Rejected in the fourth interview round, citing insufficient years of experience [on hold]How can I prove the value of a good customer experience over short term profitability?Work Experience Mistake on a ResumeI followed up with the HR regarding my onsite interview. I did not get a chance to ask for timeline during the interview. Did I commit a blunder?A programming task is scaring off candidates, should we ditch it?Working on live dev code in the interview process: ethical?Getting rejected in final roundsIs it appropriate to tell the recruiter that I have to delay my start date?After interviews, two companies told me the position is no longer being filled. Is this an indirect way to reject candidates?Following up with HR after technical interviewShould we measure candidate based on resume and it's format

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Rejected in the fourth interview round, citing insufficient years of experience [on hold]


How can I prove the value of a good customer experience over short term profitability?Work Experience Mistake on a ResumeI followed up with the HR regarding my onsite interview. I did not get a chance to ask for timeline during the interview. Did I commit a blunder?A programming task is scaring off candidates, should we ditch it?Working on live dev code in the interview process: ethical?Getting rejected in final roundsIs it appropriate to tell the recruiter that I have to delay my start date?After interviews, two companies told me the position is no longer being filled. Is this an indirect way to reject candidates?Following up with HR after technical interviewShould we measure candidate based on resume and it's format













120















I have been interviewing with a very prominent software company, having completed one HR and two technical rounds (one with the team's manager) before. In the fourth round (coding round) I did very well on the challenge and answered all questions barring one (well, I answered half of that too). He later went on to say that I have only two years of experience and they wanted more. And kept the call saying "That's it from my side".



This is very frustrating since a month of effort and time has gone into this. And looking at a candidate's experience is something that should have been seen before. Clearly not in the fourth round.



Is it ethical (for lack of a better word) for someone to speak to the manager when in similar situation? If yes, how should one approach?










share|improve this question















put on hold as primarily opinion-based by gnat, IDrinkandIKnowThings, virolino, Dmitry Grigoryev, Eric 2 days ago


Many good questions generate some degree of opinion based on expert experience, but answers to this question will tend to be almost entirely based on opinions, rather than facts, references, or specific expertise. If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.













  • 15





    Are you saying you want to complain to the person who rejected you, or to their boss?

    – David K
    Mar 12 at 15:18











  • Had you gotten to any point of discussion where money was brought into the equation?

    – K. Alan Bates
    2 days ago











  • They waited four interview cycles to have you write or analyze some code? Or were there some coding steps leading up to that interview? Maybe another candidate got all of the questions right on the coding round. Are you sure the phrase "That's it from my side" means you didn't get the job OR did it possibly mean, "We're done asking questions, you did well enough, you'll hear back soon"? A comment about experience doesn't mean you won't get the job - they were hoping for someone with more experience but you "might do fine". Unless it was a definitive "no", then it's still a "maybe".

    – CubicleSoft
    2 days ago











  • The reason I brought up the question of whether money had become involved is that "You have insufficient years of experience" almost always means "You have insufficient years of experience for us to be comfortable enough with your compensation expectations to say 'yes' so we are saying 'no.'" Either that or changed circumstances around the opening have been communicated internally which require them to be more austere in their choices than they had originally planned on being.

    – K. Alan Bates
    2 days ago












  • You were scammed. No company would give you technical exercise without paid compensation of your time. Looks like real scam scheme to me, if you was not properly compensated. Compensation is based on hourly rate and is always written in technical note of the task you perform, together with required number of hours of your time.

    – sanaris
    yesterday
















120















I have been interviewing with a very prominent software company, having completed one HR and two technical rounds (one with the team's manager) before. In the fourth round (coding round) I did very well on the challenge and answered all questions barring one (well, I answered half of that too). He later went on to say that I have only two years of experience and they wanted more. And kept the call saying "That's it from my side".



This is very frustrating since a month of effort and time has gone into this. And looking at a candidate's experience is something that should have been seen before. Clearly not in the fourth round.



Is it ethical (for lack of a better word) for someone to speak to the manager when in similar situation? If yes, how should one approach?










share|improve this question















put on hold as primarily opinion-based by gnat, IDrinkandIKnowThings, virolino, Dmitry Grigoryev, Eric 2 days ago


Many good questions generate some degree of opinion based on expert experience, but answers to this question will tend to be almost entirely based on opinions, rather than facts, references, or specific expertise. If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.













  • 15





    Are you saying you want to complain to the person who rejected you, or to their boss?

    – David K
    Mar 12 at 15:18











  • Had you gotten to any point of discussion where money was brought into the equation?

    – K. Alan Bates
    2 days ago











  • They waited four interview cycles to have you write or analyze some code? Or were there some coding steps leading up to that interview? Maybe another candidate got all of the questions right on the coding round. Are you sure the phrase "That's it from my side" means you didn't get the job OR did it possibly mean, "We're done asking questions, you did well enough, you'll hear back soon"? A comment about experience doesn't mean you won't get the job - they were hoping for someone with more experience but you "might do fine". Unless it was a definitive "no", then it's still a "maybe".

    – CubicleSoft
    2 days ago











  • The reason I brought up the question of whether money had become involved is that "You have insufficient years of experience" almost always means "You have insufficient years of experience for us to be comfortable enough with your compensation expectations to say 'yes' so we are saying 'no.'" Either that or changed circumstances around the opening have been communicated internally which require them to be more austere in their choices than they had originally planned on being.

    – K. Alan Bates
    2 days ago












  • You were scammed. No company would give you technical exercise without paid compensation of your time. Looks like real scam scheme to me, if you was not properly compensated. Compensation is based on hourly rate and is always written in technical note of the task you perform, together with required number of hours of your time.

    – sanaris
    yesterday














120












120








120


10






I have been interviewing with a very prominent software company, having completed one HR and two technical rounds (one with the team's manager) before. In the fourth round (coding round) I did very well on the challenge and answered all questions barring one (well, I answered half of that too). He later went on to say that I have only two years of experience and they wanted more. And kept the call saying "That's it from my side".



This is very frustrating since a month of effort and time has gone into this. And looking at a candidate's experience is something that should have been seen before. Clearly not in the fourth round.



Is it ethical (for lack of a better word) for someone to speak to the manager when in similar situation? If yes, how should one approach?










share|improve this question
















I have been interviewing with a very prominent software company, having completed one HR and two technical rounds (one with the team's manager) before. In the fourth round (coding round) I did very well on the challenge and answered all questions barring one (well, I answered half of that too). He later went on to say that I have only two years of experience and they wanted more. And kept the call saying "That's it from my side".



This is very frustrating since a month of effort and time has gone into this. And looking at a candidate's experience is something that should have been seen before. Clearly not in the fourth round.



Is it ethical (for lack of a better word) for someone to speak to the manager when in similar situation? If yes, how should one approach?







interviewing software-industry hiring-process hiring






share|improve this question















share|improve this question













share|improve this question




share|improve this question








edited 2 days ago









Peter Mortensen

56947




56947










asked Mar 12 at 15:13









labmatlabmat

635248




635248




put on hold as primarily opinion-based by gnat, IDrinkandIKnowThings, virolino, Dmitry Grigoryev, Eric 2 days ago


Many good questions generate some degree of opinion based on expert experience, but answers to this question will tend to be almost entirely based on opinions, rather than facts, references, or specific expertise. If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.









put on hold as primarily opinion-based by gnat, IDrinkandIKnowThings, virolino, Dmitry Grigoryev, Eric 2 days ago


Many good questions generate some degree of opinion based on expert experience, but answers to this question will tend to be almost entirely based on opinions, rather than facts, references, or specific expertise. If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.









  • 15





    Are you saying you want to complain to the person who rejected you, or to their boss?

    – David K
    Mar 12 at 15:18











  • Had you gotten to any point of discussion where money was brought into the equation?

    – K. Alan Bates
    2 days ago











  • They waited four interview cycles to have you write or analyze some code? Or were there some coding steps leading up to that interview? Maybe another candidate got all of the questions right on the coding round. Are you sure the phrase "That's it from my side" means you didn't get the job OR did it possibly mean, "We're done asking questions, you did well enough, you'll hear back soon"? A comment about experience doesn't mean you won't get the job - they were hoping for someone with more experience but you "might do fine". Unless it was a definitive "no", then it's still a "maybe".

    – CubicleSoft
    2 days ago











  • The reason I brought up the question of whether money had become involved is that "You have insufficient years of experience" almost always means "You have insufficient years of experience for us to be comfortable enough with your compensation expectations to say 'yes' so we are saying 'no.'" Either that or changed circumstances around the opening have been communicated internally which require them to be more austere in their choices than they had originally planned on being.

    – K. Alan Bates
    2 days ago












  • You were scammed. No company would give you technical exercise without paid compensation of your time. Looks like real scam scheme to me, if you was not properly compensated. Compensation is based on hourly rate and is always written in technical note of the task you perform, together with required number of hours of your time.

    – sanaris
    yesterday













  • 15





    Are you saying you want to complain to the person who rejected you, or to their boss?

    – David K
    Mar 12 at 15:18











  • Had you gotten to any point of discussion where money was brought into the equation?

    – K. Alan Bates
    2 days ago











  • They waited four interview cycles to have you write or analyze some code? Or were there some coding steps leading up to that interview? Maybe another candidate got all of the questions right on the coding round. Are you sure the phrase "That's it from my side" means you didn't get the job OR did it possibly mean, "We're done asking questions, you did well enough, you'll hear back soon"? A comment about experience doesn't mean you won't get the job - they were hoping for someone with more experience but you "might do fine". Unless it was a definitive "no", then it's still a "maybe".

    – CubicleSoft
    2 days ago











  • The reason I brought up the question of whether money had become involved is that "You have insufficient years of experience" almost always means "You have insufficient years of experience for us to be comfortable enough with your compensation expectations to say 'yes' so we are saying 'no.'" Either that or changed circumstances around the opening have been communicated internally which require them to be more austere in their choices than they had originally planned on being.

    – K. Alan Bates
    2 days ago












  • You were scammed. No company would give you technical exercise without paid compensation of your time. Looks like real scam scheme to me, if you was not properly compensated. Compensation is based on hourly rate and is always written in technical note of the task you perform, together with required number of hours of your time.

    – sanaris
    yesterday








15




15





Are you saying you want to complain to the person who rejected you, or to their boss?

– David K
Mar 12 at 15:18





Are you saying you want to complain to the person who rejected you, or to their boss?

– David K
Mar 12 at 15:18













Had you gotten to any point of discussion where money was brought into the equation?

– K. Alan Bates
2 days ago





Had you gotten to any point of discussion where money was brought into the equation?

– K. Alan Bates
2 days ago













They waited four interview cycles to have you write or analyze some code? Or were there some coding steps leading up to that interview? Maybe another candidate got all of the questions right on the coding round. Are you sure the phrase "That's it from my side" means you didn't get the job OR did it possibly mean, "We're done asking questions, you did well enough, you'll hear back soon"? A comment about experience doesn't mean you won't get the job - they were hoping for someone with more experience but you "might do fine". Unless it was a definitive "no", then it's still a "maybe".

– CubicleSoft
2 days ago





They waited four interview cycles to have you write or analyze some code? Or were there some coding steps leading up to that interview? Maybe another candidate got all of the questions right on the coding round. Are you sure the phrase "That's it from my side" means you didn't get the job OR did it possibly mean, "We're done asking questions, you did well enough, you'll hear back soon"? A comment about experience doesn't mean you won't get the job - they were hoping for someone with more experience but you "might do fine". Unless it was a definitive "no", then it's still a "maybe".

– CubicleSoft
2 days ago













The reason I brought up the question of whether money had become involved is that "You have insufficient years of experience" almost always means "You have insufficient years of experience for us to be comfortable enough with your compensation expectations to say 'yes' so we are saying 'no.'" Either that or changed circumstances around the opening have been communicated internally which require them to be more austere in their choices than they had originally planned on being.

– K. Alan Bates
2 days ago






The reason I brought up the question of whether money had become involved is that "You have insufficient years of experience" almost always means "You have insufficient years of experience for us to be comfortable enough with your compensation expectations to say 'yes' so we are saying 'no.'" Either that or changed circumstances around the opening have been communicated internally which require them to be more austere in their choices than they had originally planned on being.

– K. Alan Bates
2 days ago














You were scammed. No company would give you technical exercise without paid compensation of your time. Looks like real scam scheme to me, if you was not properly compensated. Compensation is based on hourly rate and is always written in technical note of the task you perform, together with required number of hours of your time.

– sanaris
yesterday






You were scammed. No company would give you technical exercise without paid compensation of your time. Looks like real scam scheme to me, if you was not properly compensated. Compensation is based on hourly rate and is always written in technical note of the task you perform, together with required number of hours of your time.

– sanaris
yesterday











15 Answers
15






active

oldest

votes


















447














Why didn't they say you didn't have enough experience earlier in the process?



Because it isn't true.



You had enough experience going in, but you didn't get the job. Now they need to give you a reason why they chose the successful candidate and not you, and that candidate has more experience than you. So now, compared to the successful candidate, you don't have enough experience.



Of course, that may have nothing to do with why they really chose the other candidate. It's post-hoc justifications all the way down. As such neither side has anything to gain from further discussion.






share|improve this answer




















  • 172





    This is by far the most likely explanation.

    – BittermanAndy
    Mar 12 at 20:17






  • 28





    I once applied for an entry-level job that had a high school class requirement. With my bachelor's degree in that particular field, I thought that I had the position in the bag, especially after a great interview. A week later they informed me that I didn't get the job. After pressing, the interviewer explained that they went with someone with a master's.

    – Lux Claridge
    Mar 12 at 21:16







  • 9





    This is a great answer, but could you address the actual question asked by the OP? "My question is - is it ethical(for lack of a better word) for someone to speak to the manager when in similar situation? If yes, how should one approach?"

    – David K
    Mar 12 at 21:54







  • 6





    Any excuse they give you should be translated to "We found someone better instead." The actual words used are completely irrelevant, and sometimes completely untrue (since they're irrelevant).

    – Nelson
    Mar 13 at 4:18






  • 7





    Now they need to give you a reason why they chose the successful candidate and not you — do they have to do that? In most cases, I was only told: you are suitable bla bla but the position has been offered to someone else.

    – gerrit
    Mar 13 at 9:08


















43














I would not say it is unethical, but you will not gain anything from it by speaking to the manager.



As @Kozaky mentioned, it is possible they want their average years of experience to be higher. Is it smart? Probably not, since experience does not necessarily equal competence.



Also, though, is the fact that you may want to apply at this company in the future, and complaining about something like this will likely put you on a "blacklist" of some sort.



Understandly, it is not fair to you. However, there is little recourse in this matter. Get your frustration out, and move on. That's the best you can do.






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  • If that lame reason was the best this company could come up with, I'd be very surprised if the OP would want to be part of it any time in the future.

    – Tim
    Mar 13 at 15:28











  • @Tim I would agree. However, companies change all the time, as do positions and people working there. However, it is very possible he may want to apply there again...especially since, according to the OP, this is a "very prominent software company"

    – Sagar
    Mar 13 at 15:37












  • Possibly even more reason to show disdain for the reason of rejection. Points out to the present guys, but would be forgotten when the staff turnover means they've disappeared.

    – Tim
    Mar 13 at 15:41












  • Hah! Fair enough. I'm just saying it's better not to rule out that possiblity completely, but I do see where you're coming from. I would like to say I wouldn't have reapplied there if I were in the OPs shoes, but that's like predicting the future...

    – Sagar
    Mar 13 at 16:09


















28














The thing you need to bear in mind is that, in reality, there are basically three reasons for rejecting a candidate you've interviewed:



  1. you were good enough to hire but, sorry, they liked another candidate better;

  2. you weren't good enough to hire;

  3. they discovered that terrible thing you were trying to hide from them.

Any other reason they give you is really one of those in disguise. Typically they want to give something that objectively distinguishes you from the person they did hire. So "We wanted more experience" most likely means "We liked another candidate better, and they had more experience than you." Or, if the ad said they wanted somebody with more than two years' experience, it might mean "We thought you might be good enough to hire even though you didn't have the experience we said we wanted but, after interviewing you, we realised you weren't" (reason 2).



You can be fairly sure that it's not that they interviewed your four times and then noticed "Oops, not enough experience. Darn, we shoulda spotted that earlier!" There's nothing to be gained by talking to the company about this. They've made their decision and they've given you the only justification for it that they ever will.




Falco has pointed out a fourth possible reason, in the comments: due to a change in circumstances, the company has decided not to hire anyone at all.






share|improve this answer

























  • Regarding #3: I once went through a ridiculous number of interviews at one place - I was surprised they did so freaking many, and last one was with the CTO. I wanted to work there because I had several friends and acquaintances who worked there. Before the last one, I nailed every interview and my friends on the inside told me everyone was super impressed and I was their top choice, with their runner up being someone inside looking for a promotion but that he wasn't likely to get it. At last interview with CTO, where he too acted impressed, he ended interview with "Is there anything else [...]

    – Aaron
    Mar 12 at 23:07











  • [...] you'd like to bring up before we part ways?" And I was dumb enough to mention a religious dress code requirement I had at the time. It was no big deal; related to a Jewish tradition, it was just a small band I felt obligated to wear which said "love your neighbor as yourself" on it, and the company I work for now didn't care at all... but apparently that CTO cared a lot. As soon as I mentioned it, and I showed him one so he could see how small and no-big-deal it was, his face, speech, and entire demeanor changed. A buddy told me the CTO blocked me and that he refused to tell anyone why.

    – Aaron
    Mar 12 at 23:14






  • 2





    That would probably have been such an easy religious discrimination lawsuit if I had chose to go that route, but I didn't want to take their money and I thought suing to get the job would just make the entire stay awkward and difficult. So I just walked away from it. Fortunately I got, and took, a better offer shortly after - unfortunately not at a place where I had buddies.

    – Aaron
    Mar 12 at 23:17






  • 5





    @Aaron I'm not a lawyer or anything, but I don't think that winning a discrimination lawsuit (or a wrongful termination suit) means that the company is forced to hire you (again.) It just means they pay you for lost wages/emotional damages/etc. Even if you were able to get the job this way and willing to take it, you'd obviously have a target on your back. As soon as they find a legally sustainable reason to get rid of you, you'd be gone, and they'd probably make your life a living hell while you were there, pay you the absolute minimum they can get away with, etc.

    – Steve-O
    Mar 13 at 13:16






  • 1





    Adn there is 4. - budget cuts / restructuring or something similar, resulting in the position not being available anymore. - In this case they will also most likely give you a bogus response instead of revealing their internal problems, why a position which was publicly offered was scratched.

    – Falco
    Mar 14 at 11:54


















14














No, it wouldn't be unethical, but it would be a total waste of time.



This was a jerk move on their part, and IMO, they screened themselves out of the running. Don't waste a moment's time with them. The interview is the very best you will ever see the company. If they're bad in the interview, they will be worse to work for.






share|improve this answer






























    13














    Hindsight is always 20/20



    The right time to bring up your concern over lack of communication was to do it right after they told you that "you have only 2 years of experience and we want more."



    Your response should have been:




    My apologies if I seem frustrated but could you tell me why I wasn't disqualified sooner? It has been a fairly large time and energy investment on my part to make it through the interviews thus far. If my resume misled you in any way then please let me know because I would like to fix it ASAP.





