being asked (unless I was very unreasonable, which of course some people are).

It is very unfortunate not to have any contact. I've seen a number of people comment that they're receiving several hundred applications for positions that would previously have attracted 20 and that they don't have the resources to contact people (I don't understand why even a generic email outlining this is too much but it does seem to be, depending on the size of the organisation).

There could be many reasons why you haven't heard from the company, so I would give it until the beginning of next week before asking for "feedback" on your application.

You could certainly ask but you'd be unlikely to get a detailed reply.

Likely that the other candidates better fitted the brief, or strong experience in one point that is really important.

Or, interviews are delayed.

Worth asking certainly, you never know

Try not to stress too much, I applied for a job last summer, deadline on a Friday, interviews due 2 weeks later - 3 weeks went past, assumed I hadn't got an interview, then had a call offering interview and an apology that they were behind schedule. I'm now happily working there. May be a similar scenario for you. Good luck OP

It’s possible that there has been a delay in the process and they haven’t actually short-listed the candidates. There’s nothing wrong with making a follow up call to enquire. Recruiters are used to that and won’t be put off.

You can ask, but don't be surprised if you don't get a response to that either as they are probably swamped with applications.

It will boil down to: they had people they thought were stronger. I'm sure you could have done the job, but right now I've heard that hiring managers are getting tons of applications from people who exceed the job spec. Here is a hiring manager talking about that very issue.

It's a tough time to be applying. Try not to take it personally, because it isn't personal.

I would ask them to confirm if you would be given an interview or not and then ask for feedback if not

I bet they had so many applications that half just got shredded. I know this happens.

Don't ask yet. They often take far longer to shift through the applications than they think they will. I've often been called to interview weeks after I assumed the job had been filled.

Wait another fortnight and then nudge politely, without assuming you haven't been called.

Its unlikely you will get any useful feedback as they will be very careful what they say for fear of opening themselves up to any kind of criticism. In all likelyhood your CV and covering letter have already been filed in the bin. I'm sorry but it is a very very tough job market at the moment. Keep trying.

I have had similar experience. Applied for jobs where I was a perfect fit for the job (job that requires niche skills).

Then no interview offered, recruitment team almost surprised that I contacted them to ask why there was no interview, then a fairly lame excuse given.

On the other side of the spectrum, going through an interview process for a well known company, was asked if I know about X, I say no, and told no worries, a willingness to learn is what is important. I would like to see more transparency in recruitment, I am sure some of the hiring managers just make up their own rules as they go along.

The last job I recruited for had 600 applicants. We knocked off everyone who didn’t have relevant experience/qualifications first and were left with about 400 who all seemed fine. At that point we cut off everyone who didn’t have really good experience (such as one year instead of two in a similar environment) or who hadn’t followed application guidance (attention to detail). Then we cut anyone with poor spelling and grammar (it was a job relying on them). We ended up with about 50 and frankly picked nearly at random. You could have been in the 50.

Thank you everyone, I will wait a little while and then ask. In the meantime I'll try to toughen up a bit because it sounds like I'll need to

Agree its fine to ask for feedback. This won't help the situation but might help your confidence - companies sometimes advertise roles to see what the uptake/quality of candidates would be IF they put that vacancy up for real. Bloody irritating and I would say unprofessional.

Also, managers sometimes go outside proper process in their companies and recruit without approval, either because they don't know the process or because they're hoping that if they've advertised or even appointed someone it'll be too late for the company to say 'you don't have the budget/headcount for that post, what were you thinking?'. They then have to cancel interviews or retract an offer.

The reason you didn't get an interview might be absolutely nothing to do with you or your application.

I have been reviewing applications recently and arranging interviews.

These could be the reasons:

There could be 80 applications and only space to interview 6 people.
They could have several internal applicants.
They could have applicants that have done this exact job.

Did you thoroughly spell and grammar check your letter and cv? I recently dismissed a couple of cvs because attention to detail is essential in the job and there were spelling or grammar issues.

I went for a job once and after I got it was told there were 500 applicants. They said that after they got the interview spots they needed they stopped reading them- if you got yours in 2 days before the end date then they could well have already had so many applications that yours simply never got read.

Its perfectly reasonable to ask for feedback. But is also perfectly reasonable for the company to decline to give feedback.

Also worth bearing in mind that many companies are receiving an enormous amount of applications just now for any vacancy.

Most likely they had a lot of perfect applicants and were spoiled for choice.

Any chance internal candidates applied and got the interview spots? Seen this many times, advertised externally for fairness but internal candidates generally get first dibs x

The convention is to ask for feedback if you are interviewed, but not if you are not shortlisted.

Are they a big or popular company? I had similar experiences when I was changing career a couple of years ago. One recruiter told me that in the case of jobs with loads of applications if you weren't in the 1st few you were pretty much out of contention. This means getting your app ASAP, like same day the ad goes live ASAP.

Not sure how true it is, and you'll get so much conflicting advice, but that's how I landed my current role.

It can be really disheartening, OP when you’ve spent ages and crafted a really careful application for something you’re sure you tick all the boxes for. You may yet hear from them - one job I got I had written off before I was invited to interview at very short notice 3 weeks afterwards - they were just slower than advertised. Others just seem to disappear into the ether and in those cases I’ve sometimes worked on the assumption that they had an internal applicant lined up (which is shit for externals, but it is what it is).

Have been on the recruiter side in last few years and for one round 2 of us had to review over 600 applications (and that was after HR had screened) and complete a review checklist. I had a 9 hour stint at the computer and nearly lost the plot! I suspect that numbers will be pretty high right now for job applications. We had to whittle it down to 6 and 2 reserves which can be so hard. There can be a hair’s breadth between successful and non-successful.

Hopefully you’re still in the running though!

I'm an HR manager and there could be any number of reasons for the delay:

• hundreds of applications to sift through
• more urgent recruitment demands
• other general work crisis/ more urgent demands
• holiday/ sickness
• they are re-thinking the role/ requirements/restructuring
• internal applicants that they need to interview first etc etc

www.askamanager.org/2021/02/thoughts-on-rejection-from-a-hiring-manager-in-a-competitive-field.html

This is American but feels relevant. It's very likely they've just had a lot of applications and can't interview everyone. They may well have had applications from a lot of people who would be perfect for the role, but had to filter down to 5 or 10 to interview somehow!

Maybe they've had applications from people who can offer a bit extra- i.e. more than they anticipated when advertising, too.

I think three weeks is a reasonable amount of time to wait, but it's unlikely the feedback you get will be very meaningful.

I'd contact the HR team to ask if you've been shortlisted or if there's a hold up. It happens to all the time in my sector - you need two people to shortlist, you have to complete the online selection form for every applicant, you have to assemble the panel (minimum 3 people of the right level, check that they've all completed interview training), book a room for the interview, set the interview task in advance....nothing too onerous but it takes time to get sorted.

If you've not been shortlisted then it could be number of applications, internal candidates etc.