Were first choice for your job?

[sunshine244]

A friend recently started a new job, but was dismayed to learn on the grapevine that she wasn't the first choice for the job - another person turned it down.

I've never really considered this before, and now I'm wondering whether it is normal to know this info. Is it something you have considered? Asked about? How would you feel if you weren't the preferred candidate?

P.s. please excuse the missing word in the post title. I can't change it!

I know I was second choice for one job I had. I took the job as I needed to, but I have to admit I did feel like second best a lot of the time until I really established myself at the company. Years later, I was declined for another job and then got a call back a couple of weeks later offering it as their first choice didn’t work out. I didn’t accept the job and this was because I just felt it would be proving myself all over.

I have no idea I'd rather not know

For the job I’m in now, yes - I was offered the job on the spot. For previous jobs, almost definitely not

I was 3rd choice for my job! I was 23 yrs old and didn't know what I was doing so thought it was pretty good going.

I worked there for 27 years, and loved it!

I think I’ve usually been first choice (can’t know for sure) but as someone who is often on the recruitment side, no one should feel awful for being second choice. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wondered how differently things might have turned out with that second choice, when the first choice doesn’t turn out to be such a great fit. Also, please remember that if you are second choice, there could have been just a few points in it (we follow a strict scoring system) and if you weren’t good enough they’d go back out for another recruitment round.

The job im in now I was first choice, I knew leaving the interview that I’d done really well and it’s a niche post. The job before that I was the second choice - they withdrew the offer from the previous candidate. I was never made to feel second choice because I understood why they’d gone for the other candidate in that he was more of a known entity than I was. Stayed in the post for 8 years and really enjoyed working there.

This is my experience in my current role; more so, I actually know the candidate who was offered the role first and accepted it, and if I’m being honest, I’d have picked them over me as well for very specific reasons.

That said, when that person withdrew from the process 4 weeks on from having accepted the job, I was the natural second choice. They’d given me really great feedback from the interviews, and explained how hard it had been to make the decision, but obviously there was only one job.

I came away from the process thinking I’d love to work with them in future as it had been such a positive experience despite not being first choice. So I was delighted when things changed, and I got the call.

Been in the role 3 months now, and really enjoying it.

We always have a reserve of 2-3 people as people do go for more than one job at a time.

I'm regularly involved in recruitment. You should never worry about being the second choice. It happens all the time, and there can be very little in it. We often recruit multiple people at a time and the person who comes out top in the interview doesn't always perform the best in the job. Sometimes we interview six people and three of them are suitable, sometimes none of them are. So you should never feel like second best or that you have to prove yourself. Most people never know where they are on the list and the biggest red flag is people telling you you were second choice.

Yes. Because they had no other applicants 😆

Yes, i was second choice for a previous job but the person they would have appointed failed their driving test so couldn’t meet the requirements of the role, hence they came to me. I needed the job, took it, and it turned out to be a great team in a role where I learned a lot and got really positive feedback, I never felt “second best”

The person they wanted to appoint later passed her test and got the next available role in the team. She was definitely better than me 😂

I was the only choice for one teaching job. They were so grateful someone had applied for the post that they barely interviewed me. I lost one job in HE to a person who was interviewed by video link as they were in Australia and guess what - they never arrived to take up the post.

In my current job the vacancy was created for me when I approached my employer and said I wanted to work for them, so pretty sure I was first choice.

For my last job, three of us had been on an internship and all three of us got the job so again presume we were all first choice. For getting the internship, I got the offer the same day so doubt it was competitive and someone else turned it down.