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Advice: Politely Persistent vs Arrogantly Pushy in Job Rejection Reply

Rhiannon135·Oct 28, 2020

Need advice on follow-up to a rejected job role: I've been eyeing a start-up for 3 yrs that I know I could contribute immensely to given my specialized skill set in digitizing supply chains. I was able to connect to two team members earlier this year who indicated they would be growing in the fall and to keep checking back since I was a good fit. I saw a job role posted on their website and my experience not only matched, but exceed the the description. When I got in contact with the team lead hiring for the role I was told they were impressed with my resume but had more qualified applicants and would not be proceeding with me. I really feel there are few people who would thrive in the role like me and I'm tempted to send a politely persistent follow-up reply with a few solutions/partnerships I could bring to the role and help the company succeed. I dont want to come off arrogant and pushy though, any advice on how this could be worded and if you would appreciate a reply like that?

ZarahAhmed·Oct 28, 2020

Hi Rhiannon I would ask for feedback, see if they can give you some insight on what skills/ experience you’re missing or that the other candidates have, so you can apply again in future.It could be the case that they have a priority list of skills and some candidates have more than others or even that you could demonstrate your experience more so on your CV/ profile. Hope that helps!

Chia39·Oct 28, 2020

@ZarahAhmed really helpful! In your recruiting experience, do you look for any red flags indicating an applicant is being arrogant vs genuinely supportive and ambitious?

ZarahAhmed·Oct 28, 2020

I think to avoid being arrogant you need to find out the main requirement for the role: is it the skills or the team fit or do they just need anyone that can do the job well? It’s hard to say a candidate can do the job well just going off a job description or a CV. Sometimes clients could say they’re interested in 5 key skills on a job description but actually they could have a favourite so if you have 4 out of the 5 skills they might still not consider your profile, because they value the 1 skill you haven’t gained yet. Asking for advice on what’s important to them always helps, or even researching about the company and seeing what skills they’ll need in future for their projects!

amrosnik·Oct 28, 2020

I think you should respond to them with specifics about solutions or partnerships you could bring to the role. You have a lot of skills to showcase, and it's clear you've done your homework. That way it's clear you don't just want the job, but also you show how interested you are in them particular. If someone contacted me like this, it would pique my interest.I don't have a lot of advice for how to word this, but in general I'd say: -- be very specific about what you bring to the role, both solutions and partnerships-- back up those suggestions with an ironclad making a case for yourself-- discuss anything in your resume that they may not have taken as seriously, especially if the team lead addressed something specific in your resume-- don't say anything super aggressive and arrogant, like "how dare you look me over" -- maybe don't mention you've been eyeing them for three years, but bring up how you have been watching them progress. Maybe vaguely suggest you have recently seen how well they are doing in X domain, and that motivated you to apply to the role? I'm not sure how to disclose that you've been interested for a while, and/or if you've been in contact with team members earlier this year. (idk, just spitballing here)Hopefully this helps!

Rhiannon135·Oct 29, 2020

Appreciate the suggestion of "watching them progress" and citing specifics about the motivating factors

HannahBaldovino·Oct 28, 2020

Ah this sounds so frustrating! I've only been on the recruiting end for a short period of time. But I would say, for me personally, I don't know if there is really any way to respond to a rejection without coming off a certain way. There are a lot of reasons that you may not know of as to why they aren't moving forward with you (for now) that go way beyond qualifications. If it were me, I would let them know I was grateful for the opportunity, and ask what I can do to ensure I say on top of their minds for the next position and I would make sure I keep that relationship warm. Maybe if there are other folks within that company you can connect with as well, that could help. Good luck!

Rhiannon135·Oct 29, 2020

"ask what I can do to ensure I say on top of their minds for the next position" great suggestion!

Tiffaney98·Oct 28, 2020

I'm a recruiter at a tech company, and I personally do not appreciate any follow ups. A lot of time is spent into making the decision - multiple rounds of interviews, discussion with team, how you perform during technical/nontechnical interviews. The decision is almost always final when they send rejection emails, and there's little change you can have by following up because the person interviewing you isn't the only decision maker. There's a super fine line here but I've never had a candidate successfully convince me/the team to reinterview them or give them another chance. However, what I do appreciate is candidates following up with me for feedback on their resume or interview performance. In these cases, I spend time on their review, and I also have them add me on LinkedIn. This keeps the candidates fresh in my head, and I can also readily search for them when we do start to hire. If the recruiter does not offer their LinkedIn, you can offer yours and say something along the lines of "I would love to stay in touch with you and follow your progress at X company". Good luck and keep persisting! :)

Rhiannon135·Oct 29, 2020

Thanks! Will certainly take the suggestion of connecting on LinkedIn to stay fresh in their mind

shreyajaya·Oct 29, 2020

I recently had a similar experience where I was extremely interested in an organization and wanted to be a part of their journey, contributing with my skill sets. I was following the organization's growth since almost 1.5 years. That gave me a little idea on the years of experience and skill sets they desired for. I also had a failure in 1 interview of the company. However, a couple of things helped me to crack it in the next opportunity: 1. Detailed idea of what does the company do and it's products (relevant for my role as product manager) 2. Competitors and it's future growth areas it has focussed upon 3. Are they still exciting to me? A self cross-check 4. Understand what does the company look for in a product person and do I posses all the skills now 5. Prepared an analysis document regarding the relevant area for which the next opening was 6. Shared the document along with the resume to showcase my fundamental research and understanding as well as my strengths My preparation helped me in getting a call and crack 5 rounds of interview to finally get the offer. I think it was not 1 of the above steps, but all of them which helped me. Because my deep dive also helped me in my performance during various stages of interview. Needless to say, that I also totally enjoyed the process and the learnings I got, while discussing various points with the leadership team of the organisation during the interviews.

danielagduca·Oct 29, 2020

I would follow up if it helped me find out what I could do better or what other skills would be useful for this type of role, and especially if I genuinely knew a specific thing I could help that company with; and of course would definitely recommend keeping the relationship warm. Although I agree with others replying in this chain that a lot of time goes into the hiring process, this summer I ran 40 interviews to hire for only 2 positions, that was a lot of my time - I did appreciate the people who followed up with me. And I was glad to help with the exact feedback as to why I didn't hire them. I don't think it's useful to say there were other candidates more qualified, it is probably more useful to give feedback on the areas the person applying is lacking and what would have made them the ideal candidate. When I had a new role this month, the people that I reached out to where those that replied and asked for feedback - that shows that you are genuinely interested in the role, you are also welcoming feedback and want to get better at what you do and you are never too busy to make yourself better in every way. And that's the kind of person I want to hire!