YOU DID THE PERFECT JOB SEARCH AND INTERVIEW AND STILL DID NOT GET THE JOB! WHY?

By Larry Robbin

Executive Director of Robbin and Associates

www.LarryRobbin.com

If you are in job search or someone that helps people job hunt, you have read a zillion articles about what job seekers do wrong that ends up with them not getting the job offer. As someone with over forty-five years of workforce development and employer consulting experience, I do believe that about eighty to eighty-five percent of the reasons people are not hired is because they make mistakes in the job search process. This could be because of what they do or because they are getting out of date and inaccurate information from a career counselor or workforce development professional.

But what about that other fifteen to twenty percent who did the right job search? Why do people who do the perfect job search and give an award winning interview, end up not being hired? The problem is not with the job seeker, it is with the employer. Here are some of the reasons people who should be hired, do not get hired.

1. The employer discriminates against certain job seekers. Discrimination in the hiring process is alive and well at all levels of job search. I have found it in hiring practices for CEO’s and entry level employees. Every year the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission settles tens of thousands of cases related to hiring discrimination. This only reflects the people who file a claim. Many more are discriminated against and either do not know it or for a variety of reasons do not file a claim. 

Another form of discrimination involves employers doing good faith effort with no intention of hiring certain people. Employers with federal contracts over a certain limit must meet hiring goals for women, minorities, veterans and people with disabilities set by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP). There can also be hiring goals set by other government agencies or as the result of lawsuits. Employers have to prove they are doing good faith effort at reaching these under represented populations. Good faith effort can involve outreach and advertising as well as interviewing people from these targeted groups. Some unscrupulous employers will interview people from under represented populations to prove good faith effort, while at the same time they know they will not hire them.

It is important that workforce programs and counselors teach people about their rights in the employment process. Everyone helping job seekers should know the basics of employment law and where people can get help if they think they have been the victim of employment discrimination. Check out the website of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. www.eeoc.gov. The Legal Action Centers may also be helpful www.lac.org.

2. The employer has an internal candidate they want to promote, but they do not want them asking for too much in wages or benefits. Some employers will make it known internally that they have interviewed some very competitive candidates. Employees can see these people waiting in the reception area. The employer may leak out information about how good they are so the internal candidate will know the employer has other options about who to hire. This fear of losing to the competition can make an internal candidate think twice about asking for too much when they interview for the position.

3. The employer wants to hire someone who is related or well connected to a person in management or on the board of the business even if that person is definitely not the best candidate for the job. In this situation, the employer may want to make it look like they have checked out the best available talent and they are just not competitive with the well connected job seeker. While this is not true, going through the interview process can help the employer avoid accusations that they are hiring people who are not qualified.

4.  In a group hiring decision such as those that use panels to interview and make the selection, other forces than finding the best hire can be at work. If there are conflicts and power plays among those involved with the group hiring decision, these can often get in the way of making the right choice. The person or people with the most formal or informal power can often have the wrong influence on the hiring decision, especially if they do not value the input of the group. A job seeker could be the best candidate, but they can easily get caught in the cross fire of internal organization politics and lose the job offer.

5. The employer is bad at making the right hiring decision. The next time you experience bad customer service in-person or on line, do not blame the employee. Direct your anger and frustration at the person that hired them. Bad hiring decisions happen all the time. They are more likely to happen in the many businesses that are too small to have a dedicated human resources person. The employer in these situations may know how to run their business, but they have never been trained in how to hire. I see them make mistakes all the time. Even in major corporations with human resource professionals, mistakes happen more often than people would like to admit. Employers often miss the best candidates, because their hiring practices are not the state-of-the-art. In addition, even with the best hiring process, who to hire can be a very difficult decision. It is both an art and a science. I have certainly made my share of mistakes of who to hire. I have seen some employers make the hiring decision by flipping a coin! 

I think it is very important to emphasize that in the vast majority of cases, the job seeker is making some costly mistake that takes them out of consideration for the job opening. But, it is also important for people to know that in fifteen to twenty percent of the hiring decisions, it is the employer that is making the mistake. This is often not discussed by workforce professionals or counselors, so job seekers end up taking all of the blame for not getting the job offer. This is unfair and harmful. 

We may never know which mistake is costing someone a job, but job seekers should do all they can to learn as much as possible about the best job search practices. At the same time, they should avoid endless self-criticism that will only hurt their motivation and self-esteem because not getting the job offer may not be the result of something they did. Keep in mind that both employers and job seekers can make the hiring mistake!