Reasons for not getting an interview

missy2011

I applied to a job a couple of weeks ago. I have all the skills which were required and lots of experience for the position however I was not shortlisted for an interview, and heard nothing except the auto reply email.
I have heard that the company may be advertising another position in the very near future.
I would like to know why I was unsuccessful in obtaining an interview but I don’t feel confident enough to ring the company.
Would it look bad if I emailed the CEO person (Contact name on the job advertisement) of the company to ask why I did not obtain an interview?
All help will be gratefully appreciated.

Lingua Franca

Sorry to hear that, missy.

I wouldn't email the CEO, I'd contact the HR department. It's a reasonable request and at worst they'd ignore you. However, it's very likely that you won't get an honest answer. It could well be that the job was boxed off for someone else and they were only advertising the position because the law requires them to do so.

I once had a boss with incredibly dodgy ethics. She advertised two positions for our workplace and then threw all of the applications in the bin and gave the jobs to unqualified and inexperienced people already working there without so much as holding an interview.

missy2011

Thanks. There is no HR department however there is a secretary. I will email her and see if she will even come back to me. Its so annoying when they cant even send you out a letter of regret.

Probably won't get an honest answer. Most likely you'll get a trite generalism "you didn't seem a good fit" or something like that. But by all means go ahead and give it a go.

Vojera

Lingua Franca wrote: »

However, it's very likely that you won't get an honest answer. It could well be that the job was boxed off for someone else and they were only advertising the position because the law requires them to do so.

This!

A close friend of mine applied for a job last year and she really ticked every box when it came to qualifications and experience. She asked why she didn't even get an interview and got a reply like "We were looking for X and Y which you don't have", to which she replied "Yes I do, it's right there on my cv". They came up with some other excuse fobbing her off but we later found out through a friend of a friend dealio that they had always intended it to be an internal appointment and it was.

There's no harm in asking, but be prepared to get a generic "the standards of applicants were very high" or some such rather than anything specific to you.

murphym7

This is not directed at you Milly, I can’t comment on your case.

To be honest, there are lots of applicants who think they tick every box when it comes to applying for a role. The reality in a lot of cases is, that while you probably do tick most of the boxes there is likely several other applicants who tick more boxes, more experience, right mixture and better balance of experience etc….. Simple thing is there are applicants out there that are just better than you, nobody likes to hear it, but it’s a fact. It may seem you are perfect for the job, but they can’t interview everyone that meets the job spec, there will be other candidates that are better for whatever reason.

It does not excuse not being regretted properly.

cojack101

Hi Missy,

I hope I can shed some light on this for you. Someone I know owns one of the smaller recruitment agencies in town. When he posts a job online, he sets up a new email address on his server and that is the one that receives all the emails from that ad.

He can have a couple of hundred CV's in the inbox after only a few hours. He prints off the top 15, without even opening anymore he then does a "reply all" with the generic response to the rest.

Unfortunately as a job seeker that's the sad reality we are facing.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank you for your post. Even though your post was impressive there has been an overwhelming volume of posts on boards.ie lately. I regret to inform you that I have chose to follow another thread due to the fact that the other thread entertained me more. I wish you the best with your future threads.

Sincerely,

Cojack

:-P

Achtung Maybe

Missy,

I am sorry to hear of your situation but there are a number of variable which mat have gone against you. I am referring to these situations in a generic manner as clearly I dont know your own personal details

1. While you may have matched the qualifications, there have been someone else who did likewise and perhaps had more years of experience.

2. Perhaps there was someone with same experience but with a degree / qualifications under his/her belt

3. Availability, I dont know your own details but an employee who is available immediately is typically more attractive to employers

4. And as mentioned by a number of posters here, the employer most likely was swamped with cvs and there not able to able to reply to unsuccessful applicants

Also, absolutely do not approach the CEO

April O Neill

Achtung Maybe wrote: »

3. Availability, I dont know your own details but an employee who is available immediately is typically more attractive to employers

I'm not sure if this is always true!

If you do email them, don't ask why you didn't obtain an interview, just ask if they have any feedback.

Unless you have an extremely rare set of qualifications, it's likely that they had tonnes of applications and yours just didn't get through. If they receive over 1000 applications, they're not obligated to read every single one of them. Similarly, if they read your application, maybe it wasn't viable for similar reasons to shortlist every candidate that met the requirements. Interviews take time and money, and they have no responsibility to run an interviewing process akin to the X Factor auditions.

Another possibility is that your lack of confidence which you mentioned earlier came across in your application. There are a hundred little things like that that may have been a factor, and they wont have a critique ready as feedback everyone who applied, especially people who didn't get to the interview stage.

By all means, ask, but there's also the possibility that you might be putting someone through hassle that they'll remember when that new position comes up.

Red About Town

My advice would be to put it behind you and move on.

tatli_lokma

murphym7 wrote: »

To be honest, there are lots of applicants who think they tick every box when it comes to applying for a role. The reality in a lot of cases is, that while you probably do tick most of the boxes there is likely several other applicants who tick more boxes, more experience, right mixture and better balance of experience etc….. Simple thing is there are applicants out there that are just better than you, nobody likes to hear it, but it’s a fact. It may seem you are perfect for the job, but they can’t interview everyone that meets the job spec, there will be other candidates that are better for whatever reason.

this is good advice. And also, you might have all the experience and skills, but if your CV/Cover letter/application don't sell you, then you are just one of many and won't stand out.
Your CV has to be seen as your first interview really - with the competition out there, the generic, unimaginative standard formula CV is often overlooked. Perhaps rethink the presentation of your CV and see if that yields more luck?

April O Neill

Red About Town wrote: »

My advice would be to put it behind you and move on.

Yup. Not replying to people who have been interviewed is bad form, but they can't be expected to reply to everyone they didn't shortlist, except maybe an automated message.

Sucks, OP, I know but you need to keep plugging away at it.

Miaireland

Can I ask did you write your cover letter for that particular job or did you just send a general cover letter?

I have a friend who works for HR in a large company and they receive 100s of cvs for every position the advertise?

Often the cvs with the standard cover letter don't get looked as the ones with cover letters written to target the specific job/company stand out.

weefa

There's some good advice here, but the best is really to put it behind you I think. Refresh your CV and re apply when the next position comes up.
I have recently advertised a job in my store and in the space of a few days I had over 250 CV's come in. Most of the time I read the first few lines of the cover letter and decide from there if I will continue on to read the CV or move on to the next one. Your cover letter is SO important! Spelling and grammar mistakes usually put me off even if the person is qualified for the job, I just think if they didn't have any attention to detail when they are supposed to be trying to impress me what would they be like actually in the job!
Your CV has to stand out too, I get so many that are exactly the same generic microsoft template, they all start to look the same.
Cover letter is to show off your personality and what you will bring to this specific job and CV is to show off your experience and skills. Keep both short,sweet and to the point!
I once had a guy who I interviewed who would have been my second choice if the guy I hired didn't work out but he spent 2 weeks after the interview calling and emailing me for feedback (even when I had given him feedback already when I told him he didn't get the job!) His CV went straight in the bin after that!!

sligoface

Apply for the new role if it is advertised and treat the unsuccessful application like an ex, ie: don't mention it unless they bring it up.