I got this popup notification from Blind today and it got me thinking.
So Anon here is upset. He interviewed at Microsoft in 2022 and was offered the position and turned it down. Presumably he had a better offer to fall back on. Well fast forward to 2023 and he interviews AGAIN. But this time, he’s not offered a position. Understandably Anon is a bit upset. From his point of view he improved upon his skillset over the past year and yet somehow they don’t want him this time.
Now I don’t know this individual or anything about the situation so I can’t speak to specifics but I do have some ideas as to what might have happened. I work with great candidates every day that get turned down for a role I strongly believe them to be a fit for. It happens… but why?
Why the “perfect fit” doesn’t get hired
As a recruiter this can be really frustrating. I send candidates that have all of the must have requirements a manager is asking for yet they get rejected. Here are some of the most common reasons:
The manager just didn’t like you
The thing about interviewing is you’re looking not only for skillset fit, but you’re having to make the decision if you want to work with someone every single day, presumably for years. Maybe they just didn’t feel like they could communicate with you. Maybe their team already has a lot of strong personalities and they’re leery to add another. Or maybe they need an outspoken leader and you came across as timid. These soft skills rarely make it in to a job description and can be difficult to prepare for.
Note - If someone doesn’t like you don’t dwell on it. Do you like everyone you interact with? Certainly not.
You had all of the skills, but you didn’t articulate them well
This is probably the most common reason people don’t get hired for positions. If someone is interviewing you then they saw something on your resume that lead them to believe you would be a good fit. I often hear from hiring managers “We’re going to pass on John. We liked him, but he just couldn’t really dive deep in to his skills”.
Now this is a problem we can fix. Here are some pointers:
You are accountable for everything on your resume. If you can’t give at minimum a 60 second primer on a tool or skill, it doesn’t belong on your resume. The more times something is listed on your resume the more deeply you should be able to speak on it.
Practice answering questions with STAR method. I wrote a substack that goes in depth with interview tips, including STAR method. That can be found here:
Understand your audience. A question asked by a Senior Engineer should be answered differently than a question asked by a non-technical Project Manager.
You were a great candidate… but there was another one who was even better
This happens A LOT. I can’t tell you how often I had a candidate rejected by a manager and nine months later I get an email “Hey can you check if Keith is still on the market? I really liked them when I interviewed them before and have a new spot they would be perfect for.”
Often times you can go in to an interview and absolutely crush it.. but maybe another person brought just a little something more.
While there’s not much you can do here ( you can’t control who else the manager interviews) there are a few things you can do to make sure you’re the best candidate:
Get relevant certifications for your skillset and keep them up to date.
Stay up to date with the latest versions of your skillset. If you’re an Azure engineer you need to be knowledgeable on Microsoft’s latest offerings. Front End dev specializing in Angular? Better get on learning Angular 15.
Apply for jobs that you’re a 90% fit for. The era of “shooting your shot” is over.
You interviewed terribly
Sadly this happens. Sometimes we just walk in and drop an L. If it’s a one time thing best to accept the loss, see if there’s anything you can learn from it, and move on. If you find that you are regularly getting rejected from interviews we need to fix that. I already plugged in once but I can’t recommend strongly enough that you read my interview guide (it’s free, and I get nothing from you reading it). Another thing I recommend is interviewing often. Interviewing is a skill and it needs to be polished. If you haven’t interviewed in a while you’re going to be rusty. Even if you aren’t looking to leave your current position taking an interview every now and then is a good idea.
You win some, you lose some
At the end of the day, you’re not going to get every job you apply for. In the past few years the market was HOT and companies were offering candidates after just one or two interviews. Now, employers are seeing a high ratio of applicants to open positions. Candidates are staying on the market a bit longer and companies feel they can wait it out for the best candidate. It might take you 10 interviews to land a single offer. Keep your head up, keep applying. You’ll get there.
-BowTied HH