"We'd love to employ you, but ......."

[duke o' york]

I'm severely pissed off at the moment.
I've just been turned down for an excellent job on the basis that I was too serious in the interview.
I had the best test scores of anyone they've interviewed there (maybe not ever, but certainly as far back as the finance manager has been there), they said I did really well in the interview, but apparently have decided to pass on me on those ridiculous grounds.
It's a bloody interview - not a pub crawl!!!! I'd be worried if someone wasn't serious enough. Plus, I thought that the interview was fine, and we shared a few jokes that they have possibly blanked from their memories.

So, polytubbies, in a bid to relieve my gloom, what are the most outrageous reasons you have been refused a job for?

[MRT144]

i think some the of time that happens where the person who is the best fit for the company gets hired rather best qualified.

[The Emperor Fabulous]

I've never been turned down for a job...

...then again, I've never applied for a "real" job, and I don't ever intend to...

[duke o' york]

MRT:

But that's impossible to judge at interview! Only when you get them to meet the people they'll be working with will you really know.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by The Emperor Fabulous
I've never been turned down for a job...

...then again, I've never applied for a "real" job, and I don't ever intend to...

I just wondered how you planned to live. Do you already have a job or business, wealthy parents, etc ??

[MRT144]

hes in school

[Ming]

When I was between jobs, the only reasons I ever got were:

We can't afford you...
You are over qualified...


And DOY...
Even though you never interviewed with your eventual work team... the person you did interview with might have had the opinion that you didn't fit the overall corporate culture... When we review people, we send them to our "professional screener" first... and if they pass muster, than we have the people they are going to work with interview them.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by duke o' york
MRT:

But that's impossible to judge at interview! Only when you get them to meet the people they'll be working with will you really know.

You can get a sense at an interview. As for the reason the Duke was given, thats odd but perhaps they dodn't want to say " we thought you were an arrogant ass" or "our VP was uncomfortable that you were staring at her breasts" or " we had to hire the boss's son".

The reality is that you don't know what really happened and the reason may or may not be what you were told. It could have nothing to do with you (boss's son) or maybe things weren't nearly as good as you thought

[duke o' york]

How do I get around this? (Ignoring the fact that I am, as are all intelligent lifeforms, allergic to HR people)

I don't want to act like a total buffoon in interviews. Well, not unless they take place in the Shakespeare's Head.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Ming
When I was between jobs, the only reasons I ever got were:

We can't afford you...
You are over qualified...

THose suck since the can't afford you is for the employee to decide once they are told the salary range but it ties into the overqualified reason. To me they are saying " we know that pretty soon you will get a better job than this and will leave us" -- Often they are right

I used to hate the "overqualified " reason but if I were hiring an assistent now, I wouldn't want the person that almost has their degree. I'd want the person that will be a good assistent and will be happy being an assistent

[duke o' york]

We're having that trouble at my current job. Perhaps influenced by my experience there. They employ someone who will do a good job for them, but will swiftly outgrow the position they hold, and have nowhere else to move within the organisation.
(or in my case, because I'm not moving to London to work for the same firm in a better job - fortunately not a sackable offence because they still need me where I am)

[Japher]

I am looking for a job right now, and have been thinking about all my turn downs.

1. I've gotten the "your not qualified enough/we found another person more qualified" ones, mainly because I apply for jobs over my head. Heck! They call me, I don't call them, so I must be somewhat qualified for them to even contact me on the matter.

2. The interview I had in AZ told me that I would make a better Process Engineer than a Quality Engineer. No sheit sherlock, I am a Process Engineer! Doh!!!

3. I got turned down for one because "they wanted to go in another direction"... plurp! What? East? Oh well, that job required management experience, I have none of that besides pushing Sava around

4. My last job I commuted from Sacramento to South San Francisco, and passed a similar process plant of the same company I worked for within 20 minutes of my 90 minute drive. I interviewed for a transfer and didn't get it on the grounds that "I didn't want it enough". WTF I drive 90 minutes one way and I don't want the exact same job 70 minutes closer! Go F' yourself!... I actually told them that, and that is what I don't work there anymore


I'm still interviewing so I am bound to get some better ones than that...

[Flubber]

Originally posted by duke o' york
How do I get around this? (Ignoring the fact that I am, as are all intelligent lifeforms, allergic to HR people)

I don't want to act like a total buffoon in interviews. Well, not unless they take place in the Shakespeare's Head.

Well one refusal is not a big deal and could happen for any reason but if youi find you have a pattern of jobs that you are extremely well qualified for . . and the interview seems to go well and you don't get the job . . . well then you might have a problem.

I don't know you but having sat in on some interviews, many go badly for weird reasons. I remember one with an articulate candidate that said all the right things . . . pretty much perfect answers to everything but he must have read too much about the importance of eye contact since he stared and stared in an intense way. When he left, the interviewing panel rejected him in less than a minute since he pretty much made us all feel uncomfortable

[duke o' york]

But did you really think that the candidate would have done that all the time? There must have been something else about him that put you off.

[Japher]

I think that sometimes a person can rub someone the wrong way regardless of intentions or even what they do.

It is kind of like my intense hatred for Rick Fox. I have no idea why I don't like the guy, I just want to smack him around for half an hour or so for some reason.

don't worry duke, something better will come along.

If it makes you feel better PH loses jobs because he's a pretentious snob