4 ms·

I notice several comments about culture fit and not clicking with interviewers, but it's worth keeping in mind that there isn't always a "reason" for not gettin

by fenomas 12y ago

I notice several comments about culture fit and not clicking with interviewers, but it's worth keeping in mind that there isn't always a "reason" for not getting an offer. Not related to the candidate, that is. Job openings sometimes disappear for random internal reasons, or there may have been another candidate for the same position who was objectively a much better fit. I feel you have to look at job interviews like a hand of poker or the like. There are things you can do to increase your odds, but even with perfect play not every hand is winnable.

grecy 12y ago
This exact thing happened to me today. I applied for a Developer position back in the summer (not at Apple) and after a great phone interview I never heard back. Today, more than 7 months later I got a call out of the blue saying the position was just advertised again and they were really disappointed I didn't apply (I didn't see it) apparently my resume was great and I scored really high on the phone interview (who knew?) so they've had me submit my resume today and have already started calling my references. I'm very curious why it all fell in a heap 7 months ago, but I suspect internal politics or the budget dried up or some-such.
- jsmeaton 12y ago
  Another data point. We were hiring for a developer position and found a really promising candidate. The higher ups decided that we needed a hire for another team first which put a temporary (permanent.. ) hold on our new position. I found out much later that the candidate was never even contacted to tell them it was a no. This was a major breakdown of HR - but it shows that it's not always about the candidate.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
- mattmurdog 12y ago
  Something similar happened to me years ago. I later learned the hiring manager had left. But when they contacted me, I had already moved on.
- smtddr 12y ago
  Another anecdotal... I originally got rejected from my current position. It wasn't until a month later that they called me back and we're like, "um yeah, actually come back and let's talk about compensation." Found out that some political hurdles were cleared up for the extra headcount needed to bring me on. Apparently the whole interviewing candidates process was started a bit earlier than it should have.
  - marktangotango 12y ago
    At one job, I was hired pretty quickly after a couple of interviews. About a month after I started, another developer left, and they went thru the queue of people they had interviewed at the same time I did, and hired one of them. In that case turned out it was a guy I knew. So instead of posting a new req, when they had just gone through a bunch of interviews, they hired someone from the previous round, since it was fairly recent.
  - steven777400 12y ago
    Similarly, at my current position, I interviewed and was hired. After I arrived I found that I had to do some weird paperwork each pay period, but I didn't know much about the internal organization so just did what I was told. A few months later, my supervisor told me, "When we hired you, the budget for your position wasn't approved. We were hoping we could scrap together enough funding to pay for you until we could convince management to approve funding as a permanent position."
    - vxNsr 12y ago
      That's a pretty terrifying thing to not be told, especially because it sounds like it could've gone either way.
- ugh123 12y ago
  Did they plan on making you an offer after just a phone screen and a reference check? If they still planned on doing an in-person I wouldn't let them go near my references until the very last step.
mc32 12y ago
In some ways they have similarities with social dates, first dates. You can feel a bit nervous, might feel intimidated; did you say the right things, did you handle yourself well. Everyone says, be yourself. It's the same for job interviews, be yourself. Be prepared, show interest, don't be overconfident, etc. And like first dates, you can do all the right things, etc. And you think things went well, but, you find out that there is no second date.
- foobarqux 12y ago
  "Be yourself" is misleading advice, there are a bunch of things you need to do in an interview that aren't natural for anybody.
  - mc32 12y ago
    It depends on how you want to interpret "yourself". Our selves have very many facets. We have the at-home facet, the with-friends, the one at-work, the one in front of a court. They are all our self. It basically means be natural for the face you're putting on. Don't over do it. Don't construct something overly elaborate such that it misrepresents you and it becomes apparent. Don't over think it.
    - iopq 12y ago
      I don't have a "write some algorithm in 15 minutes" self because I never do it at my job, but here I am, trying to rush an implementation on a whiteboard.
      - mc32 12y ago
        Part of that is doing research and getting to know what the company looks for in candidates and what you can expect in interviews and how you meet them. Sometimes it won't be a good fit, and that's alright. If they want you to be their monkey and that's not you, I'd say don't do it. Of course, that's very easy for me to say, but if you think it's unreasonable and don't like it, find another company. There is no "one" company --just like there is no "one" romantic partner. It's all about trade-offs.
acomjean 12y ago
>but even with perfect play not every hand is winnable. This is so true. If you remind the person interviewing of someone they don't like, your chances lessen. You have no control over that. Also be aware that non-HR people have to interview people with not a ton of guidance or experience in interviewing. When I interviewed people I was trying to figure out was 1) can this person help us, 2) what will it be like working with them. Also remember that it can work the other way too. You are trying to see if you'd like to work there while interviewing. At my last company we had people reject us. And when looking for a job last year I politely told a couple companies I thought would be great I was not interested after interviewing.

