10 Reasons You Didn’t Get the Job

It’s been said before, but finding a job is hard. It requires a great deal of research, legwork, and preparation. And that’s before you even manage to land an interview. Even if you possess all the qualifications, there’s no guarantee that you’ll be in the final consideration for a position. In fact, there are a number of reasons why you may not get the job that have nothing to do with your experience and skill sets.

Here Are 10 Reasons That Might Explain Why You Didn’t Get the Job:

1: You Fixated on What the Job Could Do for You

While a job is in part for you, you’re also offering a service to the company. Potential employers want to know what you can do for the job. They’re interested in how your skills and experience can help you carry out the position’s responsibilities more effectively than other candidates. How will you approach the work? What value do you add to the company? What they don’t want to know is how you plan to use the job as a stepping stone to get somewhere else. There’s nothing wrong with asking about development opportunities. Be sure to keep the focus on the job you’re actually interviewing for, not the one you want to get in the future.

2: You Didn’t Research the Company or the Interviewers

Being unprepared never makes a good impression. If you walk into an interview not knowing about the company, you’re already at a serious disadvantage. Most interviewers will not expect you to be an expert on the company and its personnel. But you should at least be familiar with the information that’s publicly available about the company. Reviewing the company website, reading about its executive team, and familiarizing yourself with its industry should be basic steps in preparing for any interview. Here are some interview tips on how to educate yourself on a company prior to an interview.

3: You Cursed

This may seem like an obvious one, but unleashing a string of profanities during a job interview doesn’t say very much about your professionalism. Remember that an interview is not a casual conversation between friends; it is a formal interaction about a business relationship. Even if the interviewer swears at some point, you should not take that as permission to do the same.

4: You Offered Opinions Where They Were Not Requested

So you don’t care for open office layouts or Apple products? That’s all well and good, but an interviewer probably doesn’t want to know how you feel about things that aren’t directly related to the job. Offering your opinion on every topic imaginable, from business strategy to politics, can give the impression that you’ll be confrontational and difficult to work with. There are many instances where a company wants feedback from employees. However, there are also times when people are expected to do their work without complaining.

5: You Overshared Personal Information

Most interviewers will ask you to talk about yourself at some point to get an idea of your professional background and experience. While they already know the main points from your resume, this is an opportunity for you to fill in the gaps and provide additional context that might not be evident in your employment history. What the interviewer does NOT want to know about is your most recent relationship. Again, this is a formal interview, not a casual conversation at the local bar. If the interviewer sees you don’t have clear boundaries, they will certainly start to think about how that could create HR headaches in the workplace. Unless your personal information is directly addressed by the interviewer, it probably doesn’t need to come up.

6: You Didn’t Stay on Point

Rambling on and on and on not only wastes the interviewer’s time, it also makes you seem like you don’t know what you’re talking about. If you can’t focus on one topic and instead branch off to talk about unrelated issues, the interviewer might question how well you’ll be able to stay on task at work. Rambling is often interpreted as a sign of insecurity, so be sure to make your comments thorough enough to answer the question, but concise enough to keep the interview moving. Here are some other speaking habits and body language cues— like making eye contact— to consider while preparing for an interview.

7: You Are Critical of Current or Past Employers

This point should seem obvious, but it’s striking how many candidates feel free to say terrible things about past employers. While there’s nothing wrong with expressing dissatisfaction with an old job, throwing them under the bus isn’t going to endear you to the hiring manager. Hoisting blame upon former coworkers falls into the same category, and it indicates to the interviewer that you’re unwilling to hold yourself accountable when things go wrong.

8: You Didn’t Follow Up Promptly

Interviews are often a multi-step process. After an initial screening, you may be asked to contact someone else to set up an appointment or complete a task of some kind. If you can’t be bothered to make the effort to follow up promptly, it doesn’t send a good message about your willingness to take responsibility and follow instructions. In many instances, employers are looking for reasons to whittle down a pool of candidates to a more manageable group of finalists. Failing to follow up in a timely fashion is a good excuse to eliminate you from consideration.

9: You Didn’t Ask Relevant Questions That Exemplified Your Interest

Interviewers want to identify candidates who are actually interested in the job. Engaged employees are more likely to be productive and remain in their position long enough to justify the cost of hiring and training them. You can demonstrate interest in a position by asking questions about it. You’ll already know the basics from your pre-interview research. Consider asking what a typical day looks like or seeking clarification about certain job roles. This shows the interviewer that you have a genuine interest in the position. Simply sitting through the interview without asking any questions about the job makes it seem like you’re just there for the sake of being there. Companies want people who are going to be engaged and interested in their work, not people who are just showing up to collect a paycheck.

10: There Was A More Qualified Candidate

So the interview process went over amazingly, and you still didn’t get the job. The reason isn’t always because of you. Sometimes the company decides to go with an internal candidate. The position might have a hiring freeze. And often times the reason can simply be that they decided to go with a candidate who has more years of experience, or more of a niche skillset than you. This happens, and it’s important to understand that the job market is tough, and employers are looking for the top talent whenever possible. Consider looking at some tips for how to set yourself at an advantage in your job search, and push you closer to getting your dream job.

Landing a job is difficult enough in the best of circumstances. Don’t undermine your chances by doing things that make a bad impression with the interviewer or suggest that you’re not serious about the position. Do your homework, respect the process, and put in the same effort you would put into the job itself. This way, you’ll ace the interview, and hopefully end up in the final round of candidates.