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I recently went through two rounds of interviews within a week for a well-paying entry-level job in university fundraising at my alma mater after being directly invited to apply. I have a graduate degree in administration from the university and have two years of graduate internship in another fundraising office at the university. During that week, my girlfriends mother and my grandfather both passed away, I still performed well in my interviews. In the final interview, I had to talk about my grandparents in interview because the most pressing area of work directly related to their life experience.

 

I was given every indication that I was being seriously considered and I gave well-received interviews including a combative panel interview in which I gracefully presented my case for employment. I was told to take as long as I needed on my writing test with smiles from my contact. They kept me waiting for an answer for over 3 weeks and did not respond until my third follow-up email with an impersonal rejection email. In the interim, they opened and closed a more senior position with similar responsibilities.

 

I of course asked for feedback and about another position there, I will likely get no response. On Friday, I will send a very polite thank you note to the contact trying to keep a professional relationship, I doubt they care. In the future, I will likely be able to learn of their selections given my directory access and the internet. I hope the person was truly worthy, they knew given my resume that I really needed the job. Ironically the position involved the stewardship of the donor base and these people may yet cross paths with me in the future.

 

I got burned. :(

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Obviously you’re upset and disappointed that you didn’t get the job. Most likely they did give you serious consideration, (along with other people) but a good interview – even a GREAT interview – is not a guarantee that you will get an offer.

I will likely be able to learn of their selections given my directory access and the internet. I hope the person was truly worthy, they knew given my resume that I really needed the job.
This is a little creepy. Obviously the successful applicant WAS worthy of selection and an offer. I don’t see how you were “burned”. The fact that you needed the job is neither here nor there. What you need is to get hold of yourself, move on, and look into other opportunities.
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I'm moving on and already have another interview lined up. I didn't expect a guarantee, but I did expect to be treated with respect and they didn't do that even after trust and respect were central interview topics. If you can't personalize a rejection email to a 2nd round candidate or respond to a follow-up that it's still under consideration, that's just unprofessional.

 

I've been rejected plenty of times before by other people with a nice note and take that in stride. It's not creepy, it's just a fact in an organization, these employers need to understand that the internet makes things much more transparent. I'm curious to see who beat me out if that person exists, otherwise it just feels like I was played. You're right, they did consider me, but passed on the opportunity to respectfully convey that I was valued. It just looks like a cold business decision to re-budget after interviews from the outside and I hate being misled like that, it's a lack of composure on their part.

 

People think dating is bad, job hunting is like Lord of the Flies. Maybe I dodged a bullet with these people! It's their loss, but I'm not laughing in the least.

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I'm moving on and already have another interview lined up. I didn't expect a guarantee, but I did expect to be treated with respect and they didn't do that even after trust and respect were central interview topics. If you can't personalize a rejection email to a 2nd round candidate or respond to a follow-up that it's still under consideration, that's just unprofessional.

 

I've been rejected plenty of times before by other people with a nice note and take that in stride. It's not creepy, it's just a fact in an organization, these employers need to understand that the internet makes things much more transparent. I'm curious to see who beat me out if that person exists, otherwise it just feels like I was played. You're right, they did consider me, but passed on the opportunity to respectfully convey that I was valued. It just looks like a cold business decision to re-budget after interviews from the outside and I hate being misled like that, it's a lack of composure on their part.

 

People think dating is bad, job hunting is like Lord of the Flies. Maybe I dodged a bullet with these people! It's their loss, but I'm not laughing in the least.

 

Yes, one door closed another open. and it's for the better not to be working with those unkind and unprofessional people.

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I get the wall of silence approach these people take but it's just bad for business. I don't get it considering professional standards these days. You can find dozens of business articles on the value of sending a genuine rejection note. If I was close, let me know and encourage me to apply for future opportunities. This just makes it seem like my time and resources were wasted pursuing them when they weren't serious enough be sincere, it's two-faced. I now get to go interview with other units and when I get asked about my job hunt to date I can bring it up in a capable way. They may not have given me the job, but they did give me some future leverage. Too bad, my network was really looking forward to a victory lap!

