Here is why you didn't get that job... again

GREAT WORK! You have been invited for a face to face interview! Likely you are working with a decent recruiter who could expedite your application and arrange a face to face OR the internal recruiter/ HR is on the ball and rescued your CV from the resume graveyard that sits just below that “apply now” button.

All you must do now is prepare yourself and remember, there is more than likely going to be some stiff competition, I guarantee you are not the only one applying for this job, unless you are applying to be an Armoured Ground Cricket’s (Google it) chaperone.

Luck is earned so now’s the time to dig deep and strategize on how you are going to convince the target company that you are THE ONE for this job.

If you can’t close the deal, or at least agree on the next steps, prepare to embark on a journey to the Isle of Frustration… You will likely receive a horribly impersonal email giving you a very vague reason as to why you didn’t get the job as seemingly no one can be honest about the real reasons no matter how many times you say “any feedback is good feedback and will help me with my career”

Having advised hundreds of executives how to close deals and land their dream job, I have been preview to a great deal of honest feedback (sometimes too honest) so I created a report based on my experience to tell you honestly why you didn’t get the job and hopefully you can use this to your advantage to close the deal next time round.

If this is going to be useful to your future, comment in the box below with your email address or send me an inmail and I will be sure to get my report to you.

1 - The absolute basics.

Please do not waste your time or the time of the prospect unless you have mastered the basics…

A.   You were late..

This is quite a biggy, even if you had a good reason for showing up after the agreed time.

The immediate assumption is that you are not serious or even worst, you are simply not reliable, if someone shows up to an interview late for one of my companies, I turn them right around and let them know it’s not going to work.

The ONLY time I have ever hired someone who was late was when they OWNED the mistake and very quickly apologized profusely, acknowledged the lateness and convinced me to let him through the door thanking me my willingness to still talk, this gave me a glimpse of his character and I appreciated his humbleness, something essential in any people based business.

The worst thing you can do here is go about the meeting thinking the hiring manager didn’t notice you were late, I guarantee you they noticed.

Something equally as bad as showing up late is showing up too early, you may REALLY want the job but chill out a bit, do not get to the interview any more than 10 minutes early or you risk looking like you have too much time on your hands and should be working harder.

Also showing up too early starts stressing people out, they know you are waiting, tapping your feet, hearing people in the office asking who that weirdo is in the reception.

Labouring this point further as it’s incredibly important, showing up too early actually makes you look a little bit desperate, sounds ridiculous but it couldn’t be more true. Think of it like this, you don’t want somebody being annoyed by you BEFORE the interview, they have likely already decided you are not the fit for the company and will then use this interview to justify their thoughts. It’s sad but it happens all the time.

Should you find yourself more than 10minutes too early, go grab a water or a tea (not a coffee in case that coffee breath is unwelcome) and use the time to gather your thoughts, come up with some more questions about the role and the job description and go over your notes. If there is no coffee shop, you can also wait in your car, provided you are not in full view of the office employees as that just looks odd.

B. You were not nice to the receptionist

You must realise that when you go for an interview, from the moment you walk through the door, everyone is looking at you as if you already work at the company, seeing if you fit in, what you are like to work with and what kind of attitude you have to others around you.

Who is the first person you see? The receptionist! You never get a second chance to make a first impression so be super friendly to the person on the front desk.

With cultural fit being one of the hottest topics in any company, often the hiring manager will ask the receptionists opinion of you as they are the eyes and ears of the firm. If you fail to get past level one, no one is going to hire you and risk disrupting the culture they have spent so much time and money building.

C. Your S*;T is not together.

Research the company before you go to the interview and see what the company is wearing. Don’t turn up in shorts and tee shirt if the whole company is wearing suits and ties (I have seen this). When someone is going to hire you they want to be sure their hard earned money is going to someone who takes care of themselves and is representative of the existing culture.

You have a very short space of time to make an excellent impression and that 4-week-old milk stain on your “lucky shirt” is not going to get you hired.

Go easy on the perfume also, you may have just come through duty free at the airport but you’re not going out on the town wooing ladies, so ease off on the cologne.

Focus on your appearance and think about how you come across. Would YOU hire YOU?

D. You failed to listen to instructions

If, on the phone or email, the hiring manager or HR manager/ recruiter/ agency asked you to bring some documents with you such as a presentation,  ID, references, education proof, copies of your CV, three loaves of bread and a bag of sand, there has to have been a reason for it.

Listen carefully and bring what is asked to the table. Often companies do this to see how carefully you are listening as they can quickly assess how you will perform on the job when asked to deliver.

By failing to prepare, you have prepared to fail, hit the bricks pal.

On this point – 64% of all rejections at the application stage are due to failing to follow instructions.

2. Deeper Insight

Level 1 mistakes are easily avoided if you are made aware.

Level 2 is slightly trickier and you may be sending the wrong messages without knowing it. This results in vague rejection emails straight from Frustration Island, if one of these has landed in your inbox then Level 2 is for you.

Armed with this new knowledge, you can adjust your approach and smash every interview.

A. The Unspoken word let you down

Have you ever shaken someone’s hand and it was like holding a wet fish? Horrible, right? Don’t be that guy/ girl. Now combine said wet fish with looking in the other direction and the other person will immediately strike you off the list.

Practice a firm handshake and always make eye contact, perhaps even with a smile if appropriate.

Consider the following also regarding this topic; socially awkward behaviour is a topic that I could talk about for hours but some examples of this in an interview situation are;

·     Keeping your coat on when it’s 35degrees inside.

·     Keeping your bag on your lap during the meeting.

·     Changing your shoes before you leave the office.

