Rejected for a job? How to find out why

Determine why you might have been
rejected and resolve to overcome the
reason the next time.

Being rejected for a job that you really want hurts. And it’s confusing. You wonder why the company didn’t want you. And you worry that you are unknowingly doing something wrong that is causing you to lose out on opportunities.

The good news … if there is any good news in being rejected … is that you can often learn why you didn’t get the job and receive helpful advice from companies that didn’t hire you. Here’s how:

Rejected at the resume stage?

You can often chalk it up to your resume not matching the keywords the company sought when it did a keyword search of submitted resumes.

For example, if you are an accountant, the company recruiter will type in words like “reconciliation,” "forecasting," “general ledger,” and “profit and loss statements” into their search system to see if they show up on your resume. 

If you used different words to explain the same duties or neglected to include the key words at all, your resume will likely be rejected before a human being ever really looks at it.



Left: Job description text | Right: Resume text



Use Wordle.net to improve your chances

• Paste the job description text into the free Wordle.net template and print.
• Paste your resume into the template and print.
• Compare the two pictures. The biggest words in the job description word picture are the words the company used most often. This tells you that these words could very well be the words they will look for in your resume
• Adjust your resume to better reflect the job description keywords.
• Include a skills summary near the top of your resume that includes relevant keywords (including the same key words used elsewhere in your resume).
• Even better tip: Spit back the exact job requirements in your summary in order. For example, if they say that they someone who can post content to a content management system, add to your summary: "Highly capable of posting content to a content management system."  

  

Add key words or the exact job requirements in order into the summary section of your resume.

Other reasons for rejection at the resume stage:
You may have way more experience than the job description calls for … if that’s the case for you, take these steps to improve your chances:

• For these lower positions, max out your experience to no more than 15 years on your resume (any more than that and you sound too seasoned and expensive). You may event want to list less than 15 years of jobs.
• Delete irrelevant past duties and even entire past jobs if they don’t relate to the position, particularly if their deletion doesn't leave a big gap on your resume.
• Explain in your cover letter (and on interviews) that you are only seeking a position where you can do exactly what they ask for and reinforce that you are not striving for a higher level job.
• Add a bold statement near the top of your resume to reinforce that you are specifically qualified for the opening. For example, if applying for an accounting coordinator position at an international corporation, write:

Proven accounting coordinator experienced in

international corporations.

Rejected after the interview? Take these steps to figure out why:

Think through the interview. Did the interviewer dwell negatively on specific aspects of your experience or show excessive concern about how you answered certain questions? If so, you can pretty well figure that those were the reasons that you were rejected. 

For example, I can recall an interviewer who commented that it appeared as if I had had too many jobs over a relatively short period of time. Even though the rest of the interview went really well, I could tell my response to her questions on that topic … or even my attempt to follow up with an explanatory email … did not sway her away from her original concern.

Be honest with yourself. Are you really qualified for the job? Are you really a good match for the company and position? If not, interviewers can often see through such attempts to portray yourself as someone you are not. In these situations, accept that you weren't really the best candidate and resolve to a) Apply for jobs more suitable for your experience and personality b) Improve yourself so you are fully qualified for the positions you want.

If you still can figure out why you were rejected …

Email the interviewer and ask for ways you can improve. Note that I advise you to send an email rather than call the person. Why? Calling can make the person unnecessarily uncomfortable and resistant to responding. Emailing allows them to respond to you when they have time to think through their responses and give you the most thorough input they can.

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 Rejection message example:

I enjoyed meeting with you about your ABC position. While I’m disappointed I was not selected for the position, I want you to know that I am still very interested in working for XYZ should another opportunity arise.

OPTION 1: "I'd really appreciate knowing why I was not selected for the position. Would you mind sharing the reasons so that I can improve myself?"

OPTION 2: Could you please share with me ways that I can improve? I really appreciate your input.

Thank you again for the opportunity. Please keep me in mind if another position becomes available.