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Ironically the position involved the stewardship of the donor base and these people may yet cross paths with me in the future.
So, are they supposed to fear you? Obviously they sensed some things about you that led them to decide they don't want you as a staff member, but I doubt that fear comes into play. ROFL! Puhleeze. How exacty do you feel you were "burned? Because they didn't reply to your follow-up? Because they didn't hire you? Because YOU feel you're better qualified than the person they choose? They are not two-faced, and you were not burned. You applied, you were interviewed, they chose someone else. It's that simple. Accept it, deal with it, and move on. Edited by applej4
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I'm an exceptionally nice person. Apparently too nice, that very well may been it. I wouldn't ever try and make someone "fear" me, I simply think their 180 in how I was treated was not respectful. I'm curious whether they chose someone else or if they trashed the position all together. There's a right way to business and then there's the wrong way to do business. They clearly chose to burn that bridge. I'm moving on, I have more class than that but it's still shameless. Modern business practice is just cold, they did a great job of confirming to me why I never wanted much to do with the MBA crowd.

 

You can attack my criticism of hiring practices, but there's no need to attack me personally.

Edited by Jacob_Duluoz
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I'm moving on and already have another interview lined up. I didn't expect a guarantee, but I did expect to be treated with respect and they didn't do that even after trust and respect were central interview topics. If you can't personalize a rejection email to a 2nd round candidate or respond to a follow-up that it's still under consideration, that's just unprofessional.

 

I've been rejected plenty of times before by other people with a nice note and take that in stride. It's not creepy, it's just a fact in an organization, these employers need to understand that the internet makes things much more transparent. I'm curious to see who beat me out if that person exists, otherwise it just feels like I was played. You're right, they did consider me, but passed on the opportunity to respectfully convey that I was valued. It just looks like a cold business decision to re-budget after interviews from the outside and I hate being misled like that, it's a lack of composure on their part.

 

People think dating is bad, job hunting is like Lord of the Flies. Maybe I dodged a bullet with these people! It's their loss, but I'm not laughing in the least.

 

Oh wow, your story sounds like mine down to a T. I interviewed for a job 2 weeks ago and it seemed really promising. I was too in the final rounds, I was given a general idea of when they would be deciding. I had sent a thank you email the day of my 2nd interview and I followed up last Friday to inquire about whether or not a decision was made. No response. Not cool. Ok, so it sucks if I didn't get the job. But seriously, they narrowed it down to the top 1-3 people, the least you can do is respond "sorry we went with another candidate, good luck on your search".

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Yes! I just saw your other post. It's rude. A simple, we're still interviewing and considering we will let you know in a week or so email would suffice otherwise you're just left guessing. That takes less than 5 minutes to write after hours of interviews. It's not like you can pick up the phone and dial because then you might be seen as pushy.

 

I'm fine with not getting the job, but basic respect is a two way street. One can be both responsive and business minded. I had references lined up from peer units too. If you give them a heads up, you think they may be contacted they are left guessing too. You're burning potential relationships, especially in a closed environment like my situation. I have another interview coming up for a job where I would potentially interact with some of these people from across the table.

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I'm fine with not getting the job
To be honest, it doesn’t sound like it. Your posts – especially the first one – indicate otherwise and you did say you really need the job. Actually several things you said sound rather threatening/menacing and downright creepy. Face it, you’re mad because you didn’t get an offer. You go on at length about not getting a response to your follow-ups, but frankly I don’t think that would have made you feel any less angry and the end result would be the same. Employers don’t always respond to follow-ups; most of the time they don’t. Yes, it would be nice if they had the staff and time to reply to every email and question and follow-up from every applicant, but they don’t (especially multiple follow-ups). It would be nice if they all could hire someone to follow up with the followups, but I don't see that happening. You can moan about it endlessly, but it's not going to change a thing. Yes indeed, respect is a two-way street. Edited by applej4
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It's not like you can pick up the phone and dial because then you might be seen as pushy.

