Do not take rejection personallyGuys, do not take it personally if you don't get the job. Do not under any circumstance try to get retribution against the interviewer or otherwise express your anger over the company's hiring practices. Burning bridges does come back to bite people in the you know what. Case in point. I have an opening in my department. The head of another department forwarded me the resume of an applicant he had recently interviewed. He ended up hiring someone else, mainly because that person had more experience, but liked her enough to recommend that I take a look at her resume. Her resume was pretty impressive. I was just going to invite her to interview for the job. Well, this morning, that very same colleague called me to apologize for wasting my time with this woman's resume and to let me know he no longer recommended that I consider her. Apparently, he had just received a letter from her regarding the position she had interviewed for and did not get. In it, she stated that he had made a huge mistake by not hiring her (I'm paraphrasing), made some scathing remarks about the demeanor of one of the interviewers, and ended with a promise to some day come back and buy this company. Needless to say, she is no longer being considered for a position with us. So many posters here seem to think that it's a good idea to give a potential employers a piece of your mind whenever you feel slighted, even tell stories about how they made the "evil" interviewer pay for their wicked ways. If you are ever tempted to follow such course of action, please ask yourself what benefit you could possibly reap from this, aside from one moment of satisfaction, if that. In the end, it's rarely worth it. I agree that it is unwise to send a letter to say, "You don't know what you're missing." It is up to the applicant to make his/her case at the interview. In your example, either:
If it was # 3, a letter would have been justified, but not a vindictive one. A factual letter pointing out the behavior would have been ok, but not a vow to someday buy the company. I totally agree with what you are saying. However, you cannot really judge a person until you allow them to demonstrate what they know. So in a way, hiring managers are prejudicial towards applicants. Something about the applicant makes a good or bad vibe and that this it! How do I know? I was one of those rejected applicants. I was called when the original applicant did not meet expectations. I politely declined the offer. I am guilty of that kind of discrimination. My judgement was clouded by some small stupid thing the applicant said during the interview. But I know I probably lost a good deal of potentially excellent workers because of that prejudice. That woman was incredibly stupid. I do not think a story exactly like that one happens too often. Had he hired her, she would have spelled trouble for his entire operation! Letters can be destructive. I know what I am talking about, and I made a similar mistake years ago when I lost a temporary job after three hours. The story is very long and I do not feel like dredging up the old and sad details so I will look for my messages about this situation on the old Forums and post the Link here. Hiring managers can be prejudiced but they are the hiring managers. There is not much we can do about discrimination against candidates. We cannot prove they rejected us on the basis of race, religion, age, and origin so we have to move on to the next big thing. See you all later! I found it: http://forums.adminsupport.monster.com/viewmessage.asp?messageid=3476884
Bunzo Guys, interviewing IS all about judging people. It isn't discriminating in the sense of " to make a difference in treatment or favor on a basis other than individual merit" it is discriminating in terms of "to distinguish by discerning or exposing differences; especially : to distinguish from another like object" and "to make a distinction <discriminate among historical sources> b: to use good judgment". That's what interviews are all about. Does it mean that someone who makes a great impression in an interview is always the best person for a particular job? Not always, but enough that the system works. Otherwise, employers would do something differently. So, it is on you to make a good impression. Interviewers know that you're nervous, maybe inexperienced in interviews, etc. etc. But they want to hear why you're great for the job. Tell them that and if you're the best fit, you're set. And don't take it personally!
Tess
The applicant did a stupid thing, no doubt. I myself have never been able to understand what applicants hope to gain by complaining about the interviewers to the higher ups, even if they do it in the most polite manner possible (sounds like that wasn't the case here). It's just not a wise thing to do. Plus, you are in such a vulnerable place when you are interviewing, your perspective may be scewed and you may be perceiving slights that aren't really there. That's probably what happened to this candidate. She thought she was being toyed with when in fact, the decision maker actually liked her. Even if someone did inadvertently send her the wrong signal or spoke to her in a way that may have been misconstrued as more negative than it actually was, she was obviously being taken quite seriously for the hiring manager to pass her resume to you for consideration. There is something to be said for taking a "breather" in these situations. Had this applicant done that, she probably would not have written this letter. She couldn't have been that irrational and angry a person if she had such an impressive resume. However, as this story illustrates, it's enough to lose control of your emotions once to prompt long lasting consequences. For all we know, she could've gone on to have a wonderful career with this company. I am not an expert, and not really looking to lecture anyone, but I have also noticed that many applicants seem to believe it's a good idea to send "feedback" to the company after being rejected. It's not. You will not start a revolution. You will just make yourself look like a cry baby, or worse, and confirm that the person/people who didn't hire you made the right decision. Recently, an applicant left one of the managers at my company a VM pointing out all the things the person interviewing her did wrong. You know what he did with it? He played it to his friends for laughs. It can be frustrating not to get the job of your dreams. It happens. Find another way to cope with frustration. Go for a run or bake a cake. | |
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Career Tips
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