What's the right thing to do when you get an interview, are told you are in the running, get that dreaded rejection letter, and later see the same position being advertised again?
Rejection is Hard, But Seeing the Same Position Advertised is even Harder
Q. I need some advise**. I recently applied for a position that I was very qualified. I had both a telephone interview and a face-to-face interview which went very well and was later e-mailed that I was a possible candidate. But... I was sent a reject e-mail a couple of weeks after.
Now the same company has posted the same job again. I was wondering if I should contact the HR person via e-mail who originally contacted me? What would you say in this e-mail? By the way, I'm 49 years old so I'm in that "iffy" category on hiring.
Thank you in advance for your response.
The Right Way is to Contact HR and Ask if Should Reapply
A. YES! There is nothing wrong in contacting HR again about a position you were told you had a chance of obtaining. There are many reasons you received a rejection letter, and then see the position advertised again. The first one is that the company had some internal problems – be it business-wise or a conflict of managers/plans. The job may be been taken off the market – meaning the company decided it could not at that time pursue getting a candidate. Later on, the conflict or problem was over, and the need to hire someone for that position was again on centre stage – so again it is advertised. That does not make it any easier on getting a negative response to your interviews though.
Good Business Etiquette Means You Can Follow Up
There is nothing wrong in contacting HR about the position, and in fact there's everything right in contacting them – it shows you are following up. If the person you were dealing with is still there, ask them if you should reapply for the job, or if s/he could tell you what you need to improve on to get a similar position. By doing it this way, you are allowing the person to gracefully explain why you are not the right candidate, or be allowed to reapply. This is just good business etiquette. Your resume/application may have been lost in the shuffle, or the person you originally spoke to may not be working on that particular position.
It's also very possible you are not the right candidate, but instead of saying that, the company sent out a standard "we filled the position". Recognizing that you still want a job, do you really want to work at a company that treats people so poorly as to lie to them rather than truthfully say you are not quite what they are looking for?
And don't think of yourself as 49, but as a person with experience and maturity. Yes, there ARE companies looking for exactly those qualities.
Good luck!
**Note - all letters are reprinted as received (typos and grammatical errors) but names and other identifying details are deleted.
Paym Bergson - Paym Bergson - freelance entrepreneur & career coach with extensive experience working in the educational/professional development ...
Join the Conversation