    You can try to call the recruiter or hiring manager and express your concern calmly and politely as I did above.



    It is very unlikely that you will get the job for expressing your concerns but at least they may provide some closure such as:




    Our apologies, let us clarify by explaining XYZ and why our reasoning was worded in that way.





    Or maybe you did bad enough in previous rounds so they are saying that more experience will help you to do better in the future.






    share|improve this answer




















    • 2





      My immediate reaction to questions like this is "life isn't fair, pick your battles, blah blah" but reading your suggested wording I right away thought "that's perfect". I still think it won't really help anything, but it is at least a professional and reasonable question to ask the hiring folk, and one that I'd be interested in hearing an answer to if I were the OP! Bravo.

      – Lightness Races in Orbit
      Mar 14 at 0:33







    • 1





      @LightnessRacesinOrbit I really appreciate the feedback and in all honesty my knee-jerk reaction was "life isn't fair" as well but I'm pretty sure OP knew this before posting their question. My advice might not be of any immediate help but hopefully it will help OP plan responses for worst-case scenarios in the future. As it stands I think that it was quite unprofessional of the company to give such a response so late in the interview process without explaining it better.

      – MonkeyZeus
      Mar 14 at 12:34


















    9














    As many have already pointed out - it isn't necessarily 'unethical,' but you don't stand to gain much from having that conversation. You got a reason for the decision (even if that answer is vague or unsatisfactory) which is more than most applicants get.



    That being said, this is an incredibly frustrating situation (speaking from experience).



    If I may offer some unsolicited advice: I think you should view this as their loss. It can be difficult to see the positive side of this situation in light of the outcome, but you should celebrate the fact that you did very well in the interview and lost the opportunity for reasons beyond your present control.



    Sometimes hiring managers have a change of heart down the road (especially if the 'experienced' candidate isn't working out) and this company may in fact reach out to you months or even years later (perhaps for a different, yet similar role). If you're doing this well in interviews you will definitely have a job by then, but they may present you with a really attractive offer. If that does happen, you need to consider why they turned you down in the first place. Don't get caught up working with a group of people that value perception over reality!



    It's possible you dodged a bullet here. Take a few days off from the job hunt if you can afford it and realign yourself. Best of luck!






    share|improve this answer










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    the-hanged-man is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
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    • 2





      Assuming that you do want to work for this "very prominent software company", you could send the hiring manager with a CC to HR thanking them for the opportunity. Politely express that you are disappointed that you didn't meet all requirements and that you wish to be considered for any future positions where you would be an even better fit. Yes, hard to write, but it is always better to take the high road. Of course, all of the foregoing assumes that you DO WANT to work there. Which judging by the hurt you feel, could be the case.

      – CyberFonic
      Mar 13 at 1:03


















    6














    Like others have said, it's best to move on. Pretend it never happened, and get it out of your system right away. Forget it, clear your mind, and move onto the next (better) one, but do keep in mind that it could happen again, too, so keep your mind prepared.



    Maybe it'll make you feel better knowing my story (and I also need to get this out - because it hurts).
    I was out of work for 4+ months (trusted someone, and they broke my trust very badly..), and wife was 6-7 months pregnant. Had applied to countless places, but even with years of experience, Masters degree, and many personal projects, usual reply (if I got any) was "background doesn't match".



    Finally got skype interview setup for a company in NY. Did great in that. Got 2nd skype setup, did great in that, and got to coding challenge. Started coding at 7am in the morning. Had to take wife to doc the same day, so I took my laptop to hospital, sat on floor in hallway and coded the exercise. It was a very large coding exercise, and ended up working on it, and finishing at 12:30 that night (yup, night!) They reviewed it, loved it, and yet another skype with engineers was setup, and they approved/liked solution. Got invited for in-person at their office in NY. Paid for hotel+flight with my money (got reimbursed, see below). Flew 5 hours to NY. Spent night in hotel, and had in-person interview next day. 5-6 people took interview one after another. Engineers and I just clicked - they were super happy (not me saying, but they told me that)! Founder of company asked technical algorithm questions - did very well in that. All that took 5 hours. Came back 5 hour flight. And waited... waited... waited... They said, I'd hear back in 2 days. After 2 weeks, I got a "no". To date, I have no idea why, especially when the email stated something like "I fit perfectly in the culture". I asked to be reimbursed, and it took them 1 month since my return.



    It's been months since this, and recently one of their HR person connected me to an outside hiring agency... That to me seems very fishy as well.



    That company is a big NO on my list now.



    I do have a job now, so at least I'm happy. But yes, these things happen. People say, "don't burn bridges". For people who engage in these types of behaviors, do I want to keep a bridge? Nope.






    share|improve this answer








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    user is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
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    • Burning bridges is still a bad idea, simply because the world is smaller than people realize.

      – cst1992
      Mar 14 at 15:18











    • Everyone has finite amount of time/energy to be nice, esp. to the people OP and I've met - it's like a one-way relationship with someone - you're always nice, but they're never nice, which is always a bad idea, and at such a time, IMO, "burning bridges" is an ok thing to do. In fact, my current emp. and a previous emp. had a client-relation, and things went extremely sour, and even with them having burned-bridges, they hired me. Why? Because of talent. World is small, but all of us have finite time, and many responsibilities to worry about than be nice to someone who puts us in a bad place.

      – user
      Mar 14 at 16:22











    • Interestingly enough, I too had a similar experience with a company in NYC. I had to harass them on their public corporate Facebook page before I could get them to reimburse me for expenses. I wonder if it was the same company ;-)

      – Ertai87
      yesterday



















    3














    It's not unethical, in the legal sense, as in you really have no method of recourse against them for any reason. You also probably shouldn't complain to the manager, as it's probably not their call as to what the company is hiring for, especially if it's a large company (large companies often have "hiring pools" from which managers can take candidates they like; it's very rare that a manager in a large company will specifically hire for a specific position, at least not until a placement stage which happens after the offer stage).



    If you would like to complain to someone, you should complain to the recruiter who introduced you to that company, especially if that recruiter is a 3rd party recruiter (not someone internal to the company). Speaking specifically about 3rd party recruiters, it's important to let a 3rd party recruiter know for 2 reasons:



    1) Recruiters get paid when candidates get placed, usually as a percentage of that candidate's salary. If the recruiter does a bunch of work but the company is stingy and won't let the recruiter place a candidate, then the recruiter is wasting their time. Recruiters don't want to waste their time, so they should be made to know if the company is being stingy.



    2) Client behaviour can impact a recruiter's image. For example, if I talk to a recruiter and tell them my background is Java backend, and they send me to a company who wants to hire Ruby frontend developers, I'm going to be pretty mad at that recruiter for wasting my time sending me to a company that wasn't a good fit. This is a simple obvious example, but the same holds in your case; the recruiter sent you to a company that was not looking for someone with your qualifications. This looks bad on the recruiter. Now, hopefully, the recruiter didn't do this maliciously, and it's likely there was a simple miscommunication between the recruiter and the company. However, that doesn't change the fact that this is what they did, and this looks bad on their image as a recruiter. If the recruiter wants to maintain their image and reputation, they should not deal with companies who miscommunicate their expectations and waste applicants' time (and recruiter's time placing those applicants!). So once again, the recruiter should be made to know if this is going on.



    Internal recruiters have neither of these concerns, so if you're dealing with an internal recruiter these statements do not apply. As such, you can do whatever you feel is right.



    The rest more or less depends on how much you would like to pursue this company in the future. Do you believe this is a miscommunication, or do you believe this is a symptom of a systemic problem in the company as a whole? If you believe you would like to pursue this company in the future, then you should probably just drop it; you failed the interview for whatever reason (in this case by no fault of your own, just to be clear; the company is 100% in the wrong here, but that doesn't change the fact that you didn't get an offer), try again next time. If you feel like this has left such a bad taste in your mouth that you are no longer interested in the company, then feel free to say whatever you like to whomever you like; if you consider their bridge burned with you, then you have no problem burning your bridge with them.



    In either case, I would write a review on a job posting review board (if the company is North American then my recommendation would be Glassdoor; if not, then use whatever is popular for your locale) detailing your experience. Most of these boards are anonymous so the company wouldn't know it was you, and at the same time you will be warning people of these sorts of experiences. I know that I personally look up every company I interview with on Glassdoor before I consider applying/interviewing there, so as much as you may think "nobody reads that crap what am I really wasting my time on?", there are people who really do read it and listen to what people say there.






    share|improve this answer

























    • What is there to "warn" other people about regarding posting this experience on a job posting review board? They interviewed the candidate and didn't want them.

      – dwizum
      Mar 12 at 19:39






    • 1





      @dwizum They wasted almost a month of the candidate's time on something that they could have found in 5 seconds by actually reading the candidate's resume. Not even reading the resume is the utmost of disrespect; it's like going to interview at a company without reading the company's website or the job description, either of which would likely end the interview immediately.

      – Ertai87
      Mar 12 at 19:57



















    2














    I wouldn't describe it as unethical but it's certainly not advisable. I think you just have to move on from the bad experience by applying for jobs elsewhere. There's nothing to gain from pursuing with that job as the manager has already stated you don't have the years of experience they are looking for so it's a dead end.



    I do sympathise, however, as it is incompetent of them to take four interview stages to decide this. Surely they could've just rejected your application due to lack of years experience than to waste your time by inviting you to not one but four interview stages.



    Edit: Just realised I've almost repeated what Sagar has said apart from the second paragraph. I'll leave this answer here unless an admin wants to delete it.






    share|improve this answer






























      2














      It is happened to me as well. Doing many interviews for a digital marketing agency after 4 interviews they told me that the Ceo did not agree to hire me because I did not have enough work experience although I rocked in the interviews.



      I think you have just to accept it, in this crazy job market anything can happen. What I also learned thanks to another "unfair" experience is about not given anything for grant and keep interviewing with as much as companies you can as long as you have in your hand a goddamn contract.



      Especially for new graduate (as me) never had big expectations even though you did the best interview of your life.



      Peppe






      share|improve this answer






























        2














        Beyond the sentiments above (ethical but what will you gain?), you mention this is a prominent company.



        This is very possibly one of the standard canned answers that legal has defined as a reason to legitimately overlook a candidate. If they toe the company line with such a generic answer, it's easy for every level to stick to the story and any lawsuit stands less of a chance.



        About the only angle I see following up benefitting you is if you somehow would catch them in the lie and learn the winning candidate was less experienced and there were some grounds for some type of actionable discrimination. But beyond theoretically possible, I see little way you'd ever prove any of it.






        share|improve this answer


















        • 2





          wrote "...catch them in the lie and learn the winning candidate was less experienced..." About 5 years ago, I didn't get a job and personally knew the guy who was hired instead. Hiring manager was nice enough to give me advice... but happened to mention that first thing he does is throw applications not meeting minimum degree and years-experience requirements into the trash without a second thought. I told him I knew the hire personally and that he had no degree at all (it required bachelors) and didn't meet their years-experience requested either... he was quite embarrassed.

          – Aaron
          Mar 12 at 23:00


















        1














        Is it ethical? I don't see any reason why it would be unethical. But the more important question is, Is it likely to be productive? And the answer to that is, Almost certainly not.



        I'm not sure if you mean to call the interviewer to complain or to call his boss. But either way, what do you expect would happen? Do you think you will complain that the interview was unfair and wasted your time, and they'll reply, "Zounds! You're right! We're going to offer you the job after all." No. Most likely they'd shrug and say, "Oh, sorry." At best, you'll just waste more of your time. At worst, you'll annoy them and ruin any chance of getting a job with this company in the future.



        And bear in mind, when a company rejects you, the reason they give may or may not be the real reason. When they reject you, they don't want to insult yo. They're not going to say, "We rejected you because we concluded you're an idiot" or "because you smell bad". And they don't want to get into an argument. Often the real reason is vague, like "I have a bad feeling about this guy" or "I don't think he'd fit in our company". But if they say that, then you might say, "Well what's wrong with me? Why don't you think I'd be a good employee?" and they don't have a concrete answer. (And of course if they rejected you for a reason that isn't legal in your jurisdiction, they don't like your race or you let slip something about your politics or religion or whatever that offends them, they're not going to admit that and give you grounds for a lawsuit.) "You don't have enough experience" is simple, doesn't sound nasty, and sounds objective.



        Maybe you thought the interviews went very well but they didn't. Yes, getting rejected when you thought the interview went well is very frustrating. But there's little you can do but try to learn from the experience. Think over the interview and see if you can think of things you did wrong. Did you stumble over answers? Say things that in retrospect were not good answers? If so, now you know better for next time. If you can't think of anything you fumbled, well, it was good practice.



        Just move on. You gain nothing by complaining except prolonging the aggravation.






        share|improve this answer






























          1














          It is absolutely inappropriate for you to follow through with what you have asked about in the tone you have taken for your question



          Do not contact them and cry about the "time you wasted."
          If you follow through with this, you would just be confirming their final statement to you that you just do not have the experience they are looking for.



          DO



          • Reach out to them.

          • Address each of them by name.

          • Thank them for their consideration.

          • Articulate to them that you were hopeful that you would have been the one chosen, state thoughtful 'whys' that illustrate that you were paying attention to them during your 4 interview rounds, and express your disappointment that you will have to wait to work with them

          • Professionally implore them to involve you in their thoughts for any future opportunities that may come available.


          Be Professional or Be Unemployed




          All employment openings are not created equal



          You never communicated what type of role this process was for.



          There are three fundamental types of employment openings:



          • Filling of Vacant/Soon to be Vacant Roles

          • Team Expansions

          • Need Warm Bodies

          When a role is being filled, there are almost always many more specific requirements that a company will be looking for in a candidate. Usually, no one matches perfectly unless a referral is involved and candidates match different subsets of the requirements in different subtle ways.



          When a role is being created, the requirements are much more usually set by market conditions rather than arbitrary internal perception of need. For instance, a manager could have read an article about some new technology and they want to spend some of their budget finding someone that can introduce that technology to the team. Or, the departmental FY budget has been set higher than originally anticipated and a manager wants to plow the money back into acquiring talent for the future. There are lots of anecdotal reasons why a company may expand. These are but a couple that immediately come to mind.



          What your continued progression through their (lengthy) interviewing process tells you



          is that you seemed to be -in their minds at least- consistently above other candidates which were like you; your positive qualities matched their strengths and you were deemed the stronger choice. The other candidates which progressed along with you almost certainly had some skills which overlapped with your own (you were interviewing for the same role, after all) but their experience ticked different boxes on the checklist than yours did.



          When it comes time to choose who progresses through interview rounds, there is almost always (except in the most bureaucratic of circumstances) flexibility on the number of people who are allowed to progress and unanimous -or even majority- consent is very rarely required. Progression usually follows simple "patronage" rules where someone in the decision making process considers you worthy of a more detailed look by the team as a whole.



          When it comes time to choose the candidate who is deemed the best fit, all of the acquired candidate data is prepared, juxtaposed, compared, contrasted, weighed, and measured.



          Then the hiring manager usually consults with the team the candidate will be joining for their opinion on who they believe will be the best fit, then usually makes a unilateral decision.




          • If the intention is to fill a vacant role, the candidate with the least perceived risk always wins.

          • If the intention is to expand a new role, the candidate with the highest perceived potential always wins.



          This is business.



          Act like it.






          share|improve this answer
































            0














            After being rejected, you can ask to meet the manager you had contact with to discuss the interviews. The worst that can happen is they say no. However, your rejection for this job is final, and to have a chance at talking to him you should make clear that you understand that and you're not trying to change that result. Treat it like networking.



            Personally I have done so in the past, when an interview at a company didn't work out I asked the director if I could just come by and talk to him about his views on the job market in town and his opinion of my skills. It was a very useful discussion to me and also to them, as a few years later I gave someone a tip to apply there who was a perfect fit and who still works there.



            Nowadays I would connect to the team lead on LinkedIn, and if he accepts send a message with something like "Hey, shame it didn't work out but so it goes. I was thinking, could I maybe come by for a cup of coffee one of these days, to get some clarity on how my interviewing went?".



            And then who knows.






            share|improve this answer






























              -2














              Be flattered that you got the interview in the first place knowing you didn't meet all of the criteria. You went in with your eyes open. Be proud that you went so far in the interview person before your inexperience showed. You should go into future Interviews with great confidence.



              They told you the truth, that in the end you couldn't overcome your lack experience at this time.



              Send a gracious thank you letter for the opportunity to the company. Your recruiter did you a favor at the expense of their time.



              I have a son going through the same interview experiences. He has less than 2 years experience and is thankful for all opportunities. I myself got my first job via a recruiter just out of school with a master's degree and only part-time experience at a prominent company. I never would have had the opportunity if they didn't take a chance on me even without the experience required.






              share|improve this answer










              New contributor




              Linda is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
              Check out our Code of Conduct.















              • 1





                I think this would be more applicable if the OP knew when they were applying that they didn't have the amount of experience they were looking for but it sounds like they didn't. The question makes it sound like the 4th interview was the first time they heard they didn't meet a minimum qualification. Also, the recruiter's job is to find candidates. That's not doing a favor, that's them doing their job.

                – BSMP
                2 days ago

















              15 Answers
              15






              active

              oldest

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              15 Answers
              15






              active

              oldest

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              active

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              447














              Why didn't they say you didn't have enough experience earlier in the process?



              Because it isn't true.



              You had enough experience going in, but you didn't get the job. Now they need to give you a reason why they chose the successful candidate and not you, and that candidate has more experience than you. So now, compared to the successful candidate, you don't have enough experience.



              Of course, that may have nothing to do with why they really chose the other candidate. It's post-hoc justifications all the way down. As such neither side has anything to gain from further discussion.






              share|improve this answer




















              • 172





                This is by far the most likely explanation.

                – BittermanAndy
                Mar 12 at 20:17






              • 28





                I once applied for an entry-level job that had a high school class requirement. With my bachelor's degree in that particular field, I thought that I had the position in the bag, especially after a great interview. A week later they informed me that I didn't get the job. After pressing, the interviewer explained that they went with someone with a master's.

                – Lux Claridge
                Mar 12 at 21:16







              • 9





                This is a great answer, but could you address the actual question asked by the OP? "My question is - is it ethical(for lack of a better word) for someone to speak to the manager when in similar situation? If yes, how should one approach?"

                – David K
                Mar 12 at 21:54







              • 6





                Any excuse they give you should be translated to "We found someone better instead." The actual words used are completely irrelevant, and sometimes completely untrue (since they're irrelevant).

                – Nelson
                Mar 13 at 4:18






              • 7





                Now they need to give you a reason why they chose the successful candidate and not you — do they have to do that? In most cases, I was only told: you are suitable bla bla but the position has been offered to someone else.

                – gerrit
                Mar 13 at 9:08















              447














              Why didn't they say you didn't have enough experience earlier in the process?



              Because it isn't true.



              You had enough experience going in, but you didn't get the job. Now they need to give you a reason why they chose the successful candidate and not you, and that candidate has more experience than you. So now, compared to the successful candidate, you don't have enough experience.



