FAQ: ‘I’m getting interviews but not getting offers. What’s going on?’

This is one of the most common questions I see - you are not alone.

First, congratulations on getting interviews! This is the real win. Getting an interview means that the hiring committee thinks you are qualified for the job. You can be confident that your application materials (resume, cover letter, supplemental questions, etc.) are in good shape. Well done!

From here, the game changes dramatically. You are now one of several qualified people who are all perfectly capable of doing the job. Let me say that again: if you are being interviewed, they think you can do the job. Your goal is now to be the one person who stands out to the committee as being the best person for the job.

This is both great and terrible news.

It's obviously great that they think you're capable. On paper, you have the skills and qualifications they are looking for. You might even have a little something that they weren't expecting to find in their applicant pool but were delighted to discover in you.

The terrible part is that you have no idea what criteria they will use to decide who - of the several qualified applicants - is the one they want. Happily (as it is impossible anyway) you don't need to know what criteria they are using.

Your job is to be the best you can possibly be; to articulate clearly and succinctly who you are as an employee, why you do what you do, and to demonstrate how you are a great fit for the position. 

My approach to interview preparation is based on the premise that we can't know what they will ask or what their decision-making heuristic might be - but we CAN be prepared to speak effectively about ourselves regardless of the question.

We can feel confident that we have put our best selves forward in each interview.

A corollary to this question is ‘I was so qualified, why didn’t I get an interview?’ The answer is similar: You didn’t get an interview because you weren’t one of the handful of people who were the best fit for the job based on their application materials. 

It doesn’t mean that you weren’t qualified, and it doesn’t mean that you wouldn’t have been able to do the job even if you weren’t qualified. All it means is that there were enough people who were better qualified that you didn’t make the cut. It means nothing about you. Not being one of the most qualified applicants isn’t a reflection on you. Let me repeat that:

Not getting an interview for a given job says nothing about you. 

The reality is that if you aren’t getting interviewed, it’s because you simply weren’t one of the most qualified applicants. If you have the required three years of experience, they had a dozen candidates with eight years of experience. If you have the required bachelors’ degree, they had a dozen candidates with graduate degrees. If you’ve directed a similar initiative at a small college, they had plenty of candidates who’ve directed more impactful initiatives at R1 institutions. Again, though, this is not a reflection on you. 

That being said, it might mean that your application materials didn’t effectively communicate that you were qualified. Your resume might be full of cliched filler words. Your cover letter might not have addressed each point of the job posting. You might have used generative AI without editing it yourself. These are things you can address - perhaps with the support of a coach?! - because they are within your control.

There are a few other possible factors, of course: Maybe they stopped looking at applications after they compiled enough to get started with. Maybe they had an internal candidate and were going through the motions of a full search. Maybe they hated your hairdo - or your socks. Maybe you were too friendly - or not friendly enough. 

These kinds of things are all over the social internet, probably because they kind of make us feel better, but I think they get way too much airtime. There’s absolutely no way of knowing what’s going on behind the scenes or inside their heads, so I don’t recommend wasting energy on these unknowable unknowns.

Other possible factors, like name-based discrimination, are well-established phenomena that don’t get nearly enough attention. Studies consistently demonstrate that applications with female-coded and nonwhite-coded names are routinely evaluated less favorably than applications with male- and white-coded names. Of course, it’s infuriatingly rare to have actionable evidence that discrimination is the reason your application materials didn’t make the cut in any given situation, so there isn’t usually a productive way to put energy in that direction either.

So, how to proceed? For factors beyond your control, all I (or anyone) can offer is empathetic support for navigating a discriminatory world in the way that feels safest and most authentic to you.

Meanwhile, address factors that are within your control.

Develop and practice your professional person - how you move through the world effectively and with authenticity.

If you’re not getting interviews, sharpen your approach: Apply to strategically chosen jobs, maintain a sustainable job hunting pace, maximize the effectiveness of your application materials, prepare thoroughly for interviews, and so on.

If you are getting interviews but not making the final cut, raise the bar for yourself with interviews: if you aren’t leaving each interview knowing that you put your best foot forward no matter what they decide, there’s room to hone your skills.

Add energy to your interview prep; know who you are as a professional, get comfortable enough talking about yourself that you can answer any question, and develop the confidence to treat the interview as a conversation. 

If you're not sure how to make this happen, I've got you! My interview prep program is designed exactly for you.

If you're intrigued by the possibility of becoming a confident interviewee, congratulations again! You’re ready to grow.

To explore if I’m the right person to support you, please feel free to book a free call here.