Why won't they be honest with me?!

[redundancywoes]

After getting made redundant recently I am currently applying for jobs.

I'm getting second interviews but have so far been unsuccessful and asked for feedback which has been good...reasons for not going further have been that other candidates had more specific experience (I have the experience in the job, just not with that specific product but the skills are easily transferable) I've been told my presentations were excellent and that I come across well, but another candidate basically pipped me to the post.

The problem is, I've seen two jobs that I interviewed for being re advertised! On paper, I fit the brief, so why are they pretending I was great when there must be reasons I wasn't good enough? I can take it, I just want some constructive criticism so I can try and improve.

It isn't always about you. I've seen some bad recruitment decision making over the years. For example the recruiting manager who doesn't appoint because they think they want to hire someone who meets all of their criteria without offering any training. Or the recruiting manger who wants a Finance Manager calibre candidate but offering a Finance Assistant salary.

Although you think you may think you have addressed all of the criteria maybe you didn't do it sufficiently well enough to satisfy the interviewers. I know you've said you have transferable skills, but maybe this isn't coming across in the right way.

It's worth contacting the recruiting managers and asking if you could apply again. Sometimes, after they have struggled to recruit, they realise that their 'perfect unicorn candidate' doesn't exist and they are more realistic about their expectations.

Good luck.

They probably are being honest. There are a lot of good candidates out there at the moment. You wouldn't be getting to second interview if you weren't good enough. Many people don't even get first interviews.

It's frustrating, but you will get there if you persevere.

I know what you mean, it seems silly to give feedback indicating that another candidate was better suited, it could be that someone was offered it but declined, but that would be unusual for 2 jobs. They could just say that although you did well etc, their ideal candidate was someone with a better working knowledge of whatever it is (although they could have sifted you at selection stage).

It could be that they didn't think you'd get in with others in the team. In which case it's a personal thing, but you've had a lucky escape.

I had someone contact me about a job they didn't appoint to after I'd interviewed for it. Had another interview which again went extremely well, all of a sudden they wanted someone based in a specific location and this wasn't in the job spec. I was very annoyed after they approached me and then gave me such a ridiculous reason for not appointing me. I'm sure it was because I disclosed mental health issues.

It could be they found an excuse because of mental health issues, but it could also be a communication issue between HR and the hiring manager, which means important info gets missed. (Definitely happened with us in the past.)

I'm sure mine was because of the mental health issues, the whole tone of the discussion changed @EBearhug

If they offered it to someone and it was declined, wouldn't it make sense to contact other candidates (assuming they were good enough but not as "ideal" as the first choice?)

It's frustrating spending so much time on prep (having to do lots if research and presentations for all of them) only to fall at the last fence.

I've interviewed this week. It's a fairly lowly job and we had 101 applications, even though the as was only out for a week. We interviewed 6 and TBH any of them would have been fine. They probably are being honest. I've told those that asked that they gave a good interview but another candidate seemed better suited to the team. I know it's wishy washy and not much help to the candidates but it is true.

Where have you seen them re-advertised?

• REED auto refreshes adverts every few weeks unless removed or expire at 6 weeks.
• Indeed and other seemingly non existent job boards also scrape adverts from sites without permission and re-advertise (on LinkedIn jobs as well as their own sites). I know because they've done it with my expired roles and I've been on a witch hunt to resolve it!

I'll be honest - many of us are told not to offer feedback, or to make it bland and generic. Because these days too many people will sue. You no longer need to have done something wrong, just the threat of a claim and it can prove costly. As a result I am no longer permitted to give honest feedback, and I know of many other managers in the same boat.

I don't know if it's the right term but do you have a protected characteristic (if that's the right phrase) or are you female of child baring age in a slightly male dominated profession? It wouldn't be impossible that places were just lying to you so they couldn't be done for discrimination. I'm 99% certain that this has happened to me in the past but goodness knows how to prove it.

It’s probably not true. They just feel they have to say something generic when you ask for feedback.

@redundancywoes

If they offered it to someone and it was declined, wouldn't it make sense to contact other candidates (assuming they were good enough but not as "ideal" as the first choice?)

It's frustrating spending so much time on prep (having to do lots if research and presentations for all of them) only to fall at the last fence.

Very possible they realised that the product knowledge was crucial too. If they have readvertised and the ad hasn't just been refreshed, I would read it that way. The field of applicants is vast at the moment and with redundancies still happening, new people are coming to market every day. I know it's really hard to hear but they didn't want to offer you and it's best to move on. Unless you believe there has been discrimination.

To top it all, I've just seen a job get re advertised that I applied tor, and ticked every single box on their list of requirements, yet they haven't even called me. I literally thought I was a perfect fit 🤷🏼‍♀️

Where have you seen them re-advertised?
On linked in.

@redundancywoes

Where have you seen them re-advertised? On linked in.

Agency or direct?

Ah, LinkedIn shows me jobs that were first listed 3 weeks ago as if they are brand new. I think they just get churned out constantly. The same for sites scraping from others as another PP said.

@redundancywoes

To top it all, I've just seen a job get re advertised that I applied tor, and ticked every single box on their list of requirements, yet they haven't even called me. I literally thought I was a perfect fit 🤷🏼‍♀️

Get in touch and ask them. They might have genuinely missed you.

Or they've got other criteria they haven't mentioned like min length of time in jobs etc. There's a large cohort of recruiters who will dismiss CVs with multiple jobs under 3 or 4 years.

You're getting interviews and second interviews so you're doing something well! It's the current market, very probably, not you.

@redundancywoes

To top it all, I've just seen a job get re advertised that I applied tor, and ticked every single box on their list of requirements, yet they haven't even called me. I literally thought I was a perfect fit 🤷🏼‍♀️

Have you got all the right words on the CV, explicitly the same, not inferred or slightly different terminology? Sometimes perfectly good CVs are rejected by the system and no human ever reads them. Try sticking your CV and the JD in Jobscan and tweaking the keywords if you’re not being called for jobs you should be getting interviews for.

When you’re getting rejected at second interview stage you should be able to get decent quality feedback, I totally agree. If you’ve been told you’ve been pipped at the post and they’re genuinely re advertising I think you’ve got nothing to lose by following up and saying I was told this and I’m still available and interested. It’s tough at the moment, I know for a fact I was discriminated against for age earlier this week. Good luck.

You could always reapply. Perhaps they appointed someone who didn’t take the role (unlikely I know).

Is there any other reason they might have said no? In my previous company we didn’t hire someone great on paper because they basically didn’t like her accent (she would be on the phone a lot) or Facebook profile...

I once intrviewed for a jnr me and I appointed someone who had more potential, the perosn who probably could have walked the job had a propr attitude ie I am the bees knees and he came back looking for feedback, I had to go with the generic better candidate etc which was true she was better but actually less experienced, but the attitude and way you come across is just as important. I still thik I made the right decision as once this girl got her feet under the table she soared and was great for a full 3 yrs before moving on (which is to be expected) I doubt he would have been there a yr as there wouldn't have been room for his head