              Of course, that may have nothing to do with why they really chose the other candidate. It's post-hoc justifications all the way down. As such neither side has anything to gain from further discussion.






              share|improve this answer




















              • 172





                This is by far the most likely explanation.

                – BittermanAndy
                Mar 12 at 20:17






              • 28





                I once applied for an entry-level job that had a high school class requirement. With my bachelor's degree in that particular field, I thought that I had the position in the bag, especially after a great interview. A week later they informed me that I didn't get the job. After pressing, the interviewer explained that they went with someone with a master's.

                – Lux Claridge
                Mar 12 at 21:16







              • 9





                This is a great answer, but could you address the actual question asked by the OP? "My question is - is it ethical(for lack of a better word) for someone to speak to the manager when in similar situation? If yes, how should one approach?"

                – David K
                Mar 12 at 21:54







              • 6





                Any excuse they give you should be translated to "We found someone better instead." The actual words used are completely irrelevant, and sometimes completely untrue (since they're irrelevant).

                – Nelson
                Mar 13 at 4:18






              • 7





                Now they need to give you a reason why they chose the successful candidate and not you — do they have to do that? In most cases, I was only told: you are suitable bla bla but the position has been offered to someone else.

                – gerrit
                Mar 13 at 9:08













              447












              447








              447







              Why didn't they say you didn't have enough experience earlier in the process?



              Because it isn't true.



              You had enough experience going in, but you didn't get the job. Now they need to give you a reason why they chose the successful candidate and not you, and that candidate has more experience than you. So now, compared to the successful candidate, you don't have enough experience.



              Of course, that may have nothing to do with why they really chose the other candidate. It's post-hoc justifications all the way down. As such neither side has anything to gain from further discussion.






              share|improve this answer















              Why didn't they say you didn't have enough experience earlier in the process?



              Because it isn't true.



              You had enough experience going in, but you didn't get the job. Now they need to give you a reason why they chose the successful candidate and not you, and that candidate has more experience than you. So now, compared to the successful candidate, you don't have enough experience.



              Of course, that may have nothing to do with why they really chose the other candidate. It's post-hoc justifications all the way down. As such neither side has anything to gain from further discussion.







              share|improve this answer














              share|improve this answer



              share|improve this answer








              edited Mar 13 at 16:14









              Myles

              28.1k763112




              28.1k763112










              answered Mar 12 at 20:07









              Rupert MorrishRupert Morrish

              1,2451511




              1,2451511







              • 172





                This is by far the most likely explanation.

                – BittermanAndy
                Mar 12 at 20:17






              • 28





                I once applied for an entry-level job that had a high school class requirement. With my bachelor's degree in that particular field, I thought that I had the position in the bag, especially after a great interview. A week later they informed me that I didn't get the job. After pressing, the interviewer explained that they went with someone with a master's.

                – Lux Claridge
                Mar 12 at 21:16







              • 9





                This is a great answer, but could you address the actual question asked by the OP? "My question is - is it ethical(for lack of a better word) for someone to speak to the manager when in similar situation? If yes, how should one approach?"

                – David K
                Mar 12 at 21:54







              • 6





                Any excuse they give you should be translated to "We found someone better instead." The actual words used are completely irrelevant, and sometimes completely untrue (since they're irrelevant).

                – Nelson
                Mar 13 at 4:18






              • 7





                Now they need to give you a reason why they chose the successful candidate and not you — do they have to do that? In most cases, I was only told: you are suitable bla bla but the position has been offered to someone else.

                – gerrit
                Mar 13 at 9:08












              • 172





                This is by far the most likely explanation.

                – BittermanAndy
                Mar 12 at 20:17






              • 28





                I once applied for an entry-level job that had a high school class requirement. With my bachelor's degree in that particular field, I thought that I had the position in the bag, especially after a great interview. A week later they informed me that I didn't get the job. After pressing, the interviewer explained that they went with someone with a master's.

                – Lux Claridge
                Mar 12 at 21:16







              • 9





                This is a great answer, but could you address the actual question asked by the OP? "My question is - is it ethical(for lack of a better word) for someone to speak to the manager when in similar situation? If yes, how should one approach?"

                – David K
                Mar 12 at 21:54







              • 6





                Any excuse they give you should be translated to "We found someone better instead." The actual words used are completely irrelevant, and sometimes completely untrue (since they're irrelevant).

                – Nelson
                Mar 13 at 4:18






              • 7





                Now they need to give you a reason why they chose the successful candidate and not you — do they have to do that? In most cases, I was only told: you are suitable bla bla but the position has been offered to someone else.

                – gerrit
                Mar 13 at 9:08







              172




              172





              This is by far the most likely explanation.

              – BittermanAndy
              Mar 12 at 20:17





              This is by far the most likely explanation.

              – BittermanAndy
              Mar 12 at 20:17




              28




              28





              I once applied for an entry-level job that had a high school class requirement. With my bachelor's degree in that particular field, I thought that I had the position in the bag, especially after a great interview. A week later they informed me that I didn't get the job. After pressing, the interviewer explained that they went with someone with a master's.

              – Lux Claridge
              Mar 12 at 21:16






              I once applied for an entry-level job that had a high school class requirement. With my bachelor's degree in that particular field, I thought that I had the position in the bag, especially after a great interview. A week later they informed me that I didn't get the job. After pressing, the interviewer explained that they went with someone with a master's.

              – Lux Claridge
              Mar 12 at 21:16





              9




              9





              This is a great answer, but could you address the actual question asked by the OP? "My question is - is it ethical(for lack of a better word) for someone to speak to the manager when in similar situation? If yes, how should one approach?"

              – David K
              Mar 12 at 21:54






              This is a great answer, but could you address the actual question asked by the OP? "My question is - is it ethical(for lack of a better word) for someone to speak to the manager when in similar situation? If yes, how should one approach?"

              – David K
              Mar 12 at 21:54





              6




              6





              Any excuse they give you should be translated to "We found someone better instead." The actual words used are completely irrelevant, and sometimes completely untrue (since they're irrelevant).

              – Nelson
              Mar 13 at 4:18





              Any excuse they give you should be translated to "We found someone better instead." The actual words used are completely irrelevant, and sometimes completely untrue (since they're irrelevant).

              – Nelson
              Mar 13 at 4:18




              7




              7





              Now they need to give you a reason why they chose the successful candidate and not you — do they have to do that? In most cases, I was only told: you are suitable bla bla but the position has been offered to someone else.

              – gerrit
              Mar 13 at 9:08





              Now they need to give you a reason why they chose the successful candidate and not you — do they have to do that? In most cases, I was only told: you are suitable bla bla but the position has been offered to someone else.

              – gerrit
              Mar 13 at 9:08













              43














              I would not say it is unethical, but you will not gain anything from it by speaking to the manager.



              As @Kozaky mentioned, it is possible they want their average years of experience to be higher. Is it smart? Probably not, since experience does not necessarily equal competence.



              Also, though, is the fact that you may want to apply at this company in the future, and complaining about something like this will likely put you on a "blacklist" of some sort.



              Understandly, it is not fair to you. However, there is little recourse in this matter. Get your frustration out, and move on. That's the best you can do.






              share|improve this answer








              New contributor




              Sagar is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
              Check out our Code of Conduct.




















              • If that lame reason was the best this company could come up with, I'd be very surprised if the OP would want to be part of it any time in the future.

                – Tim
                Mar 13 at 15:28











              • @Tim I would agree. However, companies change all the time, as do positions and people working there. However, it is very possible he may want to apply there again...especially since, according to the OP, this is a "very prominent software company"

                – Sagar
                Mar 13 at 15:37












              • Possibly even more reason to show disdain for the reason of rejection. Points out to the present guys, but would be forgotten when the staff turnover means they've disappeared.

                – Tim
                Mar 13 at 15:41












              • Hah! Fair enough. I'm just saying it's better not to rule out that possiblity completely, but I do see where you're coming from. I would like to say I wouldn't have reapplied there if I were in the OPs shoes, but that's like predicting the future...

                – Sagar
                Mar 13 at 16:09















              43














              I would not say it is unethical, but you will not gain anything from it by speaking to the manager.



              As @Kozaky mentioned, it is possible they want their average years of experience to be higher. Is it smart? Probably not, since experience does not necessarily equal competence.



              Also, though, is the fact that you may want to apply at this company in the future, and complaining about something like this will likely put you on a "blacklist" of some sort.



              Understandly, it is not fair to you. However, there is little recourse in this matter. Get your frustration out, and move on. That's the best you can do.






              share|improve this answer








              New contributor




              Sagar is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
              Check out our Code of Conduct.




















              • If that lame reason was the best this company could come up with, I'd be very surprised if the OP would want to be part of it any time in the future.

                – Tim
                Mar 13 at 15:28











              • @Tim I would agree. However, companies change all the time, as do positions and people working there. However, it is very possible he may want to apply there again...especially since, according to the OP, this is a "very prominent software company"

                – Sagar
                Mar 13 at 15:37












              • Possibly even more reason to show disdain for the reason of rejection. Points out to the present guys, but would be forgotten when the staff turnover means they've disappeared.

                – Tim
                Mar 13 at 15:41












              • Hah! Fair enough. I'm just saying it's better not to rule out that possiblity completely, but I do see where you're coming from. I would like to say I wouldn't have reapplied there if I were in the OPs shoes, but that's like predicting the future...

                – Sagar
                Mar 13 at 16:09













              43












              43








              43







              I would not say it is unethical, but you will not gain anything from it by speaking to the manager.



              As @Kozaky mentioned, it is possible they want their average years of experience to be higher. Is it smart? Probably not, since experience does not necessarily equal competence.



              Also, though, is the fact that you may want to apply at this company in the future, and complaining about something like this will likely put you on a "blacklist" of some sort.



              Understandly, it is not fair to you. However, there is little recourse in this matter. Get your frustration out, and move on. That's the best you can do.






              share|improve this answer








              New contributor




              Sagar is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
              Check out our Code of Conduct.










              I would not say it is unethical, but you will not gain anything from it by speaking to the manager.



              As @Kozaky mentioned, it is possible they want their average years of experience to be higher. Is it smart? Probably not, since experience does not necessarily equal competence.



              Also, though, is the fact that you may want to apply at this company in the future, and complaining about something like this will likely put you on a "blacklist" of some sort.



              Understandly, it is not fair to you. However, there is little recourse in this matter. Get your frustration out, and move on. That's the best you can do.







              share|improve this answer








              New contributor




              Sagar is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
              Check out our Code of Conduct.









              share|improve this answer



              share|improve this answer






              New contributor




              Sagar is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
              Check out our Code of Conduct.









              answered Mar 12 at 15:28









              SagarSagar

              50915




              50915




              New contributor




              Sagar is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
              Check out our Code of Conduct.





              New contributor





              Sagar is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
              Check out our Code of Conduct.






              Sagar is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
              Check out our Code of Conduct.












              • If that lame reason was the best this company could come up with, I'd be very surprised if the OP would want to be part of it any time in the future.

                – Tim
                Mar 13 at 15:28











              • @Tim I would agree. However, companies change all the time, as do positions and people working there. However, it is very possible he may want to apply there again...especially since, according to the OP, this is a "very prominent software company"

                – Sagar
                Mar 13 at 15:37












              • Possibly even more reason to show disdain for the reason of rejection. Points out to the present guys, but would be forgotten when the staff turnover means they've disappeared.

                – Tim
                Mar 13 at 15:41












              • Hah! Fair enough. I'm just saying it's better not to rule out that possiblity completely, but I do see where you're coming from. I would like to say I wouldn't have reapplied there if I were in the OPs shoes, but that's like predicting the future...

                – Sagar
                Mar 13 at 16:09

















              • If that lame reason was the best this company could come up with, I'd be very surprised if the OP would want to be part of it any time in the future.

                – Tim
                Mar 13 at 15:28











              • @Tim I would agree. However, companies change all the time, as do positions and people working there. However, it is very possible he may want to apply there again...especially since, according to the OP, this is a "very prominent software company"

                – Sagar
                Mar 13 at 15:37












              • Possibly even more reason to show disdain for the reason of rejection. Points out to the present guys, but would be forgotten when the staff turnover means they've disappeared.

                – Tim
                Mar 13 at 15:41












              • Hah! Fair enough. I'm just saying it's better not to rule out that possiblity completely, but I do see where you're coming from. I would like to say I wouldn't have reapplied there if I were in the OPs shoes, but that's like predicting the future...

                – Sagar
                Mar 13 at 16:09
















              If that lame reason was the best this company could come up with, I'd be very surprised if the OP would want to be part of it any time in the future.

              – Tim
              Mar 13 at 15:28





              If that lame reason was the best this company could come up with, I'd be very surprised if the OP would want to be part of it any time in the future.

              – Tim
              Mar 13 at 15:28













              @Tim I would agree. However, companies change all the time, as do positions and people working there. However, it is very possible he may want to apply there again...especially since, according to the OP, this is a "very prominent software company"

              – Sagar
              Mar 13 at 15:37






              @Tim I would agree. However, companies change all the time, as do positions and people working there. However, it is very possible he may want to apply there again...especially since, according to the OP, this is a "very prominent software company"

              – Sagar
              Mar 13 at 15:37














              Possibly even more reason to show disdain for the reason of rejection. Points out to the present guys, but would be forgotten when the staff turnover means they've disappeared.

              – Tim
              Mar 13 at 15:41






              Possibly even more reason to show disdain for the reason of rejection. Points out to the present guys, but would be forgotten when the staff turnover means they've disappeared.

              – Tim
              Mar 13 at 15:41














              Hah! Fair enough. I'm just saying it's better not to rule out that possiblity completely, but I do see where you're coming from. I would like to say I wouldn't have reapplied there if I were in the OPs shoes, but that's like predicting the future...

              – Sagar
              Mar 13 at 16:09





              Hah! Fair enough. I'm just saying it's better not to rule out that possiblity completely, but I do see where you're coming from. I would like to say I wouldn't have reapplied there if I were in the OPs shoes, but that's like predicting the future...

              – Sagar
              Mar 13 at 16:09











              28














              The thing you need to bear in mind is that, in reality, there are basically three reasons for rejecting a candidate you've interviewed:



              1. you were good enough to hire but, sorry, they liked another candidate better;

              2. you weren't good enough to hire;

              3. they discovered that terrible thing you were trying to hide from them.

              Any other reason they give you is really one of those in disguise. Typically they want to give something that objectively distinguishes you from the person they did hire. So "We wanted more experience" most likely means "We liked another candidate better, and they had more experience than you." Or, if the ad said they wanted somebody with more than two years' experience, it might mean "We thought you might be good enough to hire even though you didn't have the experience we said we wanted but, after interviewing you, we realised you weren't" (reason 2).



              You can be fairly sure that it's not that they interviewed your four times and then noticed "Oops, not enough experience. Darn, we shoulda spotted that earlier!" There's nothing to be gained by talking to the company about this. They've made their decision and they've given you the only justification for it that they ever will.




              Falco has pointed out a fourth possible reason, in the comments: due to a change in circumstances, the company has decided not to hire anyone at all.






              share|improve this answer

























              • Regarding #3: I once went through a ridiculous number of interviews at one place - I was surprised they did so freaking many, and last one was with the CTO. I wanted to work there because I had several friends and acquaintances who worked there. Before the last one, I nailed every interview and my friends on the inside told me everyone was super impressed and I was their top choice, with their runner up being someone inside looking for a promotion but that he wasn't likely to get it. At last interview with CTO, where he too acted impressed, he ended interview with "Is there anything else [...]

                – Aaron
                Mar 12 at 23:07











              • [...] you'd like to bring up before we part ways?" And I was dumb enough to mention a religious dress code requirement I had at the time. It was no big deal; related to a Jewish tradition, it was just a small band I felt obligated to wear which said "love your neighbor as yourself" on it, and the company I work for now didn't care at all... but apparently that CTO cared a lot. As soon as I mentioned it, and I showed him one so he could see how small and no-big-deal it was, his face, speech, and entire demeanor changed. A buddy told me the CTO blocked me and that he refused to tell anyone why.

                – Aaron
                Mar 12 at 23:14






              • 2





                That would probably have been such an easy religious discrimination lawsuit if I had chose to go that route, but I didn't want to take their money and I thought suing to get the job would just make the entire stay awkward and difficult. So I just walked away from it. Fortunately I got, and took, a better offer shortly after - unfortunately not at a place where I had buddies.

                – Aaron
                Mar 12 at 23:17






              • 5





                @Aaron I'm not a lawyer or anything, but I don't think that winning a discrimination lawsuit (or a wrongful termination suit) means that the company is forced to hire you (again.) It just means they pay you for lost wages/emotional damages/etc. Even if you were able to get the job this way and willing to take it, you'd obviously have a target on your back. As soon as they find a legally sustainable reason to get rid of you, you'd be gone, and they'd probably make your life a living hell while you were there, pay you the absolute minimum they can get away with, etc.

                – Steve-O
                Mar 13 at 13:16






              • 1





                Adn there is 4. - budget cuts / restructuring or something similar, resulting in the position not being available anymore. - In this case they will also most likely give you a bogus response instead of revealing their internal problems, why a position which was publicly offered was scratched.

                – Falco
                Mar 14 at 11:54















              28














              The thing you need to bear in mind is that, in reality, there are basically three reasons for rejecting a candidate you've interviewed:



              1. you were good enough to hire but, sorry, they liked another candidate better;

              2. you weren't good enough to hire;

              3. they discovered that terrible thing you were trying to hide from them.

              Any other reason they give you is really one of those in disguise. Typically they want to give something that objectively distinguishes you from the person they did hire. So "We wanted more experience" most likely means "We liked another candidate better, and they had more experience than you." Or, if the ad said they wanted somebody with more than two years' experience, it might mean "We thought you might be good enough to hire even though you didn't have the experience we said we wanted but, after interviewing you, we realised you weren't" (reason 2).



              You can be fairly sure that it's not that they interviewed your four times and then noticed "Oops, not enough experience. Darn, we shoulda spotted that earlier!" There's nothing to be gained by talking to the company about this. They've made their decision and they've given you the only justification for it that they ever will.




              Falco has pointed out a fourth possible reason, in the comments: due to a change in circumstances, the company has decided not to hire anyone at all.






              share|improve this answer

























              • Regarding #3: I once went through a ridiculous number of interviews at one place - I was surprised they did so freaking many, and last one was with the CTO. I wanted to work there because I had several friends and acquaintances who worked there. Before the last one, I nailed every interview and my friends on the inside told me everyone was super impressed and I was their top choice, with their runner up being someone inside looking for a promotion but that he wasn't likely to get it. At last interview with CTO, where he too acted impressed, he ended interview with "Is there anything else [...]

                – Aaron
                Mar 12 at 23:07











              • [...] you'd like to bring up before we part ways?" And I was dumb enough to mention a religious dress code requirement I had at the time. It was no big deal; related to a Jewish tradition, it was just a small band I felt obligated to wear which said "love your neighbor as yourself" on it, and the company I work for now didn't care at all... but apparently that CTO cared a lot. As soon as I mentioned it, and I showed him one so he could see how small and no-big-deal it was, his face, speech, and entire demeanor changed. A buddy told me the CTO blocked me and that he refused to tell anyone why.

