Your job interview has gone really well. The interviewers liked you, your skills and experience are a perfect fit and you have passed with flying colours. The management is falling all over itself to take you on and is almost on the verge of making a job offer then and there. They keep telling you how great the company is and how well you would fit in. You leave the interview convinced beyond a doubt that the job is yours for the taking. A phone call seems like a mere formality!
Even as you dream and plan of starting off the new job with a bang, everything comes crashing down. You get the call but only to hear that you have been rejected – the company does not want you. Or even worse, you are left twiddling your thumbs with no response at all.
It’s true that nobody likes being rejected. But this implausible rejection comes as a huge bombshell much beyond your belief.
To say that you are left disappointed to the core would be an understatement. Your self-esteem and confidence is smashed beyond repair. Baffling possibilities race through your mind as the big question is ‘why?’ Lets examine some of the reasons:
Found someone better – Like it or not, but nine times out of ten this is the most obvious answer. As a job opening attracts umpteen candidates, someone better may have come along after you were interviewed. He may have been more qualified/experienced, a better fit or simply more suitable. It can be a major blow to your ego, but you just lost out to someone who was even better.
Too soon – At times department heads often start interviewing candidates just to test the job market for later purposes sans any immediate hiring intentions.
The mighty reference check – Most companies have now started conducting mandatory reference checks before taking on an employee. It is possible that the background probe may have revealed something unpleasant or a previous boss/client may have put in a bad word. Sometimes, the management may even contact someone you never thought would be approached and unfortunately that someone didn’t like you.
Foul play – Unluckily for you, an antagonistic ex-colleague may have spotted you at the interview and maliciously tried to get his own back by painting you as incompetent and thus blocking your appointment. Or, he may even be trying to save his own hide, as trainer Gerry McLaughlin remarks, “There’s also the possibility that the person who recognised you was sacked from the other place and doesn’t want someone who knows that starting at his or her new place.”
Another seemingly unbelievable possibility is that your own recruiter may have played dirty by recommending another candidate above you!
So, whatever be the reason, do not let the unexpected rejection reflect on your abilities.
Put the unpleasant experience behind you and rise like the phoenix to get on with your job search.
What you can always do is politely request a reason for turning you down. While most companies offer canned or trivial responses like ‘You will not be happy’ or ‘The company decided to go in a different direction’, if you are lucky you may get an honest answer.
You can even take heart as your elimination may just turn out to be a bad decision, which the organisation will rue later. Finally it’s their loss, not yours!
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