Why You’re Not Getting the Job Offer

If you find yourself getting interviews—congratulations! It means your résumé and cover letter are doing good enough to secure you a phone screen.

But if you can’t seem to get the job offer, let’s take a look at what might be going wrong.

Stuck in the First Round

The first round of the interview process is usually a phone screen with the recruiter. If you make it to this call but are not moving forward, then there’s a few things you need to look at objectively:

1. Your answers to common questions. Make sure you have compelling answers to common questions like “Tell me about yourself.” and “Why do you want this job?” In addition, make sure you are proving that you are a great fit for this role. If you leave the recruiter having to second guess about that, you will not move forward in the process. I’ve coached clients on their interviews, and once we tweaked their answers, they started moving onto the next round of interviews.

2. Low confidence or enthusiasm. How you show up for yourself matters. Those who are conducting interviews can quickly pick up on your confidence level and genuine enthusiasm for the job opportunity. To increase your confidence, remember all of the experience and expertise you have to offer. Recall the big and small wins from your career. To increase your enthusiasm, look at what excites you about the opportunity. Imagine how it will benefit your career by having this job. Keep that in mind as you prepare to interview.

3. Potential is there but you’re not a perfect fit. Objectively look at the opportunity, what they really need and what you have to offer. In this market, if you’re not checking all of the boxes of what the company is looking for, you will have a harder time getting stretch roles. There’s too much talent available and not enough jobs. Companies have the ability to be extra selective right now. If you do check the boxes and you’re still not moving forward, you need to look at how you’re communicating. You may not be as clear as you think you’re being.

Dropped After the Second Interview

If you make it past the phone screen and to the hiring manager, that shows that you’re aligning yourself well with the opportunity. Remember, hundreds or thousands of people are applying for the same role, and you’re one of a handful of people making it this far.

Getting dropped after this part of the interview process can happen for a number of reasons.

1. How you’re answering the questions. In this round, you may experience more situational and behavioral interview questions. You will have an advantage if you really understand why they are asking you those types of questions and what the interviewer really wants to know about you. The hiring manager is on a mission to determine if you can do the job, actively contribute to the success of the company, and fit into the existing team. Some companies will look for a “culture fit” and others will look for a “culture add.”

2. Low confidence or enthusiasm. How you show up for yourself matters. Confidence and enthusiasm are important elements as you are trying to “sell yourself” to the interviewer. Those who are conducting interviews can quickly pick up on your confidence level and genuine enthusiasm for the job opportunity. When your confidence or enthusiasm is low, your communication tends to be poor, which can lead to the interviewer questioning your abilities and your fit for the role. To increase your confidence, remember all of the experience and expertise you have to offer. Recall the big and small wins from your career. To increase your enthusiasm, look at what excites you about the opportunity. Imagine how it will benefit your career by having this job. Keep that in mind as you prepare to interview.

3. Personality and Emotional Intelligence. Your personality isn’t something that’s easily changed (and do you really want to?), but you can increase your Emotional Intelligence. These are qualities that are important to employers because it indicates how successful you’ll be collaborating with others in the organization and your ability to work toward common company goals.

4. A candidate has already been chosen. More often than not, there is an internal candidate or a referred candidate who has been selected for the job. A lot of companies will still go through the hiring process to make sure they are moving the right person into the role. If you are not properly leveraging your network during your job search, you are missing out on opportunities.

Make it to the Final Round But No Offer

This might be the most crushing place to be. You make it all the way to the end and are filled with so much hope, but you do not get offered the job.

This can happen for many reasons, but let’s look at the most common reasons.

1. You’re missing something that the other finalist has. With the job market flooded with extremely qualified candidates, it is not uncommon for someone else to have more education, experience or other qualities that you do not.

2. Another candidate can start sooner. Sometimes your availability or lack thereof can cause you to miss out on opportunities. Taking too long to make decisions or needing to give ample notice to your current employer can cause you to lose out on the opportunity. The job market isn’t always like this, but this is what happens when there is so much qualified talent available.

3. Another candidate will cost less than you. Companies are still tightening their spending. If they believe they can get someone as good as you for less money, they will go with the person who will say yes to a lower salary.

4. Someone else already has the job. More often than not, there is an internal candidate or a referred candidate who has been selected for the job. A lot of companies will still go through the hiring process to make sure they are moving the right person into the role.

5. The company is not really hiring. Unfortunately, this is something so many unethical companies do. They go through the motions of hiring with no intention of following through. Why? Well, because they get valuable insights and ideas from doing this. They can gauge the interest in the role, what salary it demands in the current job market and also get insightful ideas from the various candidates they are interviewing.