                – Aaron
                Mar 12 at 23:14






              • 2





                That would probably have been such an easy religious discrimination lawsuit if I had chose to go that route, but I didn't want to take their money and I thought suing to get the job would just make the entire stay awkward and difficult. So I just walked away from it. Fortunately I got, and took, a better offer shortly after - unfortunately not at a place where I had buddies.

                – Aaron
                Mar 12 at 23:17






              • 5





                @Aaron I'm not a lawyer or anything, but I don't think that winning a discrimination lawsuit (or a wrongful termination suit) means that the company is forced to hire you (again.) It just means they pay you for lost wages/emotional damages/etc. Even if you were able to get the job this way and willing to take it, you'd obviously have a target on your back. As soon as they find a legally sustainable reason to get rid of you, you'd be gone, and they'd probably make your life a living hell while you were there, pay you the absolute minimum they can get away with, etc.

                – Steve-O
                Mar 13 at 13:16






              • 1





                Adn there is 4. - budget cuts / restructuring or something similar, resulting in the position not being available anymore. - In this case they will also most likely give you a bogus response instead of revealing their internal problems, why a position which was publicly offered was scratched.

                – Falco
                Mar 14 at 11:54













              28












              28








              28







              The thing you need to bear in mind is that, in reality, there are basically three reasons for rejecting a candidate you've interviewed:



              1. you were good enough to hire but, sorry, they liked another candidate better;

              2. you weren't good enough to hire;

              3. they discovered that terrible thing you were trying to hide from them.

              Any other reason they give you is really one of those in disguise. Typically they want to give something that objectively distinguishes you from the person they did hire. So "We wanted more experience" most likely means "We liked another candidate better, and they had more experience than you." Or, if the ad said they wanted somebody with more than two years' experience, it might mean "We thought you might be good enough to hire even though you didn't have the experience we said we wanted but, after interviewing you, we realised you weren't" (reason 2).



              You can be fairly sure that it's not that they interviewed your four times and then noticed "Oops, not enough experience. Darn, we shoulda spotted that earlier!" There's nothing to be gained by talking to the company about this. They've made their decision and they've given you the only justification for it that they ever will.




              Falco has pointed out a fourth possible reason, in the comments: due to a change in circumstances, the company has decided not to hire anyone at all.






              share|improve this answer















              The thing you need to bear in mind is that, in reality, there are basically three reasons for rejecting a candidate you've interviewed:



              1. you were good enough to hire but, sorry, they liked another candidate better;

              2. you weren't good enough to hire;

              3. they discovered that terrible thing you were trying to hide from them.

              Any other reason they give you is really one of those in disguise. Typically they want to give something that objectively distinguishes you from the person they did hire. So "We wanted more experience" most likely means "We liked another candidate better, and they had more experience than you." Or, if the ad said they wanted somebody with more than two years' experience, it might mean "We thought you might be good enough to hire even though you didn't have the experience we said we wanted but, after interviewing you, we realised you weren't" (reason 2).



              You can be fairly sure that it's not that they interviewed your four times and then noticed "Oops, not enough experience. Darn, we shoulda spotted that earlier!" There's nothing to be gained by talking to the company about this. They've made their decision and they've given you the only justification for it that they ever will.




              Falco has pointed out a fourth possible reason, in the comments: due to a change in circumstances, the company has decided not to hire anyone at all.







              share|improve this answer














              share|improve this answer



              share|improve this answer








              edited Mar 14 at 13:31

























              answered Mar 12 at 21:51









              David RicherbyDavid Richerby

              1,6931222




              1,6931222












              • Regarding #3: I once went through a ridiculous number of interviews at one place - I was surprised they did so freaking many, and last one was with the CTO. I wanted to work there because I had several friends and acquaintances who worked there. Before the last one, I nailed every interview and my friends on the inside told me everyone was super impressed and I was their top choice, with their runner up being someone inside looking for a promotion but that he wasn't likely to get it. At last interview with CTO, where he too acted impressed, he ended interview with "Is there anything else [...]

                – Aaron
                Mar 12 at 23:07











              • [...] you'd like to bring up before we part ways?" And I was dumb enough to mention a religious dress code requirement I had at the time. It was no big deal; related to a Jewish tradition, it was just a small band I felt obligated to wear which said "love your neighbor as yourself" on it, and the company I work for now didn't care at all... but apparently that CTO cared a lot. As soon as I mentioned it, and I showed him one so he could see how small and no-big-deal it was, his face, speech, and entire demeanor changed. A buddy told me the CTO blocked me and that he refused to tell anyone why.

                – Aaron
                Mar 12 at 23:14






              • 2





                That would probably have been such an easy religious discrimination lawsuit if I had chose to go that route, but I didn't want to take their money and I thought suing to get the job would just make the entire stay awkward and difficult. So I just walked away from it. Fortunately I got, and took, a better offer shortly after - unfortunately not at a place where I had buddies.

                – Aaron
                Mar 12 at 23:17






              • 5





                @Aaron I'm not a lawyer or anything, but I don't think that winning a discrimination lawsuit (or a wrongful termination suit) means that the company is forced to hire you (again.) It just means they pay you for lost wages/emotional damages/etc. Even if you were able to get the job this way and willing to take it, you'd obviously have a target on your back. As soon as they find a legally sustainable reason to get rid of you, you'd be gone, and they'd probably make your life a living hell while you were there, pay you the absolute minimum they can get away with, etc.

                – Steve-O
                Mar 13 at 13:16






              • 1





                Adn there is 4. - budget cuts / restructuring or something similar, resulting in the position not being available anymore. - In this case they will also most likely give you a bogus response instead of revealing their internal problems, why a position which was publicly offered was scratched.

                – Falco
                Mar 14 at 11:54

















              • Regarding #3: I once went through a ridiculous number of interviews at one place - I was surprised they did so freaking many, and last one was with the CTO. I wanted to work there because I had several friends and acquaintances who worked there. Before the last one, I nailed every interview and my friends on the inside told me everyone was super impressed and I was their top choice, with their runner up being someone inside looking for a promotion but that he wasn't likely to get it. At last interview with CTO, where he too acted impressed, he ended interview with "Is there anything else [...]

                – Aaron
                Mar 12 at 23:07











              • [...] you'd like to bring up before we part ways?" And I was dumb enough to mention a religious dress code requirement I had at the time. It was no big deal; related to a Jewish tradition, it was just a small band I felt obligated to wear which said "love your neighbor as yourself" on it, and the company I work for now didn't care at all... but apparently that CTO cared a lot. As soon as I mentioned it, and I showed him one so he could see how small and no-big-deal it was, his face, speech, and entire demeanor changed. A buddy told me the CTO blocked me and that he refused to tell anyone why.

                – Aaron
                Mar 12 at 23:14






              • 2





                That would probably have been such an easy religious discrimination lawsuit if I had chose to go that route, but I didn't want to take their money and I thought suing to get the job would just make the entire stay awkward and difficult. So I just walked away from it. Fortunately I got, and took, a better offer shortly after - unfortunately not at a place where I had buddies.

                – Aaron
                Mar 12 at 23:17






              • 5





                @Aaron I'm not a lawyer or anything, but I don't think that winning a discrimination lawsuit (or a wrongful termination suit) means that the company is forced to hire you (again.) It just means they pay you for lost wages/emotional damages/etc. Even if you were able to get the job this way and willing to take it, you'd obviously have a target on your back. As soon as they find a legally sustainable reason to get rid of you, you'd be gone, and they'd probably make your life a living hell while you were there, pay you the absolute minimum they can get away with, etc.

                – Steve-O
                Mar 13 at 13:16






              • 1





                Adn there is 4. - budget cuts / restructuring or something similar, resulting in the position not being available anymore. - In this case they will also most likely give you a bogus response instead of revealing their internal problems, why a position which was publicly offered was scratched.

                – Falco
                Mar 14 at 11:54
















              Regarding #3: I once went through a ridiculous number of interviews at one place - I was surprised they did so freaking many, and last one was with the CTO. I wanted to work there because I had several friends and acquaintances who worked there. Before the last one, I nailed every interview and my friends on the inside told me everyone was super impressed and I was their top choice, with their runner up being someone inside looking for a promotion but that he wasn't likely to get it. At last interview with CTO, where he too acted impressed, he ended interview with "Is there anything else [...]

              – Aaron
              Mar 12 at 23:07





              Regarding #3: I once went through a ridiculous number of interviews at one place - I was surprised they did so freaking many, and last one was with the CTO. I wanted to work there because I had several friends and acquaintances who worked there. Before the last one, I nailed every interview and my friends on the inside told me everyone was super impressed and I was their top choice, with their runner up being someone inside looking for a promotion but that he wasn't likely to get it. At last interview with CTO, where he too acted impressed, he ended interview with "Is there anything else [...]

              – Aaron
              Mar 12 at 23:07













              [...] you'd like to bring up before we part ways?" And I was dumb enough to mention a religious dress code requirement I had at the time. It was no big deal; related to a Jewish tradition, it was just a small band I felt obligated to wear which said "love your neighbor as yourself" on it, and the company I work for now didn't care at all... but apparently that CTO cared a lot. As soon as I mentioned it, and I showed him one so he could see how small and no-big-deal it was, his face, speech, and entire demeanor changed. A buddy told me the CTO blocked me and that he refused to tell anyone why.

              – Aaron
              Mar 12 at 23:14





              [...] you'd like to bring up before we part ways?" And I was dumb enough to mention a religious dress code requirement I had at the time. It was no big deal; related to a Jewish tradition, it was just a small band I felt obligated to wear which said "love your neighbor as yourself" on it, and the company I work for now didn't care at all... but apparently that CTO cared a lot. As soon as I mentioned it, and I showed him one so he could see how small and no-big-deal it was, his face, speech, and entire demeanor changed. A buddy told me the CTO blocked me and that he refused to tell anyone why.

              – Aaron
              Mar 12 at 23:14




              2




              2





              That would probably have been such an easy religious discrimination lawsuit if I had chose to go that route, but I didn't want to take their money and I thought suing to get the job would just make the entire stay awkward and difficult. So I just walked away from it. Fortunately I got, and took, a better offer shortly after - unfortunately not at a place where I had buddies.

              – Aaron
              Mar 12 at 23:17





              That would probably have been such an easy religious discrimination lawsuit if I had chose to go that route, but I didn't want to take their money and I thought suing to get the job would just make the entire stay awkward and difficult. So I just walked away from it. Fortunately I got, and took, a better offer shortly after - unfortunately not at a place where I had buddies.

              – Aaron
              Mar 12 at 23:17




              5




              5





              @Aaron I'm not a lawyer or anything, but I don't think that winning a discrimination lawsuit (or a wrongful termination suit) means that the company is forced to hire you (again.) It just means they pay you for lost wages/emotional damages/etc. Even if you were able to get the job this way and willing to take it, you'd obviously have a target on your back. As soon as they find a legally sustainable reason to get rid of you, you'd be gone, and they'd probably make your life a living hell while you were there, pay you the absolute minimum they can get away with, etc.

              – Steve-O
              Mar 13 at 13:16





              @Aaron I'm not a lawyer or anything, but I don't think that winning a discrimination lawsuit (or a wrongful termination suit) means that the company is forced to hire you (again.) It just means they pay you for lost wages/emotional damages/etc. Even if you were able to get the job this way and willing to take it, you'd obviously have a target on your back. As soon as they find a legally sustainable reason to get rid of you, you'd be gone, and they'd probably make your life a living hell while you were there, pay you the absolute minimum they can get away with, etc.

              – Steve-O
              Mar 13 at 13:16




              1




              1





              Adn there is 4. - budget cuts / restructuring or something similar, resulting in the position not being available anymore. - In this case they will also most likely give you a bogus response instead of revealing their internal problems, why a position which was publicly offered was scratched.

              – Falco
              Mar 14 at 11:54





              Adn there is 4. - budget cuts / restructuring or something similar, resulting in the position not being available anymore. - In this case they will also most likely give you a bogus response instead of revealing their internal problems, why a position which was publicly offered was scratched.

              – Falco
              Mar 14 at 11:54











              14














              No, it wouldn't be unethical, but it would be a total waste of time.



              This was a jerk move on their part, and IMO, they screened themselves out of the running. Don't waste a moment's time with them. The interview is the very best you will ever see the company. If they're bad in the interview, they will be worse to work for.






              share|improve this answer



























                14














                No, it wouldn't be unethical, but it would be a total waste of time.



                This was a jerk move on their part, and IMO, they screened themselves out of the running. Don't waste a moment's time with them. The interview is the very best you will ever see the company. If they're bad in the interview, they will be worse to work for.






                share|improve this answer

























                  14












                  14








                  14







                  No, it wouldn't be unethical, but it would be a total waste of time.



                  This was a jerk move on their part, and IMO, they screened themselves out of the running. Don't waste a moment's time with them. The interview is the very best you will ever see the company. If they're bad in the interview, they will be worse to work for.






                  share|improve this answer













                  No, it wouldn't be unethical, but it would be a total waste of time.



                  This was a jerk move on their part, and IMO, they screened themselves out of the running. Don't waste a moment's time with them. The interview is the very best you will ever see the company. If they're bad in the interview, they will be worse to work for.







                  share|improve this answer












                  share|improve this answer



                  share|improve this answer










                  answered Mar 12 at 16:46









                  Richard URichard U

                  101k73273405




                  101k73273405





















                      13














                      Hindsight is always 20/20



                      The right time to bring up your concern over lack of communication was to do it right after they told you that "you have only 2 years of experience and we want more."



                      Your response should have been:




                      My apologies if I seem frustrated but could you tell me why I wasn't disqualified sooner? It has been a fairly large time and energy investment on my part to make it through the interviews thus far. If my resume misled you in any way then please let me know because I would like to fix it ASAP.





                      You can try to call the recruiter or hiring manager and express your concern calmly and politely as I did above.



                      It is very unlikely that you will get the job for expressing your concerns but at least they may provide some closure such as:




                      Our apologies, let us clarify by explaining XYZ and why our reasoning was worded in that way.





                      Or maybe you did bad enough in previous rounds so they are saying that more experience will help you to do better in the future.






                      share|improve this answer




















                      • 2





                        My immediate reaction to questions like this is "life isn't fair, pick your battles, blah blah" but reading your suggested wording I right away thought "that's perfect". I still think it won't really help anything, but it is at least a professional and reasonable question to ask the hiring folk, and one that I'd be interested in hearing an answer to if I were the OP! Bravo.

                        – Lightness Races in Orbit
                        Mar 14 at 0:33







                      • 1





                        @LightnessRacesinOrbit I really appreciate the feedback and in all honesty my knee-jerk reaction was "life isn't fair" as well but I'm pretty sure OP knew this before posting their question. My advice might not be of any immediate help but hopefully it will help OP plan responses for worst-case scenarios in the future. As it stands I think that it was quite unprofessional of the company to give such a response so late in the interview process without explaining it better.

                        – MonkeyZeus
                        Mar 14 at 12:34















                      13














                      Hindsight is always 20/20



                      The right time to bring up your concern over lack of communication was to do it right after they told you that "you have only 2 years of experience and we want more."



                      Your response should have been:




                      My apologies if I seem frustrated but could you tell me why I wasn't disqualified sooner? It has been a fairly large time and energy investment on my part to make it through the interviews thus far. If my resume misled you in any way then please let me know because I would like to fix it ASAP.





                      You can try to call the recruiter or hiring manager and express your concern calmly and politely as I did above.



                      It is very unlikely that you will get the job for expressing your concerns but at least they may provide some closure such as:




                      Our apologies, let us clarify by explaining XYZ and why our reasoning was worded in that way.





                      Or maybe you did bad enough in previous rounds so they are saying that more experience will help you to do better in the future.






                      share|improve this answer




















                      • 2





                        My immediate reaction to questions like this is "life isn't fair, pick your battles, blah blah" but reading your suggested wording I right away thought "that's perfect". I still think it won't really help anything, but it is at least a professional and reasonable question to ask the hiring folk, and one that I'd be interested in hearing an answer to if I were the OP! Bravo.

                        – Lightness Races in Orbit
                        Mar 14 at 0:33







                      • 1





                        @LightnessRacesinOrbit I really appreciate the feedback and in all honesty my knee-jerk reaction was "life isn't fair" as well but I'm pretty sure OP knew this before posting their question. My advice might not be of any immediate help but hopefully it will help OP plan responses for worst-case scenarios in the future. As it stands I think that it was quite unprofessional of the company to give such a response so late in the interview process without explaining it better.

                        – MonkeyZeus
                        Mar 14 at 12:34













                      13












                      13








                      13







                      Hindsight is always 20/20



                      The right time to bring up your concern over lack of communication was to do it right after they told you that "you have only 2 years of experience and we want more."



                      Your response should have been:




                      My apologies if I seem frustrated but could you tell me why I wasn't disqualified sooner? It has been a fairly large time and energy investment on my part to make it through the interviews thus far. If my resume misled you in any way then please let me know because I would like to fix it ASAP.





                      You can try to call the recruiter or hiring manager and express your concern calmly and politely as I did above.



                      It is very unlikely that you will get the job for expressing your concerns but at least they may provide some closure such as:




                      Our apologies, let us clarify by explaining XYZ and why our reasoning was worded in that way.





                      Or maybe you did bad enough in previous rounds so they are saying that more experience will help you to do better in the future.






                      share|improve this answer















                      Hindsight is always 20/20



                      The right time to bring up your concern over lack of communication was to do it right after they told you that "you have only 2 years of experience and we want more."



                      Your response should have been:




                      My apologies if I seem frustrated but could you tell me why I wasn't disqualified sooner? It has been a fairly large time and energy investment on my part to make it through the interviews thus far. If my resume misled you in any way then please let me know because I would like to fix it ASAP.





                      You can try to call the recruiter or hiring manager and express your concern calmly and politely as I did above.



                      It is very unlikely that you will get the job for expressing your concerns but at least they may provide some closure such as:




                      Our apologies, let us clarify by explaining XYZ and why our reasoning was worded in that way.





                      Or maybe you did bad enough in previous rounds so they are saying that more experience will help you to do better in the future.







                      share|improve this answer














                      share|improve this answer



                      share|improve this answer








                      edited Mar 12 at 19:34

























                      answered Mar 12 at 19:27









                      MonkeyZeusMonkeyZeus

                      4,03411029




                      4,03411029







                      • 2





                        My immediate reaction to questions like this is "life isn't fair, pick your battles, blah blah" but reading your suggested wording I right away thought "that's perfect". I still think it won't really help anything, but it is at least a professional and reasonable question to ask the hiring folk, and one that I'd be interested in hearing an answer to if I were the OP! Bravo.

                        – Lightness Races in Orbit
                        Mar 14 at 0:33







                      • 1





                        @LightnessRacesinOrbit I really appreciate the feedback and in all honesty my knee-jerk reaction was "life isn't fair" as well but I'm pretty sure OP knew this before posting their question. My advice might not be of any immediate help but hopefully it will help OP plan responses for worst-case scenarios in the future. As it stands I think that it was quite unprofessional of the company to give such a response so late in the interview process without explaining it better.

