“As you can imagine, we have had a tremendous response to the posting, and many qualified individuals have applied. We unexpectedly received a number of strong applications recently and have decided to withdraw our offer of a second interview. This has been a very difficult decision, but we did not want to give any false hopes by continuing with the second round.” Hopefully it only stays in non-profit sector. Otherwise, not only have I worry about the interview, but also the existence of it.
Keep your head up, it happens. Not all that unique of a rejection letter and at least they let you know w/o and BS that you’re not what they’re looking for. I’ve heard a lot of stories about guys getting a great response from a first or second round only to never hear anything. Learn from it and move on.
“I’ve met someone else…”
It’s not you, it’s me.
“I need time.”
I need space
“You deserve so much better.”
“I’m just not in a ‘going-to-hire-you’ place right now.”
“I’m sorry but you’re far from the best candidate for the job. Actually hiring you might even be a step backwards for the company. The fact that you’ve even applied for this job is rather embarrassing.”
You guys are right–it’s like dating. Don’t feel bad, OP. Happens to us all: Same thing happened to me late in my senior year at this d-bag boutique investment bank in Washington, D.C. I had an AMAZING interview, they were excited, and they set up a second round interview. I got an email a few days later informing me that they had received additional responses to the job posting and hand decided to not pursue my application further. Also, late in my senior year, I went on 3(?) rounds of interviews with this company, culminating in a final interview with the entire team of 10 people or so where I was to present to them a response to a case study they gave me. I got great feedback and an overall very positive response. They said they’d call me in a day or 2 to let me know–got a call, like promised, and I was waiting for the big offer…and, “we’ve decided not to hire anyone right now.” I respected that decision, especially because in 2007 the economy was rough, but then I went on their website a few months later and found the bios section–turns out they hired an analyst from a more prestigious university. They couldn’t just tell me no; for some reason they felt like they had to lie.
job interviews are EXACTLY like dating…someone didnt like your neck tie, no 2nd interview. didnt like your smile, no 2nd interview.
kkent Wrote: > turns out they hired an analyst from a > more prestigious university. They couldn’t just > tell me no; for some reason they felt like they > had to lie. Same exact thing happened to me for a summer internship with a prestigious Boston based hedge fund. Had a great interview, thought I had it in the bag, walking on cloud nine thinking I just hit the lottery. Two weeks later the manager calls me and says they decided not to take on any interns this summer. Well, fast forward a few months…I find out they hired some cute blonde, poli sci major, from Wellesley. Gimme a break!! Also on the dating/interview thing…interesting fact… In my life I’ve experienced about 15 interviews. Whenever a woman interviews me, I ALWAYS get the second round/job, whereas I’ve never made the second round after being interviewed by a male…never…
Is it that interviews feel like dates… or is it that dates feel like interviews?
volante99 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > kkent Wrote: > > > turns out they hired an analyst from a > > more prestigious university. They couldn’t just > > tell me no; for some reason they felt like they > > had to lie. > > Same exact thing happened to me for a summer > internship with a prestigious Boston based hedge > fund. Had a great interview, thought I had it in > the bag, walking on cloud nine thinking I just hit > the lottery. Two weeks later the manager calls me > and says they decided not to take on any interns > this summer. > > Well, fast forward a few months…I find out they > hired some cute blonde, poli sci major, from > Wellesley. Gimme a break!! > > Also on the dating/interview thing…interesting > fact… > > In my life I’ve experienced about 15 interviews. > > Whenever a woman interviews me, I ALWAYS get the > second round/job, whereas I’ve never made the > second round after being interviewed by a > male…never… Yep, the whole thing is effed up. Why can’t they just say we’re going with someone else?? Being lied to is just effed up.
I’d say that interviewing is even worse than dating, if you look at it from a statistical POV. Let’s say you’re going out on a date with someone. Chances are, that they won’t have another 20 dates that week but if you’re going for an interview, you’re probably one in 10-20 candidates. I’ve been to a few interviews in my career and usually I didn’t bother too much about getting rejected, especially if I could already feel during the interview that the hiring manager didn’t really like me. The only time it hurts, is when you later find out that they hired someone less qualified than you.
Lara-Lilly, they have all the right to hire a less-qulified person if he/she has all the skills they need, and they can pay less money, or even the same money but they are less concerned whether he would be gone soon. If they did so, it’s just clearly “You deserve so much better” compliment Volante, sorry for you then, there are less women in finance than in fashion or hospitality. May be you should think of a career change 
unless the firm is one of the best in the industry, some firms actually don’t consider hiring the best, too good to be true candidates, especially in this environment. The idea being they want to job just temporarily to make money and the big boys are not hiring much. But when the economy turns, they’ll jump ship.
So, right now, the goal is to come across as mediocre as possible in interviews!
Weirdest feedback I got was a few years ago. After the first interview (which I think went well), an HR person called me and asked a bunch of questions. At first, things like “do you really want the job”, “why do you want it”, etc. We had a whole conversation on the job talking as if I had it (i.e. she talked about duties and what was expected out of me and even how the people on the team were like). Then after maybe 10 mins she says, “we’ve decided that we’re not going to pursue you any longer” Now I’m usually not oblivious to the tone of conversations but this left me confused. I eventually responded with, “may I ask what was the point of this conversation if the manager already decided not to go forward with my evaluation?” She told me that she just wanted to let me know, which did not answer my question. I told her to suck my c–k. No really I didn’t but I felt like it. I just asked her that I was still eager to work there and to keep me on file for another suitable opening.
It is so amazing that we actually try to jump through hoops to work with such incompetents. That is just unconscionable. And wow… a situation that actually merits the word unconscionable.