4 Reasons Your Top-Notch Client Didn’t Get the Job

You work so hard with that top notch client. They had a great record of accomplishment. You guided them to apply for what seemed like a perfect job.

Then came the email. Your client wants to know why they didn’t get the job. It’s so natural for them to blame themselves and you!

I wrote this article to help you deal with that situation in a way that protects your brand and gives your client renewed confidence. The information comes from my 33 years supporting rising, senior, and very senior executives. It’s not the result of a scientific survey, but I heard these ideas expressed so often, across so many industries, they seem very credible. 

You and your clients should keep two important ideas in mind as you read about these four reasons great people aren’t hired. First, both of you will never know which reason was in play. Second, even if you both did know, there’s nothing either of you could do about it. The reasons are in no particular order.

Reason #1:

There never was a job to begin with! The CEO’s son just completed his MBA. His father thinks the best place for him to get a start is in his family’s own company. Nevertheless, the organization wants to avoid any EEOC complaint. Therefore, while it’s never written down, the guidance is straightforward. Find and interview top notch clients. Take them to lunch if you want to. But you will not offer them a job. There is no job.

Reason #2:

There was a candidate with knowledge and experience your client couldn’t have. The company chose this person because they worked for a major competitor for ten years, they are the president of the industry’s professional organization, or they were on the staff of an influential legislator. 

Reason #3:

An overqualified candidate agreed to take the job readily. As you probably know, the term “overqualified” doesn’t relate to skills or knowledge directly. The company knows they cannot pay that person enough money. Even if they do sign on, it will only be a matter of time before this new team member jumps ship…and that costs the company a lot. The cost of replacing a skilled team member hovers around three times the annual salary. In addition, productivity falls off temporarily and other employees must take on responsibilities of the unmanned position in addition to doing their own jobs. 

But the applicant’s résumé, cover letter, and LinkedIn profile were so compelling, the hiring manager felt they had to at least reach out. 

Let’s listen in:

Hiring manager: “Hello, this is John Smith calling from the ABC Corporation. When I saw you résumé, I had to call.” 

Candidate: “I’m honored. How may I help you?”

Hiring manager: “I’ll be completely frank with you. I think you are overqualified for the position, and we can’t use you anywhere else. To be clear, we don’t think we can pay you what you are worth. You probably knew that, but you applied anyway.”

Candidate: “You’re right and I so appreciate your candor. Yes, I suspected I would have to take a significant cut in compensation. But I applied for two reasons. First, my dad lives where your job is. I’ll always give you my best, but it’s important I live a lot closer to him than I do now. Also, in my current job, I travel about ten days a month. That’s hard on me and my family. But I understand your position doesn’t require nearly the same amount of travel.”

Hiring decision maker: “This could be a winning combination for us both. Do you know your schedule well enough to suggest a day and a time for an interview?”

Both parties gain. The newcomer is closer to his dad who’s getting on in years. He’ll see more of his family. He knows there is more to life than money. 

The hiring decision maker wins. He’s getting top-notch talent at a bargain, and the newcomer is likely to stay with the company for quite some time.

Reason number 4:

Your client is too tall, too thin, the interviewer didn’t like his glasses. More likely the hiring decision maker felt the newcomer “wouldn’t fit in.” Just because the reasoning isn’t logical, doesn’t mean it won’t come into play.

There is an enormous amount written about the interview. But as I listened in on conversations at our last conference, I heard a trend away from basic interview strategy and more toward tactics. Sometimes the conversation veered toward preparing clients by having them consider certain questions and answers—particularly in preparation for algorithmic interviews. That approach seems logical enough. But in practice, I found this method produces stress and unreliability.

After all, to be completely successful, your clients would have to master three nearly impossible elements. First, they would have to have confidence these key questions we’re agreed upon by the overwhelming number of interviewers regardless of company size, industry, or even economic sector. In other words, they would think it very likely these specific questions would come up very often, regardless of the position for which they apply. That’s very unlikely.

Second, they would have to master these questions and the answers that go with each one. Even if there are only five or ten such key questions, the task of memorizing both inquiry and response would be intimidating. 

Lastly, such clients would have to be able to recognize those key questions regardless of the words used to form them or the order in which they appeared.

Let’s relieve some of that stress with two ideas your clients probably think of as the truth. First, an interview is a conversation between people designed to solve a problem together. And that leads to the second reassuring idea.

Two Ideas

Your clients have been “interviewing” successfully every day they’ve been on the job. Regardless of their job title or company they were all hired to do the same thing: solve problems. These “interviews” have a very simple structure. The boss tells a team member about a problem the company faces. The employee may ask a few questions to ensure clarity. Often, boss and employee explore tentative solutions and then adjourn to work out the details. 

That’s an interview! 

The company has a problem it wants to solve by hiring a capable person. The candidate needs to learn a little about the problem and suggest some concepts that might work. If the ideas are good, there will be more conversations (interviews) as the candidate and the hiring decision maker gain confidence that bringing on the newcomer will help solve the problem.

Now we have the major test a candidate must “pass” if the interview is to be successful. Here it is: “Did your client attempt to ask the hiring decision maker what their biggest problem was?” All the rest is tactics.

Notice how simple the standard is, how quickly it gives your clients confidence. All we ask of them is to attempt to find what the problem was. Actually, learning the problem depends as much upon the interviewer as it does the candidate. 

I’ve found something I am vain enough to call Orlando’s First Law of Employment” is a great confidence builder. Here it is:

Orlando’s First Law of Employment

Everything you hear, everything you see, as you deal with a company has been approved or condoned by the leadership…without exception.

Let’s listen in to an interview between your sales professional client who knows how important it is to learn about the company’s main problem and two hiring officials.

Candidate: “My experience in sales is broad and deep. But just as every customer has different needs, so companies do as well. Could you please tell me what sales-related problem keeps you up at night?”

The first hiring manager is capable (and was rightly impressed your client is focusing on the company’s needs): “I’m glad you asked and I know you’ll keep what you are about to hear completely confidential. We’ve dominated our market for years. We always sold on the basis of quality. Two years ago, a new competitor appeared. They sell strictly on price. When they cut their prices