Career Help and Advice

why don’t employers tell you the reason they’re rejecting you for a job?
by ALISON GREEN on MARCH 3, 2015

A reader writes:

I recently had a very positive phone interview for a position I was very excited about. Because of the hiring manager being out of the office for awhile, he was planning to interview local candidates this week and then non-local candidates when he got back. I was a non-local candidate.

I received this email this morning:

“I wanted to thank you once again for your interest in the XXXX position. In the course of conducting in-person interviews this week, we identified a candidate whose professional experience and technical skills were an exceptional match for what we were seeking, and her academic background in international studies and languages was very well suited for speaking about the XXXX. As a result of these circumstances, we decided to offer the candidate the position and she accepted. I’m sorry that this didn’t work out for you, and extend my sincere best wishes for your success in your job search.”

I am of course disappointed but getting an email explaining that a) they didn’t even get around to the second batch of in-person interviews, and b) that the chosen candidate was an incredible fit, has preserved my morale and self-confidence. Whereas, if I had just gotten a vague “we decided to go in a different direction” email, I’d be kicking myself wondering why I sucked so much that I could do really well in a phone interview and still not get an in-person interview.

Read more
http://www.askamanager.org/2015/03/why-dont-employers-tell-you-the-reason-theyre-rejecting-you-for-a-job.html