---------------------------------- 

Not all people will respond, but some will and their answers can be very revealing and helpful. For example, one man I know learned that he had been misspelling an important keyword (for years!) in his cover letter and resume. Once he fixed it, he started getting better responses. If they do respond and tell you things that are hard to hear, graciously thank them for their input and state that you will carefully consider what they have shared and make improvements as soon as possible.

  

DO NOT respond to their comments with arguments about why the company’s perceptions of you were wrong. Learn from the experience and vow to be more hirable in the future.

Other ways to improve your chances

• Share your resume and cover letter with professionals or friends and ask for their input. Use common sense to determine whether their suggestions have merit.
• Conduct mock interviews so you can work out any kinks before they could count against you.
• Take action on deficiencies ... particularly typos and grammatical errors in your resume and cover letter ... to better impress hiring companies. As singer Joan Baez wrote, "Action is the antidote to despair." And taking strong, positive action to improve yourself can do another thing … it can help you … Get a Job!

Have you tried to get feedback from a company? Or, do you have ideas for how to get input from interviewers that could help other job seekers? Please share!

Need help improving your chances of getting hired? Check out the Getajobtips.com Services page.

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How to merge LinkedIn accounts

Do you have more than one LinkedIn account? Maybe you established a profile at an old job and then started another one later. Or, perhaps you created two profiles – each to promote very different skill sets – only to realize that having two accounts just confused people … and you. Fortunately there is a simple process to combine multiple profiles into one. I’ll explain, but first let’s discuss why you should only have one account and what you gain and lose when you merge accounts.
 

Why should you only have one account?

• LinkedIn only allows one account. Having more than one puts you in violation of its rules
• Having two accounts confuses people. They don’t know which one of “you” they should connect with
• Having two accounts has likely confused you too. Most people I know who have two accounts rarely use LinkedIn because they don’t want to deal with the two-profile mess they created
• You CAN and should make one profile work for you even if you want to spotlight diverse skill sets, display two current positions, search for jobs while employed, or promote your own business while working for a company. I’ll explain how in a future article.

What you will gain/lose when you combine accounts

• All of your connections will be transferred and combined into your one good account and unnecessary duplicate connections will be removed.
• Your work history will not transfer, so before you merge accounts, copy/paste your work history into the good account.
• Your written recommendations will not transfer, so email each of the people who recommended you to ask them to recommend you again on the good account. Make it easy for them to comply by copy/pasting their original recommendation text into the email message you send them and by letting them know the URL (web address) for your correct account. (You can find that link right under your picture at the top of your good profile. Simply copy that address (Control C)  and paste it (Control V) into the email.  
• Your group memberships will not transfer, so rejoin the groups on the good account. Find them by typing the group names one at a time into the search box.
• Your skills and endorsements may not transfer*, so write down the skills that you had listed on the bad account, as well as the people who endorsed you for each skill. (Learn the names by scrolling to your Skills & Expertise section in Edit Profile mode and clicking on the blue number to the left of each skill. A box will pop up listing each endorser). Type the new skills into your good profile and then ask the same people to endorse you again by going to your profile, scrolling to the Skills and Expertise section, hovering over each skill until a blue plus sign appears, and then clicking the plus sign.

* I searched, but could not find an answer as to whether skills/endorsements transfer. If you know definitively, please comment.

How to merge your LinkedIn accounts

 

• Log on to LinkedIn. Visit the LinkedIn Help Center by scrolling all the way to the very bottom of any page and clicking the Help Center link.
• Type “Merging Accounts” into the Help Center search box. Click the Merging Accounts article from the list (Avoid the Duplicate Accounts article for now. It adds extra steps that you may not need to take).
• Click the blue contact us link within the article. It will lead you to the right form to process your request.
• Explain in the box which profile to close and which one to keep open as shown in the example below. Ask LinkedIn to notify you when the process is completed. The process typically takes 3 to 5 days.

Request that your accounts be merged using the LinkedIn Help Center’s
Submit Your Question function.

• Once your request has been received, LinkedIn will send you a status update that looks like this:

Status: Open

Ticket:  130000-0000000
Created: 05/09/2013 15:31
Updated: 05/09/2013 15:31
 
LinkedIn should notify you when the accounts have been merged. Once you have received the confirmation message, send your connections a free mass LinkedIn InMessage letting them know that you have merged your accounts. Also grow your network by allowing LinkedIn to search your email list to invite others you know to connect with you. You can do so by going to Contacts, Add Contacts and then follow the prompts for your email service.

If this process does not fix your duplicate profile problem, follow the steps on the LinkedIn Help Center to delete a duplicate account.

Merge your LinkedIn profiles! Doing so can help people find your one and only (and hopefully very impressive) profile on LinkedIn … and that can help you … Get a Job! – Kathy

Is your profile not pulling for you the way you want? Do you want more recruiters or customers contacting you? Then check out the Getajobtips.com Services page to learn how you can get a Linked Lightning profile transformation.

Share your questions or comments about duplicate LinkedIn accounts!

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How to land a job in a different country using LinkedIn

LinkedIn can be a huge help in your
quest to work internationally.

Have you thought about working in a different country, but have no clue as to where to start? These 10 tips can help you get started on your path to employment in a land far, far away.

1) Create a strong LinkedIn profile to show that you are a viable candidate.

• Make sure that your spelling and grammar are correct and that your profile is written in the language of your target country.
• Include a friendly-looking head shot photo of you dressed professionally.
• Indicate languages that you speak and write fluently. List your target country’s main language first.
• If your name may be difficult to pronounce in your target country, add an easy-to-say nickname. Example: Dahye (Debbie) Kim. This can give others confidence that they can pronounce your name correctly.

2) Have at least 100 LinkedIn connections. (Have many more than 100 if possible including connections in your target countries). This gives people in sought-after countries confidence that you are not a spammer.

• Mention in your invitation if you have mutual connections.
• Consider joining LinkedIn Open Networker groups and inviting people from these groups to connect. To find these groups, type “open networker” into the search box.

3) Join up to 50 LinkedIn groups including job-related groups (one group has more than a million members!)

• Particularly join job-related groups in your target countries.
• Join groups related to your industry or field. Such groups can be great places to learn about influential people who you can invite to connect.
• In addition to groups, follow companies in your target countries to learn about job openings. To follow companies, visit Companies and then Search Companies.

4) Participate in group discussions. Ask questions, share news stories and start your own discussions.

• Seek to become a respected participant so that people will come to know and trust you.
• Pay attention to who participates frequently. These people can be the first and best people to invite to connect.

5) Customize your LinkedIn invitations to explain why you want to connect, but don’t include wanting to work in their country in the invitation.

• If you are not strong at writing in the language of the person you are writing to, have someone who is good at it, proof or write your message. Save your proofed invitation text in Word so that you can simply copy/paste it into the invitation box when inviting other people to connect.
• As much as possible, learn and use the language of your target country.
• Don't use words like "Dear Mrs. (NAME)" or "Madam/Sir" or flowery language in your invitation message. This makes you sound like a spammer. Instead, just use the person's first name and get to your point. Example: Bob, We are both in the same LinkedIn group for financial analysts. I have learned a lot from your group discussions and would like to invite you to connect. If I can be of help to you, let me know. Thanks, YOUR NAME
• Once you have established the connection, you can explain to the person your intentions. Example: Bob, Thanks for accepting my invitation to connect. I am seeking a financial analyst position in New York City, so if you ever hear of opportunities, please let me know. I have the necessary visa to work in the U.S. Thanks, YOUR NAME

6) Feel free to invite me to connect. I will accept and then you can ask me questions there. I am the Kathy Bernard in Greater St. Louis (USA).

• Also check out Getajobtips.com for job help articles about how to write your resume (CV), how to network and interview, etc.
• Particularly check out the Job Tips by Topic section for career tips by category. Subscribe for free to receive new tips via email or RSS feed.

7) List the types of industries in which you want to work in your LinkedIn Summary section, plus the kind of work that you can do (specific job titles).

• Include the skills that you have for those jobs in your Skills & Expertise section.
• Get friends and connections to endorse your skills. Seek to have many endorsements.

8) State your employment status for being able to work in another country. Do you have the necessary visa to work elsewhere? If not, learn how to get it within your home country and take every step possible to acquire the proper paperwork. Most companies in another country will not hire you without them.

• Once you have the needed paperwork, mention it on your profile.
• Share your knowledge of how to work internationally with other job seekers in relevant LinkedIn groups. Also share information about companies that hire international workers. By doing so, you will quickly become recognized for your helpfulness.
• Add a standard "signature" at the end of your group discussions so people will know that they can invite you to connect. Simply type: YOUR FIRST AND LAST NAME, Seeking LIST JOB TITLES in COUNTRY NAMES, Open to connect

9) Mention on your profile if you have already worked internationally and where. This will help convince people that you have the necessary paperwork.

10) DON'T expect miracles. Most people will not be able to help you get a job in your target country because they don’t know how the work visa process works.

• Be aware that some people will not accept an invitation to connect from someone from another country.
• Watch out for people who promise you an international job that seems too good to be true. Only work with reputable sources and government agencies.

What have I left out? Share YOUR ideas or questions about how to land a job in a different country!  -- Thanks, Kathy

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Should YOU consider a contract or temp job?

Have you thought about a contract, temporary or temp-to-hire job?

It used to be the norm for American professionals to work a full time job with benefits, but increasingly, companies are hiring contract, temporary or temp-to-hire workers instead of full-time employees. 

Do you understand the differences among these career alternatives and know whether you should apply for such openings? Depending on your situation, you might just find such options beneficial.

Employment options … the pros … the cons … and what’s right for you 

Contract Employment
Contract workers are often needed by companies to complete a large/lengthy project or to cover the duties of a permanent employee during a leave of absence. Contractors may also be needed long term when a company elects not to hire permanent staff for certain positions/duties. Contract employees usually work full time, but on a temporary basis. Generally they are paid at a higher hourly rate than the going rate for the same full time position because they don’t receive benefits from the company while employed or unemployment benefits if they are let go. Contract opportunities are usually for a specific period of time, but can be extended if both parties agree.

The pros:

• It can provide a good income, sometimes for a long time.
• Contract work can fill in a gap on your resume.
• It can give you the opportunity to keep your skills sharp and stay employed.
• It can give you the chance to meet decision makers, learn about openings and be considered for internal positions.

The cons:

• Positions are not permanent and there are no guarantees that they will ever become so.
• Long-term contractors are often the first to be let go if a company reduces head count, plus, contractors typically aren’t eligible to receive unemployment payments.
• Generally contractors do not receive benefits from the hiring company or staffing agency, so they have to look elsewhere for coverage. Taxes may also be higher. Contact your tax preparer to learn more.
• Short contract stints can complicate your resume (a resume writer can help work through that complexity). See Services page to learn about resume creation options.
• Taking a contract position may make it harder for you to apply for, or accept, a full-time job (since you are involved in the contract position).

What’s right for you?

Do your prospects for getting hired full time seem remote?  Are you in a field that strongly trends toward contract work, such as IT? Can you get benefits through other sources, such as through your spouse’s company? Then by all means, look into contract positions. On the other hand, if you think a full-time job offer could be imminent or you cannot get affordable benefits except through an employer, you may want to wait for a permanent offer.

Temporary Employment
Temporary positions may range from a half-day gig up to month-long or even years-long stints depending on the needs of your staffing agency’s client companies. A temporary employee is generally employed and paid by the staffing firm. Pay varies by position, but typically is lower than contract, temp-to-hire, or full time pay because the focus of a temp opportunity is to cover a position or handle duties for a time, not to make a continual positive impact on business.

The pros:

• It can fill a gap on your resume.
• Temporary work can provide income while job searching.
• It can provide opportunities to keep your skills sharp and stay active.
• It can give you a chance to work in a variety of companies and to easily hop from a bad job situation to a better one.
• Its temporary nature may allow you to have a more flexible schedule and fewer pressures than a full-time position.

The cons:

• Positions are temporary and there are no guarantees you will ever be considered for a permanent position.
• Because of the fleeting nature of temporary assignments, the work may be sporadic or non-existent. Keep in constant contact with your staffing agency between gigs because the (nice!) squeaky wheel tends to get temporary assignments.
• Pay may be low and the work may be more basic / tedious than a full-time or contract position in your field.
• If you stay too long in the temporary world, you might not be considered a viable candidate for positions in your field.

What’s right for you?

If you like flexibility, variety and getting out of the house, taking on temporary positions might be a great way to earn extra income while continuing your career search. But, if temporary stints could disrupt your search for the right job, you may want to forgo temp work and concentrate on landing a full time job in your field.

Temp-To-Perm Employment
Hiring companies typically intend to hire a temp-to-hire worker full time, but haven’t committed to doing so yet. While the worker is in the temp-to-hire period, he or she works for, and is paid by, the staffing agency and usually does not receive benefits (although some agencies do offer limited benefits).

The pros:

• Despite the lack or limitation of benefits, such a set up can allow you and the hiring companies to see how well the position and company suits you. Once you are offered a full time position, you will be paid by, and (if applicable) receive benefits from, the hiring company.
• Temp-to-hire pay is typically more per hour than full time pay, however there are limited or no benefits and your taxes may be higher than if you had the position full time. Contact your tax preparer for details.

The cons:

• Waiting for a temp-to-hire position to become a full-time job can be frustrating and the full-time job may never materialize.

What’s right for you?

If the right full-time job with benefits is not on your horizon, look into temp-to-hire positions. The company that contracts for you on such a basis believes you are right candidate for the job. However, they want to see how you will do in the position. They may also be working out the details of getting you hired with upper management (if unforeseen circumstances don’t alter the situation). By taking a temp-to-hire position, you can receive a steady paycheck, establish relationships within the company and prove you are the right person for the job.

Where to find such jobs

Staffing/temp agencies and executive search firms tend to be the source for most contract, temporary and temp-to-hire positions. You can also find such openings posted on online job sites. 

Find a list of job sites (including several of the biggest U.S. and St. Louis, MO staffing/temp agencies sorted by category), on the Job Sites page of Getajobtips.com. 

Other employment terms

A consultant is high-level expert who advises a company about how to solve their problems or address an issue for a fee (often a very high fee). He/she is usually not responsible for the actual work required for the company to benefit from his/her wisdom. On the other hand, a contractor is a specialist who performs assigned duties on a contractual basis.

Unlike a contractor who typically works full time (but temporary) for one company, a freelancer usually works from his/her own location and serves multiple clients on an hourly basis.

Direct hire positions are permanent, full time positions usually with benefits. The hiring company uses a staffing agency or its own internal recruiters to find a candidate and then hires him/her directly. Once a candidate is offered a direct hire position, he or she becomes a paid (permanent) employee of the hiring company and is eligible for benefits like any other full-time employee within its organization.

Conclusion

You may notice that I use the words “usually”, “typically”, and “generally” a lot when describing career alternatives because hiring companies may use different titles and offer different compensation packages for their positions. Get the details of any offer of employment –temporary or permanent – in writing ahead of time so there will be no surprises.  

Consider contract, temporary and temp-to-hire positions! Doing so can help you … Get a Job! 

Have you tried temp, temp-to-hire, or contract work to further your career? How did it work out for you? Share your stories, questions and wisdom! Thanks, Kathy