Must’ve Been My Eyebrows

Part of looking for a job is confronting the unpleasant reality of rejection. I’ve come to expect it, and I don’t really get too upset when I lose out on a job. Companies have the right to choose their workers. All we as job seekers can do is actively search for work and put our best foot forward when we are lucky enough to get an interview. As I’ve said before, I’m disappointed when I’m not hired, but never angry. Though it does make continuing to seek work a more daunting endeavor. Sometimes, I hate to admit, I just think, "Oh, why bother going for the interview. They'll just pick someone else."

That's because there are some rejections that sting more than others. A few weeks ago, I went for two interviews for a job I had every qualification the company requested. I even had experience in the industry in which the company operates. Further, I was told several times the hiring manager was “excited” about my background. Both interviews went well (or so I thought). The salary range was set by the company and was well within my requirements. Money was not an issue.

So imagine the slap in the face I felt when I received the email telling me the company was going with two other “stronger” candidates. What the what!?

When I called the recruiter to find out why my candidacy was tossed aside, she was vague and said that “it was nothing negative.” So what went wrong? What made those other candidates stronger?

Again, companies have every right to make their own hiring decisions, which can be, in the words of my old copy chief, arbitrary and capricious, and maddeningly fickle, I might add. We are dealing with humans, remember. It’s very difficult to know why one candidate is chosen over another, and HR people rarely tell a passed-over job seeker where he or she failed. Perhaps they should. It would save us a lot of psychic pain and unfounded ruminations on where we went wrong.

If I wasn’t chosen because I did poorly in the interview, I should know that so I can improve the next time. If I wasn’t chosen because of my age, well, I should know that too so I can make other plans (like what homeless shelter to move to).

I actually considered writing an email to the lady I interviewed with to get a better idea of where I fell short (and offer to do a freelance assignment). However, I thought better of that idea and decided against it (lest I seem like a crazy stalker, even though I fear I’m becoming such).

In truth, the candidate picked over you may or may not be any better or worse than you. Did I have too much experience? Was the company looking for an entry-level person to fill the job? Did my lack of technology skills doom me? Did I unwittingly answer a question incorrectly during the interview? Did I smell bad? I’ll never know.

Nevertheless, the experience reinforced a lesson I should have learned a long time ago: Never, ever get your hopes up for any one job. Because your hopes can be squashed so easily and painfully when you don’t get the job.

As I was speaking to a good friend the other day about this situation, she helped put it into perspective. She said that, in the past, when she or her husband failed to get a job they applied and/or interviewed for, her husband would say, “Oh, well, it must’ve been our eyebrows.”

The point being, there are many reasons why you were not selected for the job, even if you have all the qualifications and experience the company stipulates. Those reasons can range from the concrete (you failed a test; somebody with better experience was chosen) to the absurd (the interviewer may not have liked what you wore that day or the look of your eyebrows).

Despite the rather preposterous requirements companies sometimes demand of job seekers, hiring decisions hinge on the subjective idiosyncrasies of the interviewer. Did she not like my personality? (Too calm and placid?) My character? (Damn those loan-sharking convictions!)

Did I wear a color she didn’t like? (I dress very conservatively. That day, I was wearing black and white.)

Alas, for whatever reason, the woman decided I was not someone she wanted to work with. That’s the painful truth of job rejection.

Or maybe she just didn’t like the look of my eyebrows.