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As someone who interveiws and hires people...sometimes I am looking for a specific type of person, who will get along with the office people already in place. For example, I am hiring a new administrative assistant, who will work with me, and also have to work on collabrative projects with other admin staff. All current admin staff iare older women, mostly african american and white, no colllege degrees.
Am I going to thire a young white woman, right out of college? An older hisptanic woman, who had done admin work before, or an older african american woman who has admin experience. Well, with all things being equal, the older african american woman will be hired. She has experience, and will fit in with the currrent office women. it really does not matter if the young woman out of college interviews great. She was not what I was looking for. So, don't take everything so persnally and literally when interviewing for a job...there may be things going on that have nothing to do with you, or how you interviewed. Even if she wrote a note, or came to ask me how she did...it does not matter, she is not what I was looking for. I would not say that, I would simply encourage her to apply for another job when open.
As someone who interveiws and hires people...sometimes I am looking for a specific type of person, who will get along with the office people already in place. For example, I am hiring a new administrative assistant, who will work with me, and also have to work on collabrative projects with other admin staff. All current admin staff iare older women, mostly african american and white, no colllege degrees.
Am I going to thire a young white woman, right out of college? An older hisptanic woman, who had done admin work before, or an older african american woman who has admin experience. Well, with all things being equal, the older african american woman will be hired. She has experience, and will fit in with the currrent office women. it really does not matter if the young woman out of college interviews great. She was not what I was looking for. So, don't take everything so persnally and literally when interviewing for a job...there may be things going on that have nothing to do with you, or how you interviewed. Even if she wrote a note, or came to ask me how she did...it does not matter, she is not what I was looking for. I would not say that, I would simply encourage her to apply for another job when open.
Great post. Took me a long time to realize that's what it's all about. Not so much what your skills are but how you FIT IN wth the current employees.
I like this thread, because I've been wondering about the same thing myself.
I've been unemployed for a few months now and I seem to have developed a pattern. 99 % of the time I get invited to the final interview (meaning they thought I met their requirements and now it's up to the hiring manager to see if I'm the right candidate), but that's when it all ends. I meet with the hiring managers, the interviews go well (at least, I have a good feeling about most of them), but I don't get hired. Needless to say, I would LOVE to get some feedback from HR, because I'm starting to feel like there is something I ALWAYS do wrong, but at the same time, I do think that I'll get the typical "the other candidate was a better fit" response.
I've also been trying to get a job at 2 companies I would LOVE to work for, so I've been interviewing for several positions at those companies (I keep sending my resumes and their recruiters already know me LOL). I do sometimes feel pathetic when I don't get picked for yet another position at the same company, but hey, at least I'm persistent .
It neither works nor helps. First of all, it's highly unlikely that they will tell you the truth anyway, so why bother. Best thing is to never take it personal and just move on. I see it all the time where all these hiring managers would already have a candidate of their choice lined up for the position and would conduct interviews with several people for justification purposes only. So they can avoid questions and say it was a competitive selection.
Here's how I handle things... (This is for advertised white collar positions, unsolicited random resumes, skilled labor and general labor are a different animal)
If you apply and I'm not interested for whatever reason, I immediately (I do so manually, so it might take a day or two) send you a rejection letter--basically thanks but you aren't what we are looking for. I think it's important to at least let people know they are out of the running.
After I do a phone interview (always prior to a face-to-face, I don't believe in wasting time or making people jump through hoops to come in if after three minutes on the phone I realize they aren't the right person) I send letters to each person I've done the phoner with, again more of a canned response, although I include their name.
I usually do face-to-face interviews with between two and four candidates. Anyone who comes in for an interview gets a phone call from me letting them know I've gone with someone else. During that phone call I tell them why I chose the other candidate--they had more experience with "X" or it was close between the candidates but they were bi-lingual, etc. I try to set aside some time to truthfully answer their questions, I figure they gave up time to come in to see me, it's the least I can do. I'm not going to stay on the phone forever with them, nor will I discuss other in the most vague terms the person I hired, but I will tell them why the successful candidate got the position and they didn't.
So, if someone who I send a rejection letter to calls me and wants to know why, my standard answer is that other candidates were better qualified, had more experience, etc. I'm not spending the time on the phone with them, chances are that they were one of hundreds of applicants and I'm not going to dig through resumes to find theirs.
What I am completely receptive to are people who get a rejection email from me who write back telling me that while they are disappointed, they understand and would appreciate me keeping their resume in case anything opens up. Very classy, and absolutely I'd give them a second look. I keep those letters filed in with the resumes for reference.
As someone who interveiws and hires people...sometimes I am looking for a specific type of person, who will get along with the office people already in place. For example, I am hiring a new administrative assistant, who will work with me, and also have to work on collabrative projects with other admin staff. All current admin staff iare older women, mostly african american and white, no colllege degrees.
Am I going to thire a young white woman, right out of college? An older hisptanic woman, who had done admin work before, or an older african american woman who has admin experience. Well, with all things being equal, the older african american woman will be hired. She has experience, and will fit in with the currrent office women. it really does not matter if the young woman out of college interviews great. She was not what I was looking for. So, don't take everything so persnally and literally when interviewing for a job...there may be things going on that have nothing to do with you, or how you interviewed. Even if she wrote a note, or came to ask me how she did...it does not matter, she is not what I was looking for. I would not say that, I would simply encourage her to apply for another job when open.
OK, that's just lame. Why would you assume that a young white woman would not fit in with the crowd just because she looks different from the rest? First of all, she's likely to bring in a new kind of energy that the old folks no longer have. And since she's fresh out of college, she will probably have great innovative ideas that could really help improve the office, not to mentioned she's likely to be the most well-behaved staff in the office since this is her first job. Thanks God not many people think like you. My unit is comprised of 14 people, each from a different country and none from US. We all are at different ages too but work together just fine!
As someone who interveiws and hires people...sometimes I am looking for a specific type of person, who will get along with the office people already in place. For example, I am hiring a new administrative assistant, who will work with me, and also have to work on collabrative projects with other admin staff. All current admin staff iare older women, mostly african american and white, no colllege degrees.
Am I going to thire a young white woman, right out of college? An older hisptanic woman, who had done admin work before, or an older african american woman who has admin experience. Well, with all things being equal, the older african american woman will be hired. She has experience, and will fit in with the currrent office women. it really does not matter if the young woman out of college interviews great. She was not what I was looking for. So, don't take everything so persnally and literally when interviewing for a job...there may be things going on that have nothing to do with you, or how you interviewed. Even if she wrote a note, or came to ask me how she did...it does not matter, she is not what I was looking for. I would not say that, I would simply encourage her to apply for another job when open.
That reeks of discrimination--age, gender, race, you name it. You'd better be very careful, or you're likely to be sued.
I agree that how someone might fit in with the rest of the staff is important, but it should be based on personality, and nothing else.
This is one of many reasons I like to do phone interviews first. They are color blind. Yes, I know the gender and can often figure an approximate age, but that's it. And these days you'd be surprised at how often Colm Geary can be a black man or Maria Fernandez can be a WASP who married a Hispanic guy. Doing a phoner allows me to get a feel for the person, not their skin color, age, or anything else.
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