Reasons employers reject job applicants

by kristyann 27 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Buster

  
  I have done a lot of hiring and firing in my career in IT. Let me throw a few at you.

  Face-to-face interview:

  - Too nervous. If someone doesn't act like they know they can do the job, they don't get it.

  - Too talkative. I know someone mentioned this. But when someone tries to take too much control of the interview, it feels like they are trying to keep you from asking the hard questions.

  - Too friendly. We aren't buddies. Don't try to act like you're going to come in and take over the place with your personality.

  - "I can do anything" attitude. No you can't, and you're not going to learn that here. I want to know what you can't do as well.

  - Candidate doesn't trust me. This is little more obscure. I know you want the job. My job is to find a candidate. If you cannot do the job, we all fail. I need to make an honest assessment of what you will work well in. If you hold back, squirm, try to answer what I want to hear, instead of the truth, I will know.

  - Pretty much any 'tude. If you don't behave during an interview, I'm not letting you loose on my employees and clients.

  - Husband called me. Okay, this only happened once. But I was ready to make an offer to a woman that I was sure was a decent fit. Then her husband called me to discuss the terms. He wasn't all that heavy handed, mostly he was pretty reasonable. But I pulled that offer sheet and trashed it. (Some of the women in the office were pretty mad at me for that.)

  - ANY of the references are not enthusiastic. If this person can't find 3 people to speak well of him, he's gone.

  Rejection before the interview (resume)

  Once on a plane I saw an HR person reviewing resumes. He must have had a stack of 300. I learned a lot on that flight. Each resume got somewhere in the vicinity of 3 seconds before he decided which pile to put it in. I do that. So:

  - Too long. The resume is to get the interview. Leave some for the intervewi. One page for the short-experience types. Two for the longer-termers. Only the exceptional, scientific or top executive should consider longer. (I make the occasional exception for Indians. In their culture they have a longer is better resume attitude. I've seen ten-page resumes for entry-level candidates. You can't get a concise resume out of them. And in my industry, you don't want to skip over the Indians.)

  - Too General. Don't spend much on what the company did, or what the project was. I want to know what you did.

  - Too flowery. Just tell me about you, no pictures, diagrams or fancy layouts.

  - Sounds like a democrat (okay, I just made that up)
• 

  ballistic

  Under "Computing Skills" do not include card games that came with Windows95

  "no fixed abode" as address.

  "necrophilia" as the only item in additional interests.

  Hannibal Lectar as your only reference.
• 

  G Money

  Here are my top ones:
  
  Late to the interview
  Lying on the resume or application
  Bad reference from past employer
  Too many jobs in a short period of time, i.e. 4 or 5 jobs in 2 years.
  Badmouthing a prior employer.
  Demanding a high salart not commensurate with experience
• 

  kristyann

  Wow... you guys are great. I can't believe anyone actually bothered to respond to this. You all are so helpful and really pull through for me always and I appreciate. If anyone else wants to respond, go right ahead... I'd love to hear more, but if not, that's okay, too.... I just thought it would be inappropriate if I didn't thank everyone who already responded.

  THANK YOU ALL!!!! I really appreciate it and I will be using most of those answers.

  Thanks for the amusing ones, too, ballistic.... and also to the story about the guy with the boots in her face, haha!
• 

  observador

  Buster, you can't imagine how timely those tips were for me. I'm looking for a job right now. Thank you. Observador.
• 

  JeffT

  I've done a fair amount of hiring over the years and I agree with what's been said so far.

  Here is a tough one but be ready for it: "What is your biggest weakness?"

  Here was my answer last time it was asked (about a month ago, and yes I got the job). "I sometimes have trouble supervising employees. I'm very self-starting and demanding of myself and I tend to expect others to have the same habits. I've taken some classes in managing people, and I'm always looking to hone my skills in this area. I try to stay aware that I need to improve."

