Interview Rejection may not be in our control always

Didn’t get through after the interview?Well it may not necessarily be your doing.

There must have been times when you have seen a job description and felt that its tailor made for you .However when you don’t make the cut it leaves you second guessing as to what didn’t go right.

By chance if you have already been out of a job for a while , could almost get into self-doubt resulting to a depleting self-confidence.

While am sure most of us do a lot of research and prepare before facing an interview, however sometimes you may not be able to control the outcome.

Keeping technical skills and role fitment aside there are a lot of other things driving selection which may not be visible at the fore front.

First of all- plethora of interview techniques to be assessed from - eg telephonic to Video interviews, cv based interview , competency based to evaluation through STAR technique ,panel interview, task oriented/testing interview, stress interviews etc. 

Each may have their own flip sides , eg in telephonic/video discussion, it may be difficult to create a rapport ( lack of reading facial expression/reading of body language), in panel interview there could be risk of disagreement within the panelist/issue of common consensus, while with stress interviews you could become guarded and hence might not reveal your true self.

Also to add to it , establishing a connect with the hiring manager and having a camaraderie becomes important.

The interviewers again will come with their own set of expectations like some are looking for an exact replica of themselves while hiring ,some are looking at a successor, some are trying to replace two roles with one, some who just want a person who can be easily managed (basically a "Yes Man" kind ), which may be far removed from what your true personality trait is.

Quoting few other instances with personal experience, where one could not have directly managed the outcome.

After clearing several rounds of telephonic and video interviews and being shortlisted, a candidate was eventually regretted post the face to face discussion. The reason being the person came across as too soft natured for the role client was looking for and concluded that the prospect can’t manage demanding clients/ teams.

Such decisions might be subjective at times (since you haven’t seen the person in a hands on set up) however you drive conclusions through the limited hour vested with him/her.

Another case where in a candidate was almost going to be offered and later dropped. After much enquiry realised that there was an informal ref check done with a previous colleague/ boss which didn't turn out to be positive.Again may or may not be fool proof (because I believe through our professional life we might not have harnessed similar relationships with everyone around us, also you cannot rule out professional biases).

There are other reasons why maybe you could not land that job like-

-An internal candidate who was assessed simultaneously got through(as IJPs are preferred over external hires in organisations to foster loyalty and save cost)

-the organisation preferred a diversity hire or 

- they went ahead with someone who could join in earlier than you could.

- hiring manager not convinced on your stability/ gaps in employment ( a personal call) and which at today’s date you cannot circumvent.

and so on

These are only some instances which I cited and there of course can be more.

So, not making through an interview process would not necessarily mean that there was a flaw with how you performed.

It was possibly just not meant to be or maybe something better is on its way.

Hence there is only as much which you can control in these kind of scenarios.( since these aspects would not be a part of any job description that you have prepared for), so do not get upset instead remember,

If you can't do anything about it just let it go. Don’t be a prisoner of things you can't change.

Tony Gaskins

PS. However wherever possible do try and attempt to enquire (through the organisation HR/hiring manager/ your consultant) the true reason for not being shortlisted, (if it’s based on skill and competence) to better prepare for future roles.