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I posted a few months back about my career stallout and job search. As an update,
Since late October, Ive applied for about 80 jobs. Of those I've gotten about 14 recruiter conversations. Of those I withdrew once for salary, and got to about 7 full interviews.
I got rejected in all seven, and told explicitly in two that I was a close second.
These 80 are mostly lateralish role/title moves to a new company, of the ones that weren't, I never got a recruiter call.
my resume and experience are pretty much as good as could be, but somehow I am incapable of closing and pretty much dispairing my ability to improve my career.
I am getting enough response rate in each gate that I am hesitant that any drastic change will help. If I received zero response, I would know my resume is broken. If I never got an interview I would know I was missing recruiter expectations or salary requirements, etc.
Not really sure the best next step except going back to school and making a complete career pivot. Unfortunately I am mid 30s with a family.
Have you reached out to ask for honest feedback? You might get ignored but even if one of them replies you might get something actionable. When I was involved in recruiting I did try to give feedback to failed applicants who asked. Not everyone bothers of course but might be worth a punt.
If I at least get screened by a recruiter, I'll ask for feedback. Most folks ghost or say they aren't allowed to share specific feedback, yadda yadda. Then they'll give a copypasta about how they were impressed with my credential but the other candidate for better, keep your resume on file, etc.
Of the folks who did give feedback:
Twice they said I was a solid number two and it was a tough decision. In the former, they said the other person emphasized some technical acumen (which I also had but oh well). In the latter, I was told she was a better culture fit. I looked her up and she had several years of working with the company's products as a user.
Another time I was told that I was strong, but the other guy had both a relevant to the role PhD in microbiology, an MBA and ten years of sales in the product category.
Finally, early in my search I was interviewing for a job two levels above me, and was told I didn't seem to have the enough experience for that level.
So... Not much for me to fix with the feedback Ive been given.
Yeah, thats not very useful. I hate the idea of not being allowed to share specific feedback. If someone takes the time to interview and ask for feedback you should be able to help them out.
I understand why it sucks but.... why would I open up my company to legal liability by providing feedback? For someone who didn't make the cut?
First of all, > 50% of the people asking for feedback aren't ready to hear it. I don't like telling someone they suck when they're an employee I've invested in. Sometimes it's as simple as "You're unlikable." When someone's arrogant or stupid, there's no point in trying to help them grow.
People interviewing are also investing time. Arguably more than the candidate. Your 2-hour interview process was 2 hours from you. The 3 people on the other side of the table invested 6 as a team, and that's not counting any research or prep they did beforehand.
Our policy is we only give feedback to people who are being interviewed because they're personal recommendations. We're a very employee-focused company but it's one of the rare times I'm very comfortable throwing up my hands and saying: "You sicced the lawyers on companies to avoid being 'discriminated against' and this is what happened, tough shit."
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Yeah, it sucks. I get that folks want to avoid lawsuits etc. But what ends up happening is that the folks who do give feedback are conscientious enough recruiters in opportunities that you made it far enough to develop a reportiore with them. Almost by definition these end up being the ones where the answer is good but not the best.
You never get told why you're screened early...
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