 

Exactly my point when people suggest doing this. We've had previous email correspondence, there's no reason they shouldn't have recieved my email as it was sent to the hiring manager and HR. Likely they either won't answer my call or give me some sort of runaround, but after 2 emails, it would definitely seem pushy. I'm honestly starting to think maybe it's best I don't get this position if they have practices like this. It's a large company with an industry I have a lot of experience in, so who knows if we will cross paths again. But like you said, several hours of time...that I rearranged around my current work schedule was spent...it comes across as unprofessional not to at least thank someone for their time.

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Who wouldn't be? Everyone wants to get the job. I work in fields in which relationships are everything. I had a direct contact here who I had already exchanged multiple emails with. My point is that it makes it awkward when people treat you like this when there's a real potential for you to have future dealings. I understand business decisions, I don't understand treating people like they are disposable when you put them through two full rounds of interviews. Again, they were likely down to the last few candidates here, it's not like we're talking lots of emails. You completely misunderstood my point about transparency. They're not actually hiding anything by going incommunicado, I will find out if they restructured or hired someone else within a few months. I've missed out on several other jobs with substantially better treatment in the hiring process that didn't leave a bad taste in my mouth.

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Who wouldn't be? Everyone wants to get the job. I work in fields in which relationships are everything. I had a direct contact here who I had already exchanged multiple emails with. My point is that it makes it awkward when people treat you like this when there's a real potential for you to have future dealings. I understand business decisions, I don't understand treating people like they are disposable when you put them through two full rounds of interviews. Again, they were likely down to the last few candidates here, it's not like we're talking lots of emails. You completely misunderstood my point about transparency. They're not actually hiding anything by going incommunicado, I will find out if they restructured or hired someone else within a few months. I've missed out on several other jobs with substantially better treatment in the hiring process that didn't leave a bad taste in my mouth.

 

Exactly, I once worked for a company that was a bit shady about business practices and even they said the hired applicant would receive a call while the rest of the final round would receive email rejections. Just leaving people hanging is not cool after so much time was invested. I obviously received the call.

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Wow. They hired a classmate with more years of professional experience but none doing anything close to that job. fml

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Wow. They hired a classmate with more years of professional experience but none doing anything close to that job. fml

 

Well, at least they had more experience I guess. I just found out a girl who is 5 years younger than me, with only 1 year experience in the same field and only graduated with her BA 1 year ago, just went into a management position...here I am with 4 years experience and severely underpaid struggling to find a job that pays a living. :( Over 90% of management positions in my field require at least 3-5 years experience.

 

Did you finally hear from the company?

Edited by pink_sugar
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Nope. LinkedIn feed. They really weren't hiding anything given the internet world, I didn't need to see it on my Friday night though just clicking through my accounts. I think they either got cold feet with my shorter resume or they really liked this person more. I know them and they would interview well, but it wasn't their field. Disappointing, I'm not surprised I didn't get more than a form letter.

 

One of the panel interviewers accepted my LinkedIn request though, so clearly I'm not a leper or a complete jerk. I've actually worked just a little bit with this person and wasn't particularly impressed, not the normal personality type you find in fundraising, fairly passive. I think they liked the way this person looked on paper, but it's not really about the work. I paid my dues in this field at this institution, this person didn't work in the field or at the institution. I'm not changing fields and will get a good laugh if it opens again in 1-2 years from wherever I land. I don't think loyalty is valued in the workplace like it should be, people would rather roll the dice than recognize service.

 

I was anticipating losing to someone with more experience in the field at the same institution or a similar one. I was passed over by someone like that before and accepted it gracefully, work matters.

Edited by Jacob_Duluoz
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Update: I landed a similarly good job at the same institution in an office higher up the food chain. I was plucked out of a stack of 95 applications by their recruiter, had a great first interview, a second lets just make sure, and was given an offer on the spot. No game playing. I start on Thursday, woot.

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Update: I landed a similarly good job at the same institution in an office higher up the food chain. I was plucked out of a stack of 95 applications by their recruiter, had a great first interview, a second lets just make sure, and was given an offer on the spot. No game playing. I start on Thursday, woot.

 

Congrats! The job that shined me later in got back to me 3 weeks later, impersonal, canned response and mispelled my name. Bullet dodged, I guess.

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