                        – MonkeyZeus
                        Mar 14 at 12:34












                      • 2





                        My immediate reaction to questions like this is "life isn't fair, pick your battles, blah blah" but reading your suggested wording I right away thought "that's perfect". I still think it won't really help anything, but it is at least a professional and reasonable question to ask the hiring folk, and one that I'd be interested in hearing an answer to if I were the OP! Bravo.

                        – Lightness Races in Orbit
                        Mar 14 at 0:33







                      • 1





                        @LightnessRacesinOrbit I really appreciate the feedback and in all honesty my knee-jerk reaction was "life isn't fair" as well but I'm pretty sure OP knew this before posting their question. My advice might not be of any immediate help but hopefully it will help OP plan responses for worst-case scenarios in the future. As it stands I think that it was quite unprofessional of the company to give such a response so late in the interview process without explaining it better.

                        – MonkeyZeus
                        Mar 14 at 12:34







                      2




                      2





                      My immediate reaction to questions like this is "life isn't fair, pick your battles, blah blah" but reading your suggested wording I right away thought "that's perfect". I still think it won't really help anything, but it is at least a professional and reasonable question to ask the hiring folk, and one that I'd be interested in hearing an answer to if I were the OP! Bravo.

                      – Lightness Races in Orbit
                      Mar 14 at 0:33






                      My immediate reaction to questions like this is "life isn't fair, pick your battles, blah blah" but reading your suggested wording I right away thought "that's perfect". I still think it won't really help anything, but it is at least a professional and reasonable question to ask the hiring folk, and one that I'd be interested in hearing an answer to if I were the OP! Bravo.

                      – Lightness Races in Orbit
                      Mar 14 at 0:33





                      1




                      1





                      @LightnessRacesinOrbit I really appreciate the feedback and in all honesty my knee-jerk reaction was "life isn't fair" as well but I'm pretty sure OP knew this before posting their question. My advice might not be of any immediate help but hopefully it will help OP plan responses for worst-case scenarios in the future. As it stands I think that it was quite unprofessional of the company to give such a response so late in the interview process without explaining it better.

                      – MonkeyZeus
                      Mar 14 at 12:34





                      @LightnessRacesinOrbit I really appreciate the feedback and in all honesty my knee-jerk reaction was "life isn't fair" as well but I'm pretty sure OP knew this before posting their question. My advice might not be of any immediate help but hopefully it will help OP plan responses for worst-case scenarios in the future. As it stands I think that it was quite unprofessional of the company to give such a response so late in the interview process without explaining it better.

                      – MonkeyZeus
                      Mar 14 at 12:34











                      9














                      As many have already pointed out - it isn't necessarily 'unethical,' but you don't stand to gain much from having that conversation. You got a reason for the decision (even if that answer is vague or unsatisfactory) which is more than most applicants get.



                      That being said, this is an incredibly frustrating situation (speaking from experience).



                      If I may offer some unsolicited advice: I think you should view this as their loss. It can be difficult to see the positive side of this situation in light of the outcome, but you should celebrate the fact that you did very well in the interview and lost the opportunity for reasons beyond your present control.



                      Sometimes hiring managers have a change of heart down the road (especially if the 'experienced' candidate isn't working out) and this company may in fact reach out to you months or even years later (perhaps for a different, yet similar role). If you're doing this well in interviews you will definitely have a job by then, but they may present you with a really attractive offer. If that does happen, you need to consider why they turned you down in the first place. Don't get caught up working with a group of people that value perception over reality!



                      It's possible you dodged a bullet here. Take a few days off from the job hunt if you can afford it and realign yourself. Best of luck!






                      share|improve this answer










                      New contributor




                      the-hanged-man is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                      Check out our Code of Conduct.















                      • 2





                        Assuming that you do want to work for this "very prominent software company", you could send the hiring manager with a CC to HR thanking them for the opportunity. Politely express that you are disappointed that you didn't meet all requirements and that you wish to be considered for any future positions where you would be an even better fit. Yes, hard to write, but it is always better to take the high road. Of course, all of the foregoing assumes that you DO WANT to work there. Which judging by the hurt you feel, could be the case.

                        – CyberFonic
                        Mar 13 at 1:03















                      9














                      As many have already pointed out - it isn't necessarily 'unethical,' but you don't stand to gain much from having that conversation. You got a reason for the decision (even if that answer is vague or unsatisfactory) which is more than most applicants get.



                      That being said, this is an incredibly frustrating situation (speaking from experience).



                      If I may offer some unsolicited advice: I think you should view this as their loss. It can be difficult to see the positive side of this situation in light of the outcome, but you should celebrate the fact that you did very well in the interview and lost the opportunity for reasons beyond your present control.



                      Sometimes hiring managers have a change of heart down the road (especially if the 'experienced' candidate isn't working out) and this company may in fact reach out to you months or even years later (perhaps for a different, yet similar role). If you're doing this well in interviews you will definitely have a job by then, but they may present you with a really attractive offer. If that does happen, you need to consider why they turned you down in the first place. Don't get caught up working with a group of people that value perception over reality!



                      It's possible you dodged a bullet here. Take a few days off from the job hunt if you can afford it and realign yourself. Best of luck!






                      share|improve this answer










                      New contributor




                      the-hanged-man is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                      Check out our Code of Conduct.















                      • 2





                        Assuming that you do want to work for this "very prominent software company", you could send the hiring manager with a CC to HR thanking them for the opportunity. Politely express that you are disappointed that you didn't meet all requirements and that you wish to be considered for any future positions where you would be an even better fit. Yes, hard to write, but it is always better to take the high road. Of course, all of the foregoing assumes that you DO WANT to work there. Which judging by the hurt you feel, could be the case.

                        – CyberFonic
                        Mar 13 at 1:03













                      9












                      9








                      9







                      As many have already pointed out - it isn't necessarily 'unethical,' but you don't stand to gain much from having that conversation. You got a reason for the decision (even if that answer is vague or unsatisfactory) which is more than most applicants get.



                      That being said, this is an incredibly frustrating situation (speaking from experience).



                      If I may offer some unsolicited advice: I think you should view this as their loss. It can be difficult to see the positive side of this situation in light of the outcome, but you should celebrate the fact that you did very well in the interview and lost the opportunity for reasons beyond your present control.



                      Sometimes hiring managers have a change of heart down the road (especially if the 'experienced' candidate isn't working out) and this company may in fact reach out to you months or even years later (perhaps for a different, yet similar role). If you're doing this well in interviews you will definitely have a job by then, but they may present you with a really attractive offer. If that does happen, you need to consider why they turned you down in the first place. Don't get caught up working with a group of people that value perception over reality!



                      It's possible you dodged a bullet here. Take a few days off from the job hunt if you can afford it and realign yourself. Best of luck!






                      share|improve this answer










                      New contributor




                      the-hanged-man is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                      Check out our Code of Conduct.










                      As many have already pointed out - it isn't necessarily 'unethical,' but you don't stand to gain much from having that conversation. You got a reason for the decision (even if that answer is vague or unsatisfactory) which is more than most applicants get.



                      That being said, this is an incredibly frustrating situation (speaking from experience).



                      If I may offer some unsolicited advice: I think you should view this as their loss. It can be difficult to see the positive side of this situation in light of the outcome, but you should celebrate the fact that you did very well in the interview and lost the opportunity for reasons beyond your present control.



                      Sometimes hiring managers have a change of heart down the road (especially if the 'experienced' candidate isn't working out) and this company may in fact reach out to you months or even years later (perhaps for a different, yet similar role). If you're doing this well in interviews you will definitely have a job by then, but they may present you with a really attractive offer. If that does happen, you need to consider why they turned you down in the first place. Don't get caught up working with a group of people that value perception over reality!



                      It's possible you dodged a bullet here. Take a few days off from the job hunt if you can afford it and realign yourself. Best of luck!







                      share|improve this answer










                      New contributor




                      the-hanged-man is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                      Check out our Code of Conduct.









                      share|improve this answer



                      share|improve this answer








                      edited Mar 12 at 16:09





















                      New contributor




                      the-hanged-man is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                      Check out our Code of Conduct.









                      answered Mar 12 at 15:58









                      the-hanged-manthe-hanged-man

                      1013




                      1013




                      New contributor




                      the-hanged-man is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                      Check out our Code of Conduct.





                      New contributor





                      the-hanged-man is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                      Check out our Code of Conduct.






                      the-hanged-man is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                      Check out our Code of Conduct.







                      • 2





                        Assuming that you do want to work for this "very prominent software company", you could send the hiring manager with a CC to HR thanking them for the opportunity. Politely express that you are disappointed that you didn't meet all requirements and that you wish to be considered for any future positions where you would be an even better fit. Yes, hard to write, but it is always better to take the high road. Of course, all of the foregoing assumes that you DO WANT to work there. Which judging by the hurt you feel, could be the case.

                        – CyberFonic
                        Mar 13 at 1:03












                      • 2





                        Assuming that you do want to work for this "very prominent software company", you could send the hiring manager with a CC to HR thanking them for the opportunity. Politely express that you are disappointed that you didn't meet all requirements and that you wish to be considered for any future positions where you would be an even better fit. Yes, hard to write, but it is always better to take the high road. Of course, all of the foregoing assumes that you DO WANT to work there. Which judging by the hurt you feel, could be the case.

                        – CyberFonic
                        Mar 13 at 1:03







                      2




                      2





                      Assuming that you do want to work for this "very prominent software company", you could send the hiring manager with a CC to HR thanking them for the opportunity. Politely express that you are disappointed that you didn't meet all requirements and that you wish to be considered for any future positions where you would be an even better fit. Yes, hard to write, but it is always better to take the high road. Of course, all of the foregoing assumes that you DO WANT to work there. Which judging by the hurt you feel, could be the case.

                      – CyberFonic
                      Mar 13 at 1:03





                      Assuming that you do want to work for this "very prominent software company", you could send the hiring manager with a CC to HR thanking them for the opportunity. Politely express that you are disappointed that you didn't meet all requirements and that you wish to be considered for any future positions where you would be an even better fit. Yes, hard to write, but it is always better to take the high road. Of course, all of the foregoing assumes that you DO WANT to work there. Which judging by the hurt you feel, could be the case.

                      – CyberFonic
                      Mar 13 at 1:03











                      6














                      Like others have said, it's best to move on. Pretend it never happened, and get it out of your system right away. Forget it, clear your mind, and move onto the next (better) one, but do keep in mind that it could happen again, too, so keep your mind prepared.



                      Maybe it'll make you feel better knowing my story (and I also need to get this out - because it hurts).
                      I was out of work for 4+ months (trusted someone, and they broke my trust very badly..), and wife was 6-7 months pregnant. Had applied to countless places, but even with years of experience, Masters degree, and many personal projects, usual reply (if I got any) was "background doesn't match".



                      Finally got skype interview setup for a company in NY. Did great in that. Got 2nd skype setup, did great in that, and got to coding challenge. Started coding at 7am in the morning. Had to take wife to doc the same day, so I took my laptop to hospital, sat on floor in hallway and coded the exercise. It was a very large coding exercise, and ended up working on it, and finishing at 12:30 that night (yup, night!) They reviewed it, loved it, and yet another skype with engineers was setup, and they approved/liked solution. Got invited for in-person at their office in NY. Paid for hotel+flight with my money (got reimbursed, see below). Flew 5 hours to NY. Spent night in hotel, and had in-person interview next day. 5-6 people took interview one after another. Engineers and I just clicked - they were super happy (not me saying, but they told me that)! Founder of company asked technical algorithm questions - did very well in that. All that took 5 hours. Came back 5 hour flight. And waited... waited... waited... They said, I'd hear back in 2 days. After 2 weeks, I got a "no". To date, I have no idea why, especially when the email stated something like "I fit perfectly in the culture". I asked to be reimbursed, and it took them 1 month since my return.



                      It's been months since this, and recently one of their HR person connected me to an outside hiring agency... That to me seems very fishy as well.



                      That company is a big NO on my list now.



                      I do have a job now, so at least I'm happy. But yes, these things happen. People say, "don't burn bridges". For people who engage in these types of behaviors, do I want to keep a bridge? Nope.






                      share|improve this answer








                      New contributor




                      user is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                      Check out our Code of Conduct.




















                      • Burning bridges is still a bad idea, simply because the world is smaller than people realize.

                        – cst1992
                        Mar 14 at 15:18











                      • Everyone has finite amount of time/energy to be nice, esp. to the people OP and I've met - it's like a one-way relationship with someone - you're always nice, but they're never nice, which is always a bad idea, and at such a time, IMO, "burning bridges" is an ok thing to do. In fact, my current emp. and a previous emp. had a client-relation, and things went extremely sour, and even with them having burned-bridges, they hired me. Why? Because of talent. World is small, but all of us have finite time, and many responsibilities to worry about than be nice to someone who puts us in a bad place.

                        – user
                        Mar 14 at 16:22











                      • Interestingly enough, I too had a similar experience with a company in NYC. I had to harass them on their public corporate Facebook page before I could get them to reimburse me for expenses. I wonder if it was the same company ;-)

                        – Ertai87
                        yesterday
















                      6














                      Like others have said, it's best to move on. Pretend it never happened, and get it out of your system right away. Forget it, clear your mind, and move onto the next (better) one, but do keep in mind that it could happen again, too, so keep your mind prepared.



                      Maybe it'll make you feel better knowing my story (and I also need to get this out - because it hurts).
                      I was out of work for 4+ months (trusted someone, and they broke my trust very badly..), and wife was 6-7 months pregnant. Had applied to countless places, but even with years of experience, Masters degree, and many personal projects, usual reply (if I got any) was "background doesn't match".



                      Finally got skype interview setup for a company in NY. Did great in that. Got 2nd skype setup, did great in that, and got to coding challenge. Started coding at 7am in the morning. Had to take wife to doc the same day, so I took my laptop to hospital, sat on floor in hallway and coded the exercise. It was a very large coding exercise, and ended up working on it, and finishing at 12:30 that night (yup, night!) They reviewed it, loved it, and yet another skype with engineers was setup, and they approved/liked solution. Got invited for in-person at their office in NY. Paid for hotel+flight with my money (got reimbursed, see below). Flew 5 hours to NY. Spent night in hotel, and had in-person interview next day. 5-6 people took interview one after another. Engineers and I just clicked - they were super happy (not me saying, but they told me that)! Founder of company asked technical algorithm questions - did very well in that. All that took 5 hours. Came back 5 hour flight. And waited... waited... waited... They said, I'd hear back in 2 days. After 2 weeks, I got a "no". To date, I have no idea why, especially when the email stated something like "I fit perfectly in the culture". I asked to be reimbursed, and it took them 1 month since my return.



                      It's been months since this, and recently one of their HR person connected me to an outside hiring agency... That to me seems very fishy as well.



                      That company is a big NO on my list now.



                      I do have a job now, so at least I'm happy. But yes, these things happen. People say, "don't burn bridges". For people who engage in these types of behaviors, do I want to keep a bridge? Nope.






                      share|improve this answer








                      New contributor




                      user is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                      Check out our Code of Conduct.




















                      • Burning bridges is still a bad idea, simply because the world is smaller than people realize.

                        – cst1992
                        Mar 14 at 15:18











                      • Everyone has finite amount of time/energy to be nice, esp. to the people OP and I've met - it's like a one-way relationship with someone - you're always nice, but they're never nice, which is always a bad idea, and at such a time, IMO, "burning bridges" is an ok thing to do. In fact, my current emp. and a previous emp. had a client-relation, and things went extremely sour, and even with them having burned-bridges, they hired me. Why? Because of talent. World is small, but all of us have finite time, and many responsibilities to worry about than be nice to someone who puts us in a bad place.

                        – user
                        Mar 14 at 16:22











                      • Interestingly enough, I too had a similar experience with a company in NYC. I had to harass them on their public corporate Facebook page before I could get them to reimburse me for expenses. I wonder if it was the same company ;-)

                        – Ertai87
                        yesterday














                      6












                      6








                      6







                      Like others have said, it's best to move on. Pretend it never happened, and get it out of your system right away. Forget it, clear your mind, and move onto the next (better) one, but do keep in mind that it could happen again, too, so keep your mind prepared.



                      Maybe it'll make you feel better knowing my story (and I also need to get this out - because it hurts).
                      I was out of work for 4+ months (trusted someone, and they broke my trust very badly..), and wife was 6-7 months pregnant. Had applied to countless places, but even with years of experience, Masters degree, and many personal projects, usual reply (if I got any) was "background doesn't match".



                      Finally got skype interview setup for a company in NY. Did great in that. Got 2nd skype setup, did great in that, and got to coding challenge. Started coding at 7am in the morning. Had to take wife to doc the same day, so I took my laptop to hospital, sat on floor in hallway and coded the exercise. It was a very large coding exercise, and ended up working on it, and finishing at 12:30 that night (yup, night!) They reviewed it, loved it, and yet another skype with engineers was setup, and they approved/liked solution. Got invited for in-person at their office in NY. Paid for hotel+flight with my money (got reimbursed, see below). Flew 5 hours to NY. Spent night in hotel, and had in-person interview next day. 5-6 people took interview one after another. Engineers and I just clicked - they were super happy (not me saying, but they told me that)! Founder of company asked technical algorithm questions - did very well in that. All that took 5 hours. Came back 5 hour flight. And waited... waited... waited... They said, I'd hear back in 2 days. After 2 weeks, I got a "no". To date, I have no idea why, especially when the email stated something like "I fit perfectly in the culture". I asked to be reimbursed, and it took them 1 month since my return.



                      It's been months since this, and recently one of their HR person connected me to an outside hiring agency... That to me seems very fishy as well.



                      That company is a big NO on my list now.



                      I do have a job now, so at least I'm happy. But yes, these things happen. People say, "don't burn bridges". For people who engage in these types of behaviors, do I want to keep a bridge? Nope.






                      share|improve this answer








                      New contributor




                      user is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                      Check out our Code of Conduct.










                      Like others have said, it's best to move on. Pretend it never happened, and get it out of your system right away. Forget it, clear your mind, and move onto the next (better) one, but do keep in mind that it could happen again, too, so keep your mind prepared.



                      Maybe it'll make you feel better knowing my story (and I also need to get this out - because it hurts).
                      I was out of work for 4+ months (trusted someone, and they broke my trust very badly..), and wife was 6-7 months pregnant. Had applied to countless places, but even with years of experience, Masters degree, and many personal projects, usual reply (if I got any) was "background doesn't match".



                      Finally got skype interview setup for a company in NY. Did great in that. Got 2nd skype setup, did great in that, and got to coding challenge. Started coding at 7am in the morning. Had to take wife to doc the same day, so I took my laptop to hospital, sat on floor in hallway and coded the exercise. It was a very large coding exercise, and ended up working on it, and finishing at 12:30 that night (yup, night!) They reviewed it, loved it, and yet another skype with engineers was setup, and they approved/liked solution. Got invited for in-person at their office in NY. Paid for hotel+flight with my money (got reimbursed, see below). Flew 5 hours to NY. Spent night in hotel, and had in-person interview next day. 5-6 people took interview one after another. Engineers and I just clicked - they were super happy (not me saying, but they told me that)! Founder of company asked technical algorithm questions - did very well in that. All that took 5 hours. Came back 5 hour flight. And waited... waited... waited... They said, I'd hear back in 2 days. After 2 weeks, I got a "no". To date, I have no idea why, especially when the email stated something like "I fit perfectly in the culture". I asked to be reimbursed, and it took them 1 month since my return.



                      It's been months since this, and recently one of their HR person connected me to an outside hiring agency... That to me seems very fishy as well.



                      That company is a big NO on my list now.



                      I do have a job now, so at least I'm happy. But yes, these things happen. People say, "don't burn bridges". For people who engage in these types of behaviors, do I want to keep a bridge? Nope.







                      share|improve this answer








                      New contributor




                      user is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                      Check out our Code of Conduct.









                      share|improve this answer



                      share|improve this answer






                      New contributor




                      user is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                      Check out our Code of Conduct.









                      answered Mar 12 at 17:14









                      useruser

                      611




                      611




                      New contributor




                      user is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
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                      New contributor





                      user is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                      Check out our Code of Conduct.






                      user is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                      Check out our Code of Conduct.












                      • Burning bridges is still a bad idea, simply because the world is smaller than people realize.

                        – cst1992
                        Mar 14 at 15:18











                      • Everyone has finite amount of time/energy to be nice, esp. to the people OP and I've met - it's like a one-way relationship with someone - you're always nice, but they're never nice, which is always a bad idea, and at such a time, IMO, "burning bridges" is an ok thing to do. In fact, my current emp. and a previous emp. had a client-relation, and things went extremely sour, and even with them having burned-bridges, they hired me. Why? Because of talent. World is small, but all of us have finite time, and many responsibilities to worry about than be nice to someone who puts us in a bad place.

                        – user
                        Mar 14 at 16:22











                      • Interestingly enough, I too had a similar experience with a company in NYC. I had to harass them on their public corporate Facebook page before I could get them to reimburse me for expenses. I wonder if it was the same company ;-)

                        – Ertai87
                        yesterday


















                      • Burning bridges is still a bad idea, simply because the world is smaller than people realize.

                        – cst1992
                        Mar 14 at 15:18











                      • Everyone has finite amount of time/energy to be nice, esp. to the people OP and I've met - it's like a one-way relationship with someone - you're always nice, but they're never nice, which is always a bad idea, and at such a time, IMO, "burning bridges" is an ok thing to do. In fact, my current emp. and a previous emp. had a client-relation, and things went extremely sour, and even with them having burned-bridges, they hired me. Why? Because of talent. World is small, but all of us have finite time, and many responsibilities to worry about than be nice to someone who puts us in a bad place.

                        – user
                        Mar 14 at 16:22











                      • Interestingly enough, I too had a similar experience with a company in NYC. I had to harass them on their public corporate Facebook page before I could get them to reimburse me for expenses. I wonder if it was the same company ;-)

                        – Ertai87
                        yesterday

















                      Burning bridges is still a bad idea, simply because the world is smaller than people realize.

                      – cst1992
                      Mar 14 at 15:18





                      Burning bridges is still a bad idea, simply because the world is smaller than people realize.

                      – cst1992
                      Mar 14 at 15:18













                      Everyone has finite amount of time/energy to be nice, esp. to the people OP and I've met - it's like a one-way relationship with someone - you're always nice, but they're never nice, which is always a bad idea, and at such a time, IMO, "burning bridges" is an ok thing to do. In fact, my current emp. and a previous emp. had a client-relation, and things went extremely sour, and even with them having burned-bridges, they hired me. Why? Because of talent. World is small, but all of us have finite time, and many responsibilities to worry about than be nice to someone who puts us in a bad place.

                      – user
                      Mar 14 at 16:22





                      Everyone has finite amount of time/energy to be nice, esp. to the people OP and I've met - it's like a one-way relationship with someone - you're always nice, but they're never nice, which is always a bad idea, and at such a time, IMO, "burning bridges" is an ok thing to do. In fact, my current emp. and a previous emp. had a client-relation, and things went extremely sour, and even with them having burned-bridges, they hired me. Why? Because of talent. World is small, but all of us have finite time, and many responsibilities to worry about than be nice to someone who puts us in a bad place.

                      – user
                      Mar 14 at 16:22













                      Interestingly enough, I too had a similar experience with a company in NYC. I had to harass them on their public corporate Facebook page before I could get them to reimburse me for expenses. I wonder if it was the same company ;-)

                      – Ertai87
                      yesterday






                      Interestingly enough, I too had a similar experience with a company in NYC. I had to harass them on their public corporate Facebook page before I could get them to reimburse me for expenses. I wonder if it was the same company ;-)

                      – Ertai87
                      yesterday












                      3














                      It's not unethical, in the legal sense, as in you really have no method of recourse against them for any reason. You also probably shouldn't complain to the manager, as it's probably not their call as to what the company is hiring for, especially if it's a large company (large companies often have "hiring pools" from which managers can take candidates they like; it's very rare that a manager in a large company will specifically hire for a specific position, at least not until a placement stage which happens after the offer stage).



                      If you would like to complain to someone, you should complain to the recruiter who introduced you to that company, especially if that recruiter is a 3rd party recruiter (not someone internal to the company). Speaking specifically about 3rd party recruiters, it's important to let a 3rd party recruiter know for 2 reasons:



                      1) Recruiters get paid when candidates get placed, usually as a percentage of that candidate's salary. If the recruiter does a bunch of work but the company is stingy and won't let the recruiter place a candidate, then the recruiter is wasting their time. Recruiters don't want to waste their time, so they should be made to know if the company is being stingy.



                      2) Client behaviour can impact a recruiter's image. For example, if I talk to a recruiter and tell them my background is Java backend, and they send me to a company who wants to hire Ruby frontend developers, I'm going to be pretty mad at that recruiter for wasting my time sending me to a company that wasn't a good fit. This is a simple obvious example, but the same holds in your case; the recruiter sent you to a company that was not looking for someone with your qualifications. This looks bad on the recruiter. Now, hopefully, the recruiter didn't do this maliciously, and it's likely there was a simple miscommunication between the recruiter and the company. However, that doesn't change the fact that this is what they did, and this looks bad on their image as a recruiter. If the recruiter wants to maintain their image and reputation, they should not deal with companies who miscommunicate their expectations and waste applicants' time (and recruiter's time placing those applicants!). So once again, the recruiter should be made to know if this is going on.



                      Internal recruiters have neither of these concerns, so if you're dealing with an internal recruiter these statements do not apply. As such, you can do whatever you feel is right.



                      The rest more or less depends on how much you would like to pursue this company in the future. Do you believe this is a miscommunication, or do you believe this is a symptom of a systemic problem in the company as a whole? If you believe you would like to pursue this company in the future, then you should probably just drop it; you failed the interview for whatever reason (in this case by no fault of your own, just to be clear; the company is 100% in the wrong here, but that doesn't change the fact that you didn't get an offer), try again next time. If you feel like this has left such a bad taste in your mouth that you are no longer interested in the company, then feel free to say whatever you like to whomever you like; if you consider their bridge burned with you, then you have no problem burning your bridge with them.



                      In either case, I would write a review on a job posting review board (if the company is North American then my recommendation would be Glassdoor; if not, then use whatever is popular for your locale) detailing your experience. Most of these boards are anonymous so the company wouldn't know it was you, and at the same time you will be warning people of these sorts of experiences. I know that I personally look up every company I interview with on Glassdoor before I consider applying/interviewing there, so as much as you may think "nobody reads that crap what am I really wasting my time on?", there are people who really do read it and listen to what people say there.






                      share|improve this answer

























                      • What is there to "warn" other people about regarding posting this experience on a job posting review board? They interviewed the candidate and didn't want them.

                        – dwizum
                        Mar 12 at 19:39






                      • 1





                        @dwizum They wasted almost a month of the candidate's time on something that they could have found in 5 seconds by actually reading the candidate's resume. Not even reading the resume is the utmost of disrespect; it's like going to interview at a company without reading the company's website or the job description, either of which would likely end the interview immediately.

                        – Ertai87
                        Mar 12 at 19:57
















                      3














                      It's not unethical, in the legal sense, as in you really have no method of recourse against them for any reason. You also probably shouldn't complain to the manager, as it's probably not their call as to what the company is hiring for, especially if it's a large company (large companies often have "hiring pools" from which managers can take candidates they like; it's very rare that a manager in a large company will specifically hire for a specific position, at least not until a placement stage which happens after the offer stage).



                      If you would like to complain to someone, you should complain to the recruiter who introduced you to that company, especially if that recruiter is a 3rd party recruiter (not someone internal to the company). Speaking specifically about 3rd party recruiters, it's important to let a 3rd party recruiter know for 2 reasons:



                      1) Recruiters get paid when candidates get placed, usually as a percentage of that candidate's salary. If the recruiter does a bunch of work but the company is stingy and won't let the recruiter place a candidate, then the recruiter is wasting their time. Recruiters don't want to waste their time, so they should be made to know if the company is being stingy.



                      2) Client behaviour can impact a recruiter's image. For example, if I talk to a recruiter and tell them my background is Java backend, and they send me to a company who wants to hire Ruby frontend developers, I'm going to be pretty mad at that recruiter for wasting my time sending me to a company that wasn't a good fit. This is a simple obvious example, but the same holds in your case; the recruiter sent you to a company that was not looking for someone with your qualifications. This looks bad on the recruiter. Now, hopefully, the recruiter didn't do this maliciously, and it's likely there was a simple miscommunication between the recruiter and the company. However, that doesn't change the fact that this is what they did, and this looks bad on their image as a recruiter. If the recruiter wants to maintain their image and reputation, they should not deal with companies who miscommunicate their expectations and waste applicants' time (and recruiter's time placing those applicants!). So once again, the recruiter should be made to know if this is going on.



                      Internal recruiters have neither of these concerns, so if you're dealing with an internal recruiter these statements do not apply. As such, you can do whatever you feel is right.



                      The rest more or less depends on how much you would like to pursue this company in the future. Do you believe this is a miscommunication, or do you believe this is a symptom of a systemic problem in the company as a whole? If you believe you would like to pursue this company in the future, then you should probably just drop it; you failed the interview for whatever reason (in this case by no fault of your own, just to be clear; the company is 100% in the wrong here, but that doesn't change the fact that you didn't get an offer), try again next time. If you feel like this has left such a bad taste in your mouth that you are no longer interested in the company, then feel free to say whatever you like to whomever you like; if you consider their bridge burned with you, then you have no problem burning your bridge with them.



                      In either case, I would write a review on a job posting review board (if the company is North American then my recommendation would be Glassdoor; if not, then use whatever is popular for your locale) detailing your experience. Most of these boards are anonymous so the company wouldn't know it was you, and at the same time you will be warning people of these sorts of experiences. I know that I personally look up every company I interview with on Glassdoor before I consider applying/interviewing there, so as much as you may think "nobody reads that crap what am I really wasting my time on?", there are people who really do read it and listen to what people say there.






                      share|improve this answer

























                      • What is there to "warn" other people about regarding posting this experience on a job posting review board? They interviewed the candidate and didn't want them.

                        – dwizum
                        Mar 12 at 19:39






                      • 1





                        @dwizum They wasted almost a month of the candidate's time on something that they could have found in 5 seconds by actually reading the candidate's resume. Not even reading the resume is the utmost of disrespect; it's like going to interview at a company without reading the company's website or the job description, either of which would likely end the interview immediately.

                        – Ertai87
                        Mar 12 at 19:57














                      3












                      3








                      3







                      It's not unethical, in the legal sense, as in you really have no method of recourse against them for any reason. You also probably shouldn't complain to the manager, as it's probably not their call as to what the company is hiring for, especially if it's a large company (large companies often have "hiring pools" from which managers can take candidates they like; it's very rare that a manager in a large company will specifically hire for a specific position, at least not until a placement stage which happens after the offer stage).



                      If you would like to complain to someone, you should complain to the recruiter who introduced you to that company, especially if that recruiter is a 3rd party recruiter (not someone internal to the company). Speaking specifically about 3rd party recruiters, it's important to let a 3rd party recruiter know for 2 reasons:



                      1) Recruiters get paid when candidates get placed, usually as a percentage of that candidate's salary. If the recruiter does a bunch of work but the company is stingy and won't let the recruiter place a candidate, then the recruiter is wasting their time. Recruiters don't want to waste their time, so they should be made to know if the company is being stingy.



                      2) Client behaviour can impact a recruiter's image. For example, if I talk to a recruiter and tell them my background is Java backend, and they send me to a company who wants to hire Ruby frontend developers, I'm going to be pretty mad at that recruiter for wasting my time sending me to a company that wasn't a good fit. This is a simple obvious example, but the same holds in your case; the recruiter sent you to a company that was not looking for someone with your qualifications. This looks bad on the recruiter. Now, hopefully, the recruiter didn't do this maliciously, and it's likely there was a simple miscommunication between the recruiter and the company. However, that doesn't change the fact that this is what they did, and this looks bad on their image as a recruiter. If the recruiter wants to maintain their image and reputation, they should not deal with companies who miscommunicate their expectations and waste applicants' time (and recruiter's time placing those applicants!). So once again, the recruiter should be made to know if this is going on.



                      Internal recruiters have neither of these concerns, so if you're dealing with an internal recruiter these statements do not apply. As such, you can do whatever you feel is right.



                      The rest more or less depends on how much you would like to pursue this company in the future. Do you believe this is a miscommunication, or do you believe this is a symptom of a systemic problem in the company as a whole? If you believe you would like to pursue this company in the future, then you should probably just drop it; you failed the interview for whatever reason (in this case by no fault of your own, just to be clear; the company is 100% in the wrong here, but that doesn't change the fact that you didn't get an offer), try again next time. If you feel like this has left such a bad taste in your mouth that you are no longer interested in the company, then feel free to say whatever you like to whomever you like; if you consider their bridge burned with you, then you have no problem burning your bridge with them.



                      In either case, I would write a review on a job posting review board (if the company is North American then my recommendation would be Glassdoor; if not, then use whatever is popular for your locale) detailing your experience. Most of these boards are anonymous so the company wouldn't know it was you, and at the same time you will be warning people of these sorts of experiences. I know that I personally look up every company I interview with on Glassdoor before I consider applying/interviewing there, so as much as you may think "nobody reads that crap what am I really wasting my time on?", there are people who really do read it and listen to what people say there.






                      share|improve this answer















                      It's not unethical, in the legal sense, as in you really have no method of recourse against them for any reason. You also probably shouldn't complain to the manager, as it's probably not their call as to what the company is hiring for, especially if it's a large company (large companies often have "hiring pools" from which managers can take candidates they like; it's very rare that a manager in a large company will specifically hire for a specific position, at least not until a placement stage which happens after the offer stage).



                      If you would like to complain to someone, you should complain to the recruiter who introduced you to that company, especially if that recruiter is a 3rd party recruiter (not someone internal to the company). Speaking specifically about 3rd party recruiters, it's important to let a 3rd party recruiter know for 2 reasons:



                      1) Recruiters get paid when candidates get placed, usually as a percentage of that candidate's salary. If the recruiter does a bunch of work but the company is stingy and won't let the recruiter place a candidate, then the recruiter is wasting their time. Recruiters don't want to waste their time, so they should be made to know if the company is being stingy.



                      2) Client behaviour can impact a recruiter's image. For example, if I talk to a recruiter and tell them my background is Java backend, and they send me to a company who wants to hire Ruby frontend developers, I'm going to be pretty mad at that recruiter for wasting my time sending me to a company that wasn't a good fit. This is a simple obvious example, but the same holds in your case; the recruiter sent you to a company that was not looking for someone with your qualifications. This looks bad on the recruiter. Now, hopefully, the recruiter didn't do this maliciously, and it's likely there was a simple miscommunication between the recruiter and the company. However, that doesn't change the fact that this is what they did, and this looks bad on their image as a recruiter. If the recruiter wants to maintain their image and reputation, they should not deal with companies who miscommunicate their expectations and waste applicants' time (and recruiter's time placing those applicants!). So once again, the recruiter should be made to know if this is going on.



                      Internal recruiters have neither of these concerns, so if you're dealing with an internal recruiter these statements do not apply. As such, you can do whatever you feel is right.



                      The rest more or less depends on how much you would like to pursue this company in the future. Do you believe this is a miscommunication, or do you believe this is a symptom of a systemic problem in the company as a whole? If you believe you would like to pursue this company in the future, then you should probably just drop it; you failed the interview for whatever reason (in this case by no fault of your own, just to be clear; the company is 100% in the wrong here, but that doesn't change the fact that you didn't get an offer), try again next time. If you feel like this has left such a bad taste in your mouth that you are no longer interested in the company, then feel free to say whatever you like to whomever you like; if you consider their bridge burned with you, then you have no problem burning your bridge with them.



                      In either case, I would write a review on a job posting review board (if the company is North American then my recommendation would be Glassdoor; if not, then use whatever is popular for your locale) detailing your experience. Most of these boards are anonymous so the company wouldn't know it was you, and at the same time you will be warning people of these sorts of experiences. I know that I personally look up every company I interview with on Glassdoor before I consider applying/interviewing there, so as much as you may think "nobody reads that crap what am I really wasting my time on?", there are people who really do read it and listen to what people say there.







                      share|improve this answer














                      share|improve this answer



                      share|improve this answer








                      edited Mar 12 at 17:45

























                      answered Mar 12 at 17:36









                      Ertai87Ertai87

                      10.7k21230




                      10.7k21230












                      • What is there to "warn" other people about regarding posting this experience on a job posting review board? They interviewed the candidate and didn't want them.

                        – dwizum
                        Mar 12 at 19:39






                      • 1





                        @dwizum They wasted almost a month of the candidate's time on something that they could have found in 5 seconds by actually reading the candidate's resume. Not even reading the resume is the utmost of disrespect; it's like going to interview at a company without reading the company's website or the job description, either of which would likely end the interview immediately.

                        – Ertai87
                        Mar 12 at 19:57


















                      • What is there to "warn" other people about regarding posting this experience on a job posting review board? They interviewed the candidate and didn't want them.

                        – dwizum
                        Mar 12 at 19:39






                      • 1





                        @dwizum They wasted almost a month of the candidate's time on something that they could have found in 5 seconds by actually reading the candidate's resume. Not even reading the resume is the utmost of disrespect; it's like going to interview at a company without reading the company's website or the job description, either of which would likely end the interview immediately.

                        – Ertai87
                        Mar 12 at 19:57

















                      What is there to "warn" other people about regarding posting this experience on a job posting review board? They interviewed the candidate and didn't want them.

                      – dwizum
                      Mar 12 at 19:39





                      What is there to "warn" other people about regarding posting this experience on a job posting review board? They interviewed the candidate and didn't want them.

                      – dwizum
                      Mar 12 at 19:39




                      1




                      1





                      @dwizum They wasted almost a month of the candidate's time on something that they could have found in 5 seconds by actually reading the candidate's resume. Not even reading the resume is the utmost of disrespect; it's like going to interview at a company without reading the company's website or the job description, either of which would likely end the interview immediately.

                      – Ertai87
                      Mar 12 at 19:57






                      @dwizum They wasted almost a month of the candidate's time on something that they could have found in 5 seconds by actually reading the candidate's resume. Not even reading the resume is the utmost of disrespect; it's like going to interview at a company without reading the company's website or the job description, either of which would likely end the interview immediately.

                      – Ertai87
                      Mar 12 at 19:57












                      2














                      I wouldn't describe it as unethical but it's certainly not advisable. I think you just have to move on from the bad experience by applying for jobs elsewhere. There's nothing to gain from pursuing with that job as the manager has already stated you don't have the years of experience they are looking for so it's a dead end.



                      I do sympathise, however, as it is incompetent of them to take four interview stages to decide this. Surely they could've just rejected your application due to lack of years experience than to waste your time by inviting you to not one but four interview stages.



                      Edit: Just realised I've almost repeated what Sagar has said apart from the second paragraph. I'll leave this answer here unless an admin wants to delete it.






                      share|improve this answer



























                        2














                        I wouldn't describe it as unethical but it's certainly not advisable. I think you just have to move on from the bad experience by applying for jobs elsewhere. There's nothing to gain from pursuing with that job as the manager has already stated you don't have the years of experience they are looking for so it's a dead end.



                        I do sympathise, however, as it is incompetent of them to take four interview stages to decide this. Surely they could've just rejected your application due to lack of years experience than to waste your time by inviting you to not one but four interview stages.



                        Edit: Just realised I've almost repeated what Sagar has said apart from the second paragraph. I'll leave this answer here unless an admin wants to delete it.






                        share|improve this answer

























                          2












                          2








                          2







                          I wouldn't describe it as unethical but it's certainly not advisable. I think you just have to move on from the bad experience by applying for jobs elsewhere. There's nothing to gain from pursuing with that job as the manager has already stated you don't have the years of experience they are looking for so it's a dead end.



                          I do sympathise, however, as it is incompetent of them to take four interview stages to decide this. Surely they could've just rejected your application due to lack of years experience than to waste your time by inviting you to not one but four interview stages.



                          Edit: Just realised I've almost repeated what Sagar has said apart from the second paragraph. I'll leave this answer here unless an admin wants to delete it.






                          share|improve this answer













                          I wouldn't describe it as unethical but it's certainly not advisable. I think you just have to move on from the bad experience by applying for jobs elsewhere. There's nothing to gain from pursuing with that job as the manager has already stated you don't have the years of experience they are looking for so it's a dead end.



                          I do sympathise, however, as it is incompetent of them to take four interview stages to decide this. Surely they could've just rejected your application due to lack of years experience than to waste your time by inviting you to not one but four interview stages.



                          Edit: Just realised I've almost repeated what Sagar has said apart from the second paragraph. I'll leave this answer here unless an admin wants to delete it.







                          share|improve this answer












                          share|improve this answer



                          share|improve this answer










                          answered Mar 12 at 15:51









                          Jamie ButterworthJamie Butterworth

                          311




                          311





















                              2














                              It is happened to me as well. Doing many interviews for a digital marketing agency after 4 interviews they told me that the Ceo did not agree to hire me because I did not have enough work experience although I rocked in the interviews.



                              I think you have just to accept it, in this crazy job market anything can happen. What I also learned thanks to another "unfair" experience is about not given anything for grant and keep interviewing with as much as companies you can as long as you have in your hand a goddamn contract.



                              Especially for new graduate (as me) never had big expectations even though you did the best interview of your life.



                              Peppe






                              share|improve this answer



























                                2














                                It is happened to me as well. Doing many interviews for a digital marketing agency after 4 interviews they told me that the Ceo did not agree to hire me because I did not have enough work experience although I rocked in the interviews.



                                I think you have just to accept it, in this crazy job market anything can happen. What I also learned thanks to another "unfair" experience is about not given anything for grant and keep interviewing with as much as companies you can as long as you have in your hand a goddamn contract.



                                Especially for new graduate (as me) never had big expectations even though you did the best interview of your life.



                                Peppe






                                share|improve this answer

























                                  2












                                  2








                                  2







                                  It is happened to me as well. Doing many interviews for a digital marketing agency after 4 interviews they told me that the Ceo did not agree to hire me because I did not have enough work experience although I rocked in the interviews.



                                  I think you have just to accept it, in this crazy job market anything can happen. What I also learned thanks to another "unfair" experience is about not given anything for grant and keep interviewing with as much as companies you can as long as you have in your hand a goddamn contract.



                                  Especially for new graduate (as me) never had big expectations even though you did the best interview of your life.



                                  Peppe






                                  share|improve this answer













                                  It is happened to me as well. Doing many interviews for a digital marketing agency after 4 interviews they told me that the Ceo did not agree to hire me because I did not have enough work experience although I rocked in the interviews.



                                  I think you have just to accept it, in this crazy job market anything can happen. What I also learned thanks to another "unfair" experience is about not given anything for grant and keep interviewing with as much as companies you can as long as you have in your hand a goddamn contract.



                                  Especially for new graduate (as me) never had big expectations even though you did the best interview of your life.



                                  Peppe







                                  share|improve this answer












                                  share|improve this answer



                                  share|improve this answer










                                  answered Mar 12 at 15:58









                                  peppe Reizanpeppe Reizan

                                  546




                                  546





















                                      2














                                      Beyond the sentiments above (ethical but what will you gain?), you mention this is a prominent company.



                                      This is very possibly one of the standard canned answers that legal has defined as a reason to legitimately overlook a candidate. If they toe the company line with such a generic answer, it's easy for every level to stick to the story and any lawsuit stands less of a chance.



                                      About the only angle I see following up benefitting you is if you somehow would catch them in the lie and learn the winning candidate was less experienced and there were some grounds for some type of actionable discrimination. But beyond theoretically possible, I see little way you'd ever prove any of it.






                                      share|improve this answer


















                                      • 2





                                        wrote "...catch them in the lie and learn the winning candidate was less experienced..." About 5 years ago, I didn't get a job and personally knew the guy who was hired instead. Hiring manager was nice enough to give me advice... but happened to mention that first thing he does is throw applications not meeting minimum degree and years-experience requirements into the trash without a second thought. I told him I knew the hire personally and that he had no degree at all (it required bachelors) and didn't meet their years-experience requested either... he was quite embarrassed.

                                        – Aaron
                                        Mar 12 at 23:00















                                      2














                                      Beyond the sentiments above (ethical but what will you gain?), you mention this is a prominent company.



                                      This is very possibly one of the standard canned answers that legal has defined as a reason to legitimately overlook a candidate. If they toe the company line with such a generic answer, it's easy for every level to stick to the story and any lawsuit stands less of a chance.



                                      About the only angle I see following up benefitting you is if you somehow would catch them in the lie and learn the winning candidate was less experienced and there were some grounds for some type of actionable discrimination. But beyond theoretically possible, I see little way you'd ever prove any of it.






                                      share|improve this answer


















                                      • 2





                                        wrote "...catch them in the lie and learn the winning candidate was less experienced..." About 5 years ago, I didn't get a job and personally knew the guy who was hired instead. Hiring manager was nice enough to give me advice... but happened to mention that first thing he does is throw applications not meeting minimum degree and years-experience requirements into the trash without a second thought. I told him I knew the hire personally and that he had no degree at all (it required bachelors) and didn't meet their years-experience requested either... he was quite embarrassed.

                                        – Aaron
                                        Mar 12 at 23:00













                                      2












                                      2








                                      2







                                      Beyond the sentiments above (ethical but what will you gain?), you mention this is a prominent company.



                                      This is very possibly one of the standard canned answers that legal has defined as a reason to legitimately overlook a candidate. If they toe the company line with such a generic answer, it's easy for every level to stick to the story and any lawsuit stands less of a chance.



                                      About the only angle I see following up benefitting you is if you somehow would catch them in the lie and learn the winning candidate was less experienced and there were some grounds for some type of actionable discrimination. But beyond theoretically possible, I see little way you'd ever prove any of it.






                                      share|improve this answer













                                      Beyond the sentiments above (ethical but what will you gain?), you mention this is a prominent company.



                                      This is very possibly one of the standard canned answers that legal has defined as a reason to legitimately overlook a candidate. If they toe the company line with such a generic answer, it's easy for every level to stick to the story and any lawsuit stands less of a chance.



                                      About the only angle I see following up benefitting you is if you somehow would catch them in the lie and learn the winning candidate was less experienced and there were some grounds for some type of actionable discrimination. But beyond theoretically possible, I see little way you'd ever prove any of it.







                                      share|improve this answer












                                      share|improve this answer



                                      share|improve this answer










                                      answered Mar 12 at 20:29









                                      John SpiegelJohn Spiegel

                                      51016




                                      51016







                                      • 2





                                        wrote "...catch them in the lie and learn the winning candidate was less experienced..." About 5 years ago, I didn't get a job and personally knew the guy who was hired instead. Hiring manager was nice enough to give me advice... but happened to mention that first thing he does is throw applications not meeting minimum degree and years-experience requirements into the trash without a second thought. I told him I knew the hire personally and that he had no degree at all (it required bachelors) and didn't meet their years-experience requested either... he was quite embarrassed.

                                        – Aaron
                                        Mar 12 at 23:00












                                      • 2





                                        wrote "...catch them in the lie and learn the winning candidate was less experienced..." About 5 years ago, I didn't get a job and personally knew the guy who was hired instead. Hiring manager was nice enough to give me advice... but happened to mention that first thing he does is throw applications not meeting minimum degree and years-experience requirements into the trash without a second thought. I told him I knew the hire personally and that he had no degree at all (it required bachelors) and didn't meet their years-experience requested either... he was quite embarrassed.

                                        – Aaron
                                        Mar 12 at 23:00







                                      2




                                      2





                                      wrote "...catch them in the lie and learn the winning candidate was less experienced..." About 5 years ago, I didn't get a job and personally knew the guy who was hired instead. Hiring manager was nice enough to give me advice... but happened to mention that first thing he does is throw applications not meeting minimum degree and years-experience requirements into the trash without a second thought. I told him I knew the hire personally and that he had no degree at all (it required bachelors) and didn't meet their years-experience requested either... he was quite embarrassed.

                                      – Aaron
                                      Mar 12 at 23:00





                                      wrote "...catch them in the lie and learn the winning candidate was less experienced..." About 5 years ago, I didn't get a job and personally knew the guy who was hired instead. Hiring manager was nice enough to give me advice... but happened to mention that first thing he does is throw applications not meeting minimum degree and years-experience requirements into the trash without a second thought. I told him I knew the hire personally and that he had no degree at all (it required bachelors) and didn't meet their years-experience requested either... he was quite embarrassed.

                                      – Aaron
                                      Mar 12 at 23:00











                                      1














                                      Is it ethical? I don't see any reason why it would be unethical. But the more important question is, Is it likely to be productive? And the answer to that is, Almost certainly not.



                                      I'm not sure if you mean to call the interviewer to complain or to call his boss. But either way, what do you expect would happen? Do you think you will complain that the interview was unfair and wasted your time, and they'll reply, "Zounds! You're right! We're going to offer you the job after all." No. Most likely they'd shrug and say, "Oh, sorry." At best, you'll just waste more of your time. At worst, you'll annoy them and ruin any chance of getting a job with this company in the future.



                                      And bear in mind, when a company rejects you, the reason they give may or may not be the real reason. When they reject you, they don't want to insult yo. They're not going to say, "We rejected you because we concluded you're an idiot" or "because you smell bad". And they don't want to get into an argument. Often the real reason is vague, like "I have a bad feeling about this guy" or "I don't think he'd fit in our company". But if they say that, then you might say, "Well what's wrong with me? Why don't you think I'd be a good employee?" and they don't have a concrete answer. (And of course if they rejected you for a reason that isn't legal in your jurisdiction, they don't like your race or you let slip something about your politics or religion or whatever that offends them, they're not going to admit that and give you grounds for a lawsuit.) "You don't have enough experience" is simple, doesn't sound nasty, and sounds objective.



                                      Maybe you thought the interviews went very well but they didn't. Yes, getting rejected when you thought the interview went well is very frustrating. But there's little you can do but try to learn from the experience. Think over the interview and see if you can think of things you did wrong. Did you stumble over answers? Say things that in retrospect were not good answers? If so, now you know better for next time. If you can't think of anything you fumbled, well, it was good practice.



                                      Just move on. You gain nothing by complaining except prolonging the aggravation.






                                      share|improve this answer



























                                        1














                                        Is it ethical? I don't see any reason why it would be unethical. But the more important question is, Is it likely to be productive? And the answer to that is, Almost certainly not.



                                        I'm not sure if you mean to call the interviewer to complain or to call his boss. But either way, what do you expect would happen? Do you think you will complain that the interview was unfair and wasted your time, and they'll reply, "Zounds! You're right! We're going to offer you the job after all." No. Most likely they'd shrug and say, "Oh, sorry." At best, you'll just waste more of your time. At worst, you'll annoy them and ruin any chance of getting a job with this company in the future.



                                        And bear in mind, when a company rejects you, the reason they give may or may not be the real reason. When they reject you, they don't want to insult yo. They're not going to say, "We rejected you because we concluded you're an idiot" or "because you smell bad". And they don't want to get into an argument. Often the real reason is vague, like "I have a bad feeling about this guy" or "I don't think he'd fit in our company". But if they say that, then you might say, "Well what's wrong with me? Why don't you think I'd be a good employee?" and they don't have a concrete answer. (And of course if they rejected you for a reason that isn't legal in your jurisdiction, they don't like your race or you let slip something about your politics or religion or whatever that offends them, they're not going to admit that and give you grounds for a lawsuit.) "You don't have enough experience" is simple, doesn't sound nasty, and sounds objective.



                                        Maybe you thought the interviews went very well but they didn't. Yes, getting rejected when you thought the interview went well is very frustrating. But there's little you can do but try to learn from the experience. Think over the interview and see if you can think of things you did wrong. Did you stumble over answers? Say things that in retrospect were not good answers? If so, now you know better for next time. If you can't think of anything you fumbled, well, it was good practice.



                                        Just move on. You gain nothing by complaining except prolonging the aggravation.






                                        share|improve this answer

























                                          1












                                          1








                                          1







                                          Is it ethical? I don't see any reason why it would be unethical. But the more important question is, Is it likely to be productive? And the answer to that is, Almost certainly not.



                                          I'm not sure if you mean to call the interviewer to complain or to call his boss. But either way, what do you expect would happen? Do you think you will complain that the interview was unfair and wasted your time, and they'll reply, "Zounds! You're right! We're going to offer you the job after all." No. Most likely they'd shrug and say, "Oh, sorry." At best, you'll just waste more of your time. At worst, you'll annoy them and ruin any chance of getting a job with this company in the future.



                                          And bear in mind, when a company rejects you, the reason they give may or may not be the real reason. When they reject you, they don't want to insult yo. They're not going to say, "We rejected you because we concluded you're an idiot" or "because you smell bad". And they don't want to get into an argument. Often the real reason is vague, like "I have a bad feeling about this guy" or "I don't think he'd fit in our company". But if they say that, then you might say, "Well what's wrong with me? Why don't you think I'd be a good employee?" and they don't have a concrete answer. (And of course if they rejected you for a reason that isn't legal in your jurisdiction, they don't like your race or you let slip something about your politics or religion or whatever that offends them, they're not going to admit that and give you grounds for a lawsuit.) "You don't have enough experience" is simple, doesn't sound nasty, and sounds objective.



                                          Maybe you thought the interviews went very well but they didn't. Yes, getting rejected when you thought the interview went well is very frustrating. But there's little you can do but try to learn from the experience. Think over the interview and see if you can think of things you did wrong. Did you stumble over answers? Say things that in retrospect were not good answers? If so, now you know better for next time. If you can't think of anything you fumbled, well, it was good practice.



                                          Just move on. You gain nothing by complaining except prolonging the aggravation.






                                          share|improve this answer













                                          Is it ethical? I don't see any reason why it would be unethical. But the more important question is, Is it likely to be productive? And the answer to that is, Almost certainly not.



                                          I'm not sure if you mean to call the interviewer to complain or to call his boss. But either way, what do you expect would happen? Do you think you will complain that the interview was unfair and wasted your time, and they'll reply, "Zounds! You're right! We're going to offer you the job after all." No. Most likely they'd shrug and say, "Oh, sorry." At best, you'll just waste more of your time. At worst, you'll annoy them and ruin any chance of getting a job with this company in the future.



                                          And bear in mind, when a company rejects you, the reason they give may or may not be the real reason. When they reject you, they don't want to insult yo. They're not going to say, "We rejected you because we concluded you're an idiot" or "because you smell bad". And they don't want to get into an argument. Often the real reason is vague, like "I have a bad feeling about this guy" or "I don't think he'd fit in our company". But if they say that, then you might say, "Well what's wrong with me? Why don't you think I'd be a good employee?" and they don't have a concrete answer. (And of course if they rejected you for a reason that isn't legal in your jurisdiction, they don't like your race or you let slip something about your politics or religion or whatever that offends them, they're not going to admit that and give you grounds for a lawsuit.) "You don't have enough experience" is simple, doesn't sound nasty, and sounds objective.



                                          Maybe you thought the interviews went very well but they didn't. Yes, getting rejected when you thought the interview went well is very frustrating. But there's little you can do but try to learn from the experience. Think over the interview and see if you can think of things you did wrong. Did you stumble over answers? Say things that in retrospect were not good answers? If so, now you know better for next time. If you can't think of anything you fumbled, well, it was good practice.



                                          Just move on. You gain nothing by complaining except prolonging the aggravation.







                                          share|improve this answer












                                          share|improve this answer



                                          share|improve this answer










                                          answered Mar 12 at 16:03









                                          JayJay

                                          9,22011632




                                          9,22011632





















                                              1














                                              It is absolutely inappropriate for you to follow through with what you have asked about in the tone you have taken for your question



                                              Do not contact them and cry about the "time you wasted."
                                              If you follow through with this, you would just be confirming their final statement to you that you just do not have the experience they are looking for.



                                              DO



                                              • Reach out to them.

                                              • Address each of them by name.

                                              • Thank them for their consideration.

                                              • Articulate to them that you were hopeful that you would have been the one chosen, state thoughtful 'whys' that illustrate that you were paying attention to them during your 4 interview rounds, and express your disappointment that you will have to wait to work with them

                                              • Professionally implore them to involve you in their thoughts for any future opportunities that may come available.


                                              Be Professional or Be Unemployed




                                              All employment openings are not created equal



                                              You never communicated what type of role this process was for.



                                              There are three fundamental types of employment openings:



                                              • Filling of Vacant/Soon to be Vacant Roles

                                              • Team Expansions

                                              • Need Warm Bodies

                                              When a role is being filled, there are almost always many more specific requirements that a company will be looking for in a candidate. Usually, no one matches perfectly unless a referral is involved and candidates match different subsets of the requirements in different subtle ways.



                                              When a role is being created, the requirements are much more usually set by market conditions rather than arbitrary internal perception of need. For instance, a manager could have read an article about some new technology and they want to spend some of their budget finding someone that can introduce that technology to the team. Or, the departmental FY budget has been set higher than originally anticipated and a manager wants to plow the money back into acquiring talent for the future. There are lots of anecdotal reasons why a company may expand. These are but a couple that immediately come to mind.



                                              What your continued progression through their (lengthy) interviewing process tells you



                                              is that you seemed to be -in their minds at least- consistently above other candidates which were like you; your positive qualities matched their strengths and you were deemed the stronger choice. The other candidates which progressed along with you almost certainly had some skills which overlapped with your own (you were interviewing for the same role, after all) but their experience ticked different boxes on the checklist than yours did.



                                              When it comes time to choose who progresses through interview rounds, there is almost always (except in the most bureaucratic of circumstances) flexibility on the number of people who are allowed to progress and unanimous -or even majority- consent is very rarely required. Progression usually follows simple "patronage" rules where someone in the decision making process considers you worthy of a more detailed look by the team as a whole.



                                              When it comes time to choose the candidate who is deemed the best fit, all of the acquired candidate data is prepared, juxtaposed, compared, contrasted, weighed, and measured.



                                              Then the hiring manager usually consults with the team the candidate will be joining for their opinion on who they believe will be the best fit, then usually makes a unilateral decision.




                                              • If the intention is to fill a vacant role, the candidate with the least perceived risk always wins.

                                              • If the intention is to expand a new role, the candidate with the highest perceived potential always wins.



                                              This is business.



                                              Act like it.






                                              share|improve this answer





























                                                1














                                                It is absolutely inappropriate for you to follow through with what you have asked about in the tone you have taken for your question



                                                Do not contact them and cry about the "time you wasted."
                                                If you follow through with this, you would just be confirming their final statement to you that you just do not have the experience they are looking for.



                                                DO



                                                • Reach out to them.

                                                • Address each of them by name.

                                                • Thank them for their consideration.

                                                • Articulate to them that you were hopeful that you would have been the one chosen, state thoughtful 'whys' that illustrate that you were paying attention to them during your 4 interview rounds, and express your disappointment that you will have to wait to work with them

                                                • Professionally implore them to involve you in their thoughts for any future opportunities that may come available.


                                                Be Professional or Be Unemployed




                                                All employment openings are not created equal



                                                You never communicated what type of role this process was for.



                                                There are three fundamental types of employment openings:



                                                • Filling of Vacant/Soon to be Vacant Roles

                                                • Team Expansions

                                                • Need Warm Bodies

                                                When a role is being filled, there are almost always many more specific requirements that a company will be looking for in a candidate. Usually, no one matches perfectly unless a referral is involved and candidates match different subsets of the requirements in different subtle ways.



                                                When a role is being created, the requirements are much more usually set by market conditions rather than arbitrary internal perception of need. For instance, a manager could have read an article about some new technology and they want to spend some of their budget finding someone that can introduce that technology to the team. Or, the departmental FY budget has been set higher than originally anticipated and a manager wants to plow the money back into acquiring talent for the future. There are lots of anecdotal reasons why a company may expand. These are but a couple that immediately come to mind.



                                                What your continued progression through their (lengthy) interviewing process tells you



                                                is that you seemed to be -in their minds at least- consistently above other candidates which were like you; your positive qualities matched their strengths and you were deemed the stronger choice. The other candidates which progressed along with you almost certainly had some skills which overlapped with your own (you were interviewing for the same role, after all) but their experience ticked different boxes on the checklist than yours did.



                                                When it comes time to choose who progresses through interview rounds, there is almost always (except in the most bureaucratic of circumstances) flexibility on the number of people who are allowed to progress and unanimous -or even majority- consent is very rarely required. Progression usually follows simple "patronage" rules where someone in the decision making process considers you worthy of a more detailed look by the team as a whole.



                                                When it comes time to choose the candidate who is deemed the best fit, all of the acquired candidate data is prepared, juxtaposed, compared, contrasted, weighed, and measured.



                                                Then the hiring manager usually consults with the team the candidate will be joining for their opinion on who they believe will be the best fit, then usually makes a unilateral decision.




                                                • If the intention is to fill a vacant role, the candidate with the least perceived risk always wins.

                                                • If the intention is to expand a new role, the candidate with the highest perceived potential always wins.



                                                This is business.



                                                Act like it.






                                                share|improve this answer



























                                                  1












                                                  1








                                                  1







                                                  It is absolutely inappropriate for you to follow through with what you have asked about in the tone you have taken for your question



                                                  Do not contact them and cry about the "time you wasted."
                                                  If you follow through with this, you would just be confirming their final statement to you that you just do not have the experience they are looking for.



                                                  DO



                                                  • Reach out to them.

                                                  • Address each of them by name.

                                                  • Thank them for their consideration.

                                                  • Articulate to them that you were hopeful that you would have been the one chosen, state thoughtful 'whys' that illustrate that you were paying attention to them during your 4 interview rounds, and express your disappointment that you will have to wait to work with them

                                                  • Professionally implore them to involve you in their thoughts for any future opportunities that may come available.


                                                  Be Professional or Be Unemployed




                                                  All employment openings are not created equal



                                                  You never communicated what type of role this process was for.



                                                  There are three fundamental types of employment openings:



                                                  • Filling of Vacant/Soon to be Vacant Roles

                                                  • Team Expansions

                                                  • Need Warm Bodies

                                                  When a role is being filled, there are almost always many more specific requirements that a company will be looking for in a candidate. Usually, no one matches perfectly unless a referral is involved and candidates match different subsets of the requirements in different subtle ways.



                                                  When a role is being created, the requirements are much more usually set by market conditions rather than arbitrary internal perception of need. For instance, a manager could have read an article about some new technology and they want to spend some of their budget finding someone that can introduce that technology to the team. Or, the departmental FY budget has been set higher than originally anticipated and a manager wants to plow the money back into acquiring talent for the future. There are lots of anecdotal reasons why a company may expand. These are but a couple that immediately come to mind.



                                                  What your continued progression through their (lengthy) interviewing process tells you



                                                  is that you seemed to be -in their minds at least- consistently above other candidates which were like you; your positive qualities matched their strengths and you were deemed the stronger choice. The other candidates which progressed along with you almost certainly had some skills which overlapped with your own (you were interviewing for the same role, after all) but their experience ticked different boxes on the checklist than yours did.



                                                  When it comes time to choose who progresses through interview rounds, there is almost always (except in the most bureaucratic of circumstances) flexibility on the number of people who are allowed to progress and unanimous -or even majority- consent is very rarely required. Progression usually follows simple "patronage" rules where someone in the decision making process considers you worthy of a more detailed look by the team as a whole.



                                                  When it comes time to choose the candidate who is deemed the best fit, all of the acquired candidate data is prepared, juxtaposed, compared, contrasted, weighed, and measured.



                                                  Then the hiring manager usually consults with the team the candidate will be joining for their opinion on who they believe will be the best fit, then usually makes a unilateral decision.




                                                  • If the intention is to fill a vacant role, the candidate with the least perceived risk always wins.

                                                  • If the intention is to expand a new role, the candidate with the highest perceived potential always wins.



                                                  This is business.



                                                  Act like it.






                                                  share|improve this answer















                                                  It is absolutely inappropriate for you to follow through with what you have asked about in the tone you have taken for your question



                                                  Do not contact them and cry about the "time you wasted."
                                                  If you follow through with this, you would just be confirming their final statement to you that you just do not have the experience they are looking for.



                                                  DO



                                                  • Reach out to them.

                                                  • Address each of them by name.

                                                  • Thank them for their consideration.

                                                  • Articulate to them that you were hopeful that you would have been the one chosen, state thoughtful 'whys' that illustrate that you were paying attention to them during your 4 interview rounds, and express your disappointment that you will have to wait to work with them

                                                  • Professionally implore them to involve you in their thoughts for any future opportunities that may come available.


                                                  Be Professional or Be Unemployed




                                                  All employment openings are not created equal



                                                  You never communicated what type of role this process was for.



                                                  There are three fundamental types of employment openings:



                                                  • Filling of Vacant/Soon to be Vacant Roles

                                                  • Team Expansions

                                                  • Need Warm Bodies

                                                  When a role is being filled, there are almost always many more specific requirements that a company will be looking for in a candidate. Usually, no one matches perfectly unless a referral is involved and candidates match different subsets of the requirements in different subtle ways.



                                                  When a role is being created, the requirements are much more usually set by market conditions rather than arbitrary internal perception of need. For instance, a manager could have read an article about some new technology and they want to spend some of their budget finding someone that can introduce that technology to the team. Or, the departmental FY budget has been set higher than originally anticipated and a manager wants to plow the money back into acquiring talent for the future. There are lots of anecdotal reasons why a company may expand. These are but a couple that immediately come to mind.



                                                  What your continued progression through their (lengthy) interviewing process tells you



                                                  is that you seemed to be -in their minds at least- consistently above other candidates which were like you; your positive qualities matched their strengths and you were deemed the stronger choice. The other candidates which progressed along with you almost certainly had some skills which overlapped with your own (you were interviewing for the same role, after all) but their experience ticked different boxes on the checklist than yours did.



                                                  When it comes time to choose who progresses through interview rounds, there is almost always (except in the most bureaucratic of circumstances) flexibility on the number of people who are allowed to progress and unanimous -or even majority- consent is very rarely required. Progression usually follows simple "patronage" rules where someone in the decision making process considers you worthy of a more detailed look by the team as a whole.



                                                  When it comes time to choose the candidate who is deemed the best fit, all of the acquired candidate data is prepared, juxtaposed, compared, contrasted, weighed, and measured.



                                                  Then the hiring manager usually consults with the team the candidate will be joining for their opinion on who they believe will be the best fit, then usually makes a unilateral decision.




                                                  • If the intention is to fill a vacant role, the candidate with the least perceived risk always wins.

                                                  • If the intention is to expand a new role, the candidate with the highest perceived potential always wins.



                                                  This is business.



                                                  Act like it.







                                                  share|improve this answer














                                                  share|improve this answer



                                                  share|improve this answer








                                                  edited yesterday

























                                                  answered 2 days ago









                                                  K. Alan BatesK. Alan Bates

                                                  50027




                                                  50027





















                                                      0














                                                      After being rejected, you can ask to meet the manager you had contact with to discuss the interviews. The worst that can happen is they say no. However, your rejection for this job is final, and to have a chance at talking to him you should make clear that you understand that and you're not trying to change that result. Treat it like networking.



                                                      Personally I have done so in the past, when an interview at a company didn't work out I asked the director if I could just come by and talk to him about his views on the job market in town and his opinion of my skills. It was a very useful discussion to me and also to them, as a few years later I gave someone a tip to apply there who was a perfect fit and who still works there.



                                                      Nowadays I would connect to the team lead on LinkedIn, and if he accepts send a message with something like "Hey, shame it didn't work out but so it goes. I was thinking, could I maybe come by for a cup of coffee one of these days, to get some clarity on how my interviewing went?".



                                                      And then who knows.






                                                      share|improve this answer



























                                                        0














                                                        After being rejected, you can ask to meet the manager you had contact with to discuss the interviews. The worst that can happen is they say no. However, your rejection for this job is final, and to have a chance at talking to him you should make clear that you understand that and you're not trying to change that result. Treat it like networking.



                                                        Personally I have done so in the past, when an interview at a company didn't work out I asked the director if I could just come by and talk to him about his views on the job market in town and his opinion of my skills. It was a very useful discussion to me and also to them, as a few years later I gave someone a tip to apply there who was a perfect fit and who still works there.



                                                        Nowadays I would connect to the team lead on LinkedIn, and if he accepts send a message with something like "Hey, shame it didn't work out but so it goes. I was thinking, could I maybe come by for a cup of coffee one of these days, to get some clarity on how my interviewing went?".



                                                        And then who knows.






                                                        share|improve this answer

























                                                          0












                                                          0








                                                          0







                                                          After being rejected, you can ask to meet the manager you had contact with to discuss the interviews. The worst that can happen is they say no. However, your rejection for this job is final, and to have a chance at talking to him you should make clear that you understand that and you're not trying to change that result. Treat it like networking.



                                                          Personally I have done so in the past, when an interview at a company didn't work out I asked the director if I could just come by and talk to him about his views on the job market in town and his opinion of my skills. It was a very useful discussion to me and also to them, as a few years later I gave someone a tip to apply there who was a perfect fit and who still works there.



                                                          Nowadays I would connect to the team lead on LinkedIn, and if he accepts send a message with something like "Hey, shame it didn't work out but so it goes. I was thinking, could I maybe come by for a cup of coffee one of these days, to get some clarity on how my interviewing went?".



                                                          And then who knows.






                                                          share|improve this answer













                                                          After being rejected, you can ask to meet the manager you had contact with to discuss the interviews. The worst that can happen is they say no. However, your rejection for this job is final, and to have a chance at talking to him you should make clear that you understand that and you're not trying to change that result. Treat it like networking.



                                                          Personally I have done so in the past, when an interview at a company didn't work out I asked the director if I could just come by and talk to him about his views on the job market in town and his opinion of my skills. It was a very useful discussion to me and also to them, as a few years later I gave someone a tip to apply there who was a perfect fit and who still works there.



                                                          Nowadays I would connect to the team lead on LinkedIn, and if he accepts send a message with something like "Hey, shame it didn't work out but so it goes. I was thinking, could I maybe come by for a cup of coffee one of these days, to get some clarity on how my interviewing went?".



                                                          And then who knows.







                                                          share|improve this answer












                                                          share|improve this answer



                                                          share|improve this answer










                                                          answered Mar 14 at 14:07









                                                          RemcoGerlichRemcoGerlich

                                                          3,6951119




                                                          3,6951119





















                                                              -2














                                                              Be flattered that you got the interview in the first place knowing you didn't meet all of the criteria. You went in with your eyes open. Be proud that you went so far in the interview person before your inexperience showed. You should go into future Interviews with great confidence.



                                                              They told you the truth, that in the end you couldn't overcome your lack experience at this time.



                                                              Send a gracious thank you letter for the opportunity to the company. Your recruiter did you a favor at the expense of their time.



                                                              I have a son going through the same interview experiences. He has less than 2 years experience and is thankful for all opportunities. I myself got my first job via a recruiter just out of school with a master's degree and only part-time experience at a prominent company. I never would have had the opportunity if they didn't take a chance on me even without the experience required.






                                                              share|improve this answer










                                                              New contributor




                                                              Linda is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                                                              Check out our Code of Conduct.















                                                              • 1





                                                                I think this would be more applicable if the OP knew when they were applying that they didn't have the amount of experience they were looking for but it sounds like they didn't. The question makes it sound like the 4th interview was the first time they heard they didn't meet a minimum qualification. Also, the recruiter's job is to find candidates. That's not doing a favor, that's them doing their job.

                                                                – BSMP
                                                                2 days ago















                                                              -2














                                                              Be flattered that you got the interview in the first place knowing you didn't meet all of the criteria. You went in with your eyes open. Be proud that you went so far in the interview person before your inexperience showed. You should go into future Interviews with great confidence.



                                                              They told you the truth, that in the end you couldn't overcome your lack experience at this time.



                                                              Send a gracious thank you letter for the opportunity to the company. Your recruiter did you a favor at the expense of their time.



                                                              I have a son going through the same interview experiences. He has less than 2 years experience and is thankful for all opportunities. I myself got my first job via a recruiter just out of school with a master's degree and only part-time experience at a prominent company. I never would have had the opportunity if they didn't take a chance on me even without the experience required.






                                                              share|improve this answer










                                                              New contributor




                                                              Linda is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                                                              Check out our Code of Conduct.















                                                              • 1





                                                                I think this would be more applicable if the OP knew when they were applying that they didn't have the amount of experience they were looking for but it sounds like they didn't. The question makes it sound like the 4th interview was the first time they heard they didn't meet a minimum qualification. Also, the recruiter's job is to find candidates. That's not doing a favor, that's them doing their job.

                                                                – BSMP
                                                                2 days ago













                                                              -2












                                                              -2








                                                              -2







                                                              Be flattered that you got the interview in the first place knowing you didn't meet all of the criteria. You went in with your eyes open. Be proud that you went so far in the interview person before your inexperience showed. You should go into future Interviews with great confidence.



                                                              They told you the truth, that in the end you couldn't overcome your lack experience at this time.



                                                              Send a gracious thank you letter for the opportunity to the company. Your recruiter did you a favor at the expense of their time.



                                                              I have a son going through the same interview experiences. He has less than 2 years experience and is thankful for all opportunities. I myself got my first job via a recruiter just out of school with a master's degree and only part-time experience at a prominent company. I never would have had the opportunity if they didn't take a chance on me even without the experience required.






                                                              share|improve this answer










                                                              New contributor




                                                              Linda is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                                                              Check out our Code of Conduct.










                                                              Be flattered that you got the interview in the first place knowing you didn't meet all of the criteria. You went in with your eyes open. Be proud that you went so far in the interview person before your inexperience showed. You should go into future Interviews with great confidence.



                                                              They told you the truth, that in the end you couldn't overcome your lack experience at this time.



                                                              Send a gracious thank you letter for the opportunity to the company. Your recruiter did you a favor at the expense of their time.



                                                              I have a son going through the same interview experiences. He has less than 2 years experience and is thankful for all opportunities. I myself got my first job via a recruiter just out of school with a master's degree and only part-time experience at a prominent company. I never would have had the opportunity if they didn't take a chance on me even without the experience required.







                                                              share|improve this answer










                                                              New contributor




                                                              Linda is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                                                              Check out our Code of Conduct.









                                                              share|improve this answer



                                                              share|improve this answer








                                                              edited Mar 13 at 16:00





















                                                              New contributor




                                                              Linda is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                                                              Check out our Code of Conduct.









                                                              answered Mar 13 at 14:32









                                                              LindaLinda

                                                              12




                                                              12




                                                              New contributor




                                                              Linda is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                                                              Check out our Code of Conduct.





                                                              New contributor





                                                              Linda is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                                                              Check out our Code of Conduct.






                                                              Linda is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
                                                              Check out our Code of Conduct.







                                                              • 1





                                                                I think this would be more applicable if the OP knew when they were applying that they didn't have the amount of experience they were looking for but it sounds like they didn't. The question makes it sound like the 4th interview was the first time they heard they didn't meet a minimum qualification. Also, the recruiter's job is to find candidates. That's not doing a favor, that's them doing their job.

                                                                – BSMP
                                                                2 days ago












                                                              • 1





                                                                I think this would be more applicable if the OP knew when they were applying that they didn't have the amount of experience they were looking for but it sounds like they didn't. The question makes it sound like the 4th interview was the first time they heard they didn't meet a minimum qualification. Also, the recruiter's job is to find candidates. That's not doing a favor, that's them doing their job.

                                                                – BSMP
                                                                2 days ago







                                                              1




                                                              1





                                                              I think this would be more applicable if the OP knew when they were applying that they didn't have the amount of experience they were looking for but it sounds like they didn't. The question makes it sound like the 4th interview was the first time they heard they didn't meet a minimum qualification. Also, the recruiter's job is to find candidates. That's not doing a favor, that's them doing their job.

                                                              – BSMP
                                                              2 days ago





                                                              I think this would be more applicable if the OP knew when they were applying that they didn't have the amount of experience they were looking for but it sounds like they didn't. The question makes it sound like the 4th interview was the first time they heard they didn't meet a minimum qualification. Also, the recruiter's job is to find candidates. That's not doing a favor, that's them doing their job.

                                                              – BSMP
                                                              2 days ago



                                                              -hiring, hiring-process, interviewing, software-industry

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