I'm qualified! Why didn't I get the job?

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Resources of the Week!

1. Hiring at Zapier is really picking up - if you’re looking for technical support roles, we’re posting roles in every region this week. Keep a look out for some upcoming sales and marketing roles too!

2. Some great job search planning tools here!

3. And sign up for a networking chat!

Why didn’t I get the job when I’m perfectly qualified?!

This is one of the most common complaints that I hear - and it often drives people to spin their wheels redoing their resume or otherwise trying to figure out what went wrong.

Here’s the real issue: The vast majority of qualified applicants for a role will be rejected. Many won’t even get an interview.

If a company has 20 qualified applicants, they may only need to interview half of those - so they will start prioritizing further. It could be based on time of application. It could be based on preferred qualifications. It could be based on working in companies that are more similar to the company you’re applying with.

So what should I do?!

1. Take a deep breath, and be annoyed, but realize that it’s likely due to a large applicant pool vs anything you did wrong.

2. Do an honest assessment of the job description and how your application really lined up and sold your skills. Did you take shortcuts on the application questions? Is your experience in a very different environment, etc.

3. If you want to stay a bit top of mind, you can send a message like this:
   Hey Recruiter!
   While this isn’t the news I was hoping to receive, I’m not surprised that you had a strong applicant pool. Although the match isn’t there this time, I’m really interested in COMPANY, and hope to find the right opportunity soon. I think my <insert 1-2 of your most compelling experiences, name drop former employers, etc.> makes this role a great fit, but I can imagine there are a number of places I might fit.
   If anything comes up that’s a stronger match, or you find yourself needing additional candidates to meet with about this role, let me know!

This message helps you sell yourself a bit, and hopefully piques their interest for the future.

Job Board!

I used to manage a job board on a site called Pallet but I stopped this a few months ago due to changes on their end that made it much more difficult to add jobs, made the process of adding jobseekers to the community a bit cumbersome, along with automated communication on their part.

I know folks enjoyed the curated job board though and I’m working on building a new one that will be open access (no application needed!) and of course, FREE!!

I’d love to hear what kinds of jobs you all are looking for as I work on this!

🙋Answering Your Questions🙋

Each week, I’ll answer a few of your questions in this section. You can submit your questions here.

When someone applies with a resume, that often gives me what I need. But when recruiters are looking for candidates, LinkedIn will often be their first stop. LinkedIn is a way to market and brand yourself.

I also wrote a blog post related to this topic on the purpose of your resume vs your LinkedIn profile which you can find here.

I think this is a fine answer as long as you don’t get overly negative or go into detail too much. “A lot of things changed within the company shortly after I started and the role has evolved into something that doesn’t utilize my talents as much as I’d hoped. I’m grateful to have a position, but also exploring positions that will challenge me a bit more like this one.”

With an answer like this, you’re not being negative, you’re not placing blame, you’re not saying that your manager is bad or the company misled you or anything of those things that could be red flags.

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