·     Blowing your nose halfway through the interview

·     Not maintaining eye contact when appropriate

·     Coming across distracted

·     Eating food during the meeting

On top of this, are you someone that says “urrrm or Uuuh” throughout each sentence? This means that your brain is trying to work faster than you can speak and shows lack of composure and confidence, slow down, it’s ok to speak fast to convey excitement but if your brain is overtaking your voice, take a step back and calm down a notch. Fidgeting in your chair can also be a turn off as well as closed body language such as crossing your legs and folding your arms all the time. A great book on this was written by ex FBI interrogator, John Biden and is called Mind Control (careful of reading on planes as it freaks people out).

If you are sat with someone who has interviewed many times before they may dismiss a lot of the above as nerves but many times you will be rejected if too nervous, especially if you are going for a sales role or senior management/ exec level position.

On the other end of the spectrum is being too confident! Try to avoid behaviour that comes across too casual or over confident, this can come across rude and also cost you the job.

Walking through the door and removing your tie, taking your shoes off, putting your phone on the desk or greeting your interview partner whilst having a coffee still in your left hand may cost you the interview.

B. They got the impression you will not be at the company long

You travelled the world saving starving puppies, appeared on several West end stages and have a Master’s degree in Computer Science from MIT yet here you are interviewing for a relationship manager role in Stockholm.

Immediately there will be questions around your background, fit and if this the job you really want (is it?)

The most important thing here is to get across your purpose, what drives you in life and how that fits into this job for the next 5 years.

If you have just come back from a recent puppy saving mission in Outer Mongolia and you just need to get some cash in the bank, this will come across to the hiring manager unless you are adept at concealing the truth.

Again, you have to consider the hiring manager and how he/ she will look if they were to hire you only to have you leave again in 6 months’ time. This is both costly and a waste of time for all concerned so they will be testing on this hard.

Are you the person that is going to give this position your best shot and your unwavering focus or are you off saving those little dogs again?

At this point you are probably saying to yourself, “why did they invite me then, they can see my CV and know my background” – this is a common reaction I hear all the time from people who are trying to justify their poor performance at an interview.

At this stage, you must sell yourself and tell the company why you are excited about the job and how you are going to massively over deliver when you get hired.

It’s very common for companies to hire more dedicated people over more skilled people and then phrase “hire character, train skill” exists for a reason.

If you are looking at several opportunities at the same time and trying to work out what it is you want that’s OK too but ensure you can focus on what makes you driven and excited about this job in particular and bring that across.

If you can bring this approach to all the processes you have going on, the best scenario is that you get all the offers on the table and you can take the one that you are most excited about.

C. Too much information

You should not be discussing personal matters in an interview. Revisit the STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) methodology to structure your answers and keep it work related and on track.

Waffling and endless talking without getting to the point is very annoying and will cost you the interview.

Plan how to answer questions that you know will arise well before the interview.

If there is a gap in your CV, the question WILL come up so be able to answer appropriately and accurately.

If questions do arise that catch you off guard, do not get defensive and try to over explain, keep the answer brief and on point.

Commitment to this role is what the interviewer is looking for so ensure that comes across when answering the tricky questions.

A very common mistake is also to tell too much information about previous roles, when asked “why did you leave the last position” avoid saying anything negative and focus on the positives even if you despised your last company.

Remember, the person sat in the room with you could be your future boss, this is not someone to vent on or they will think this is your MO.

D. There simply was no “click”

You went home after the interview and thought everything went well. Looking back, you basically nailed it and are 100% sure you are getting invited back for round 2.

How disappointing when that vague email appears again in your inbox. So, what could possibly have gone wrong now?

In a competitive job market, you must do more than show you could do the job reasonably well. You also should make your interviewer(s) want to work with you.

They liked you, sure, but somebody else managed to engage the interviewer properly and things ‘just clicked’.

It’s hard to control this “click factor.” Sometimes, interviewers are making knee-jerk judgments about your personality that aren’t fair or accurate.

And let’s face it, sometimes you’re better off because working with the interviewer would have been a nightmare for you.

However, if you develop your interview skills, you can find a way to connect with just about any interviewer.

If you didn’t “click,” it’s probably because you could not convey enough about your personality or experience to help the interviewer envision working with you. You kept your answers too general or you could not relax and be yourself.

Better preparation will help you relax and be more authentic and specific in your responses.

E. You did not make a lasting impression

No doubt many candidates applied to this job and many interviews took place before yours and/ or after yours.

You need to be able to engage your interviewer, stand out from the crowd and be remembered.

This goes hand in hand with the “click factor” (above) and your answers likely lacked substance or were too general.

Often you may think you are trying to convince the manager that you can just do the job but this is a mistake, you need to convince them that you can OWN this job and be remembered for that.

Companies now look to always hire someone that can take them to the next level, not just maintain, are you that person?

F. You had no questions at the end.

This is a mistake I have seen time and time again and is so easily avoided with even a small amount of preparation.

This is the time where you can challenge the hiring manager and be remembered for the most engaging questions, proving you have understood the role, the company and your possible future in the company.

The worst thing you can do at the end of an interview is have no questions.

That being said, the nature of the question should be carefully considered. Your questioning should be around subjects that convey you will be around for a while, about technical aspects of the job, how they see this role, any objections they can see or team culture.

Avoid asking any question that could have been researched online or is about benefits, how much time off you will get or anything that is too focused how YOU will benefit from the working relationship with your new company and does not convey a “win-win” attitude.

Sadly, no one can seem to tell you with total honesty why you didn’t get the job but, if you have been on many interviews and something is not working out, it is more than likely one of these mistakes that is getting in your way, practice, practice, practice and you will land any job you care to apply for.

I hope this helps.

Jordan Lawrence

CEO Payments & Cards Network

www.teampcn.com

[email protected]