Great interview, great presentation, but didn't get the job

B

BillK

Registered User
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My niece went over to Dublin for an interview for a fairly senior job with an organisation which shall remain nameless.

She returned home to England and in the fullness of time had a letter to say that she was not successful and gave her a phone number to ring if she wanted feedback on why.

She rang, of course, and during the conversation was told that her interview was the best as was the presentation that she made, but that her application form was poor. (My italics) She was then asked if she would be interested in a similar post based in Cork and on saying yes was told that they would send the appropriate details.

I should point out that she neglected to say that she is of Irish descent and that her partner's uncle is a Minister in the present government (not that this would have made any difference I'm sure).

I would welcome any comments or guidance that I could pass on to the dear girl.
 
What exactly is your query-should she take the job, whether not giving her the first job was fair or how she should approach this new interview process?
Personally if I was interviewing someone and they told me their boyfriend's uncle was a Minister I'd rule them out straight away for a lack of common sense.
 
KalEl said:
Personally if I was interviewing someone and they told me their boyfriend's uncle was a Minister I'd rule them out straight away for a lack of common sense.
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I agree, by the way why is she not good enough for a position in one branch and good enough for the same position (i assume) in another branch??
 
It seems fairly straightforward to me.

She applied for a job. She was good, but there were better applicants for the job, so she did not get the job.

There might be fewer applicants for the same job in Cork.

She might also have not been good, but they don't want to tell her that.

Brendan
 
Why is the fact that she is of Irish descent and related to a minister even relevant for the query or am I missing something?
 
Hi Billk,
I sympathise with your daughter, I have done sooooooo many interviews (I was temporary in the public sector ) for public sector jobs and had a strong CV with strong experience but I was not offered positions.

The more interviews I did the better my technique, but alas.
Sometimes things dont go your way and you are left wondering why.
Try not to take things too hard, the right job will come, interviews are a win/ win situation - if you dont get the job you get great experience in doing interviews (this in itself is a skill), if you do get the job - great!

In my own personal experience, I decided to take my skills else where, and got a great job, better money, conditions, prospects.

Best of luck
 
Lauren said:
Why is the fact that she is of Irish descent and related to a minister even relevant for the query or am I missing something?
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I could make a comment but I won't........
 
Personally if I was interviewing someone and they told me their boyfriend's uncle was a Minister I'd rule them out straight away for a lack of common sense.
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I would too.
They should be far more subtle than that about it.
 
Do you think that because her partner's uncle is a minister, then she has a better entitlement to the job than an ordinary person???

I have no 'contacts'. Despite being well educated, and having good experience, I have always struggled to get jobs. It seems the jobs are given to people who are 'better connected' than me.

I hate the way some people think the world owes them a living, and they can bypass the queue just because of who they are.

If I heard of an applicant making it known that they had 'connections' I would rule them out at the application stage. It shows they don't want to compete fair and square with everyone else, and are just looking for an easy life.
 
Saying explicitly that you had "contacts" or even dropping heavy hints could well fall foul of the "no canvassing" rules that apply to most or all public/civil service and semi-state jobs in case that's relevant here. (It's not clear from the original post whether it was a public or private sector job interview).
 
buzybee said:
If I heard of an applicant making it known that they had 'connections' I would rule them out at the application stage. It shows they don't want to compete fair and square with everyone else, and are just looking for an easy life.
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Making it known you have connections is bad enough...but when they're pretty tenuous it's just ridiculous.
Besides, how do you know if the interviewer is a Jedi or a Sith?
 
for starters if you haev put together a crap App. Form with say bad grammer/bad quality writing/poor content then no matter how well you do in actual interview you're fighting an uphill battle.
 
Hi Clubman / Kalie
Making it known you have connections is bad enough...but when they're pretty tenuous it's just ridiculous.
Besides, how do you know if the interviewer is a Jedi or a Sith?
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I think if you read the OP
I should point out that she neglected to say that she is of Irish descent and that her partner's uncle is a Minister in the present government (not that this would have made any difference I'm sure).
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I dont think the interview told them who she was related to. However it is not clear

And as regards, to a crap application form, if it was that bad they would not have interviewed her in the first place.

My advise to the OP, is learn what you can for interviews, you are putting yourself out there so knock back are tough but are all part of the game.
P
 
If this is a senior position, then it should be a given that she has excellent written communication skills, and obviously this did not come across on her application form. Therefore, no matter how well she presented at the interview, the panel obviously felt that written communication skills were a core competency for this post...
 
Hello

Maybe the applicant for the job should have had her uncle do the interview for her in the first place, in the same way as he is seeking advice in this forum on her behalf.

SM
 
I think the point (although I must admit not well made) that the interviewers didn't know that she had links to Ireland before offering her a job in Ireland, but not the one in the UK.

Personally I would imagine that if (a) the story is true - best interview etc. yet they didn't offer her the job, I wouldn't want to work for a company like that anyway (b) they simply were fobbing her off and the interview wasn't so hot (c) they could get someone nearer/cheaper who did a good but not outstanding interview...could be a million and one things.
 
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