  Telling the interviewer you don't have any weaknesses is a ticket to the door. Your are either a liar, an idiot or a jerk. Or all three.
• 

  littlerockguy

  Im in the process of reviewing resumes and applications as well but I reject those:

  Inconsistencies on resumes and applications

  Too many gaps in employment history

  Too many jobs in short amount of time can suggest someone who is unstable

  No job history or past educational background relating to the job requirement

  Sloppy and not enough information on resume
• 

  MsMcDucket

  And don't forget these reasons:

  Age

  Sex

  Race

  Religious affiliation

  Disability

  Veteran of a war

  ---

  An Oakland police officer who was denied a promotion to captain after becoming pregnant won $2 million in damages from a federal court jury Friday in her discrimination suit against the city.

  http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/02/25/BAGT5HEPC21.DTL

  ---

  Job Interview Questions That You Can and Can't Ask Under the ADA

  The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is the federal agency that enforces the ADA. According to the EEOC, you should never ask the following questions in a job interview: Have you ever had or been treated for any of the following conditions or diseases? (Followed by a checklist of various diseases or conditions.) List any conditions or diseases for which you have been treated in the past three years. Have you ever been hospitalized? If so, for what condition? Have you ever been treated by a psychologist or psychiatrist? If so, for what? Have you ever been treated for any mental condition? Do you suffer from any health-related condition that might prevent you from performing this job? Have you had any major illnesses in the past five years? How many days were you absent from work because of illness last year? (You may, however, tell the applicant what your attendance requirements are and then ask whether he or she will be able to meet those requirements.) Do you have any physical defects that preclude you from doing certain types of things? Do you have any disabilities or impairments that might affect your ability to do the job? Are you taking any prescribed drugs? Have you ever been treated for drug addiction or alcoholism? Have you ever filed a worker's compensation claim? According to the EEOC, you may ask the following questions in a job interview: Can you perform all of the job functions? How would you perform the job functions? (If you want to ask any applicant this question, you should ask all applicants this question.) Can you meet my attendance requirements? What are your professional certifications and licenses? Do you currently use illegal drugs? http://www.nolo.com/article.cfm/objectID/70980BA4-7332-4847-B5C3FA3837DC4E26/111/259/231/ART/ News from Britain and Ireland Gay man denied job as chaplain to seafarers A gay man is taking legal action against a Catholic charity which he alleges withdrew a job offer on the grounds that he was in a homosexual relationship. http://www.thetablet.co.uk/100404homenews.shtml
• 

  rebel8

  1. Because they didn't bother to research the company ahead of time and that became obvious during the interview.

  2. Because the decision-maker already has a candidate picked out and is just doing interviews to satisfy requirements (EOE or internal policies/rules that say you must consider X # of candidates). This in my experience has been the primary reason, extremely frustrating to waste my time in this manner. I have rejected candidates for obvious lies during the interview, one for actually falling asleep, wearing provocative clothes, wearing slovenly clothes (sleeper wore dirty sweat pants), nonstop chatter, making inappropriate jokes about the clientele, and having lack of basic knowledge/skills needed. One for answering a question the wrong way.....question: "Why are you interested in working in a psychiatric hospital?".....answer: "I have an eating disorder and I thought I might be able to learn how to treat myself by working here instead of going to therapy." Allrightythen, I'm sure the patients will appreciate you manipulating them to meet your own needs. Oh and one for asking lots of questions about pay and benefits at the onset of the interview, which ended up going poorly. I answered the basic questions but she pressed for more details. I said we will discuss this if I offer you the job, which will not be today since I need to interview other candidates and check your references--we do not need to go into such detail today. She then marched up to HR and demanded to meet with someone to review her benefits and gave them the false impression she had been hired. She took up an hour of time in HR without an appointment.

  www.workforce.com is a good site for researching these types of things.
• 

  MsMcDucket

  I just thought of some other reasons. You, probably, all ready know all of the reasons that I've listed, but just in case you don't...

  Not having a work visa

  Not having a social security number

  Having been convicted of a felony

  Being dishonorably discharged from the military

  Not having a license in a profession that requires one