by fenomas 12y ago

grecy 12y ago

This exact thing happened to me today. I applied for a Developer position back in the summer (not at Apple) and after a great phone interview I never heard back. Today, more than 7 months later I got a call out of the blue saying the position was just advertised again and they were really disappointed I didn't apply (I didn't see it) apparently my resume was great and I scored really high on the phone interview (who knew?) so they've had me submit my resume today and have already started calling my references. I'm very curious why it all fell in a heap 7 months ago, but I suspect internal politics or the budget dried up or some-such.

jsmeaton 12y ago
Another data point. We were hiring for a developer position and found a really promising candidate. The higher ups decided that we needed a hire for another team first which put a temporary (permanent.. ) hold on our new position. I found out much later that the candidate was never even contacted to tell them it was a no. This was a major breakdown of HR - but it shows that it's not always about the candidate.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
mattmurdog 12y ago
Something similar happened to me years ago. I later learned the hiring manager had left. But when they contacted me, I had already moved on.
smtddr 12y ago
Another anecdotal... I originally got rejected from my current position. It wasn't until a month later that they called me back and we're like, "um yeah, actually come back and let's talk about compensation." Found out that some political hurdles were cleared up for the extra headcount needed to bring me on. Apparently the whole interviewing candidates process was started a bit earlier than it should have.
- marktangotango 12y ago
  At one job, I was hired pretty quickly after a couple of interviews. About a month after I started, another developer left, and they went thru the queue of people they had interviewed at the same time I did, and hired one of them. In that case turned out it was a guy I knew. So instead of posting a new req, when they had just gone through a bunch of interviews, they hired someone from the previous round, since it was fairly recent.
- steven777400 12y ago
  Similarly, at my current position, I interviewed and was hired. After I arrived I found that I had to do some weird paperwork each pay period, but I didn't know much about the internal organization so just did what I was told. A few months later, my supervisor told me, "When we hired you, the budget for your position wasn't approved. We were hoping we could scrap together enough funding to pay for you until we could convince management to approve funding as a permanent position."
  - vxNsr 12y ago
    That's a pretty terrifying thing to not be told, especially because it sounds like it could've gone either way.
ugh123 12y ago
Did they plan on making you an offer after just a phone screen and a reference check? If they still planned on doing an in-person I wouldn't let them go near my references until the very last step.

mc32 12y ago

In some ways they have similarities with social dates, first dates. You can feel a bit nervous, might feel intimidated; did you say the right things, did you handle yourself well. Everyone says, be yourself. It's the same for job interviews, be yourself. Be prepared, show interest, don't be overconfident, etc. And like first dates, you can do all the right things, etc. And you think things went well, but, you find out that there is no second date.

foobarqux 12y ago
"Be yourself" is misleading advice, there are a bunch of things you need to do in an interview that aren't natural for anybody.
- mc32 12y ago
  It depends on how you want to interpret "yourself". Our selves have very many facets. We have the at-home facet, the with-friends, the one at-work, the one in front of a court. They are all our self. It basically means be natural for the face you're putting on. Don't over do it. Don't construct something overly elaborate such that it misrepresents you and it becomes apparent. Don't over think it.
  - iopq 12y ago
    I don't have a "write some algorithm in 15 minutes" self because I never do it at my job, but here I am, trying to rush an implementation on a whiteboard.
    - mc32 12y ago
      Part of that is doing research and getting to know what the company looks for in candidates and what you can expect in interviews and how you meet them. Sometimes it won't be a good fit, and that's alright. If they want you to be their monkey and that's not you, I'd say don't do it. Of course, that's very easy for me to say, but if you think it's unreasonable and don't like it, find another company. There is no "one" company --just like there is no "one" romantic partner. It's all about trade-offs.

acomjean 12y ago

>but even with perfect play not every hand is winnable. This is so true. If you remind the person interviewing of someone they don't like, your chances lessen. You have no control over that. Also be aware that non-HR people have to interview people with not a ton of guidance or experience in interviewing. When I interviewed people I was trying to figure out was 1) can this person help us, 2) what will it be like working with them. Also remember that it can work the other way too. You are trying to see if you'd like to work there while interviewing. At my last company we had people reject us. And when looking for a job last year I politely told a couple companies I thought would be great I was not interested after interviewing.