Following Up After Being Turned Down
By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
I answer a question on Quora from someone who has been rejected for a job and wants to know why.
Hi, I’m Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter. I’m referred to as The Big Game Hunter because I’ve been hunting down leaders and staff for organizations for more than 40 years.
I received a question from someone on Quora, quora.com. Great site, Q&A site. I tend not to respond there just because they want me to write everything. So, I I like doing doing them as a video, and I not allowed to post a link there unless I write a lengthy explanation. I don’t have time for that. So, I’m just going to help you out if this is your type of question.
So, someone asked me, “You know, I was supposed to have three interviews for this firm, and after the second one, I was rejected. I wrote back saying, ‘Could could you give me an idea as to why I was turned down so I can learn from this? Was I out of line?'”
Now, a lot of the respondents say yes, that the person was out of line. I don’t think so at all. Now, the person made it clear, “I’m not trying I don’t want to get into an argument. I just want to learn from this. Can you share something with me that might be useful?”
The answer may be, “We saw someone a lot stronger than you in such and such,” or “You didn’t come across as being capable in such and such,” or they may choose not to respond. For the for the few instances where people actually do respond, you will learn something from it.
And I have to say few instances because firms are afraid of being argued with, and they are afraid of being sued if someone unintentionally says something that could be interpreted by a lawyer with a nice sense of fiction or grounded in reality, depending upon what’s said, that what you’ve what their behavior was might have indicated bias.
So, I don’t think it’s a big whoop. If anything, I think it’s an appropriate thing to do. If you’re working through a third-party recruiter, have them ask the question. You know, some will do it, some won’t. Some already know the answer and won’t share it. Some will share it at the time they let you know. But at the end of the day, how else do you learn, except if you want to reflect and you may be wrong.
I was at a Toastmasters meeting this week, and if you haven’t been to Toastmasters, it is a great way to develop your confidence in speaking in in situations. And there’s a point where there’s someone who is called a master evaluator, and they evaluate everything at the meeting.
Now, one of the things that the master evaluator did at this meeting was comment that some of the introductory speeches, some of the first speeches, didn’t appear to meet the formula that was prescribed, and it was getting to be a bad habit. And I thought, because I had just done one of those speeches, that he might have been speaking to me.
And I came over to him afterwards, and I said, “Out of curiosity, were you referring to me as one of those people?”
And he thought about it and said, “No, not at all. You know, but if you think about two of the speeches that were done, the one today and the one that preceded yours, you can see how they, in no in no way, shape, or form, fit what the requirement was.” And of course, he was absolutely right.
You have to at least ask, because otherwise, you never really know. And no amount of, you know, Monday morning quarterbacks quarterbacking from people who don’t know what you said or did, how you carried yourself, or how you answered questions is going to give you the same answer as how someone who actually was there heard it.
I’m Jeff Altman. Hope you found this helpful. If you have questions for me, most of the time I don’t answer them from Quora, but every once in a while I do. If you’d like me to give you a personalized answer, schedule time with me through my website. If you go to TheBigGameHunter.us, you’ll see a tab on top that says, “Have your job search questions answered.” I’d be happy to schedule time and give you a personal answer. Or you can reach out to me through prestoexperts.com, where I’m a job search and career coaching expert.
And if we’re not connected on LinkedIn, send a connection request at linkedin.com/in/thebiggamehunter. I accept connection requests from people worldwide, except if you look like a spammer or scammer, except if you’re a third-party recruiter.
And by the way, while you’re at my website, go exploring. There’s a lot there that you can watch, listen to, or read to help you find work more quickly.
I’m Jeff Altman. Have a great day. Take care.
ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
People hire Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter to provide No BS job search coaching and career advice globally because he makes job search and succeeding in your career easier.
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He is the producer and former host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with over 3200 episodes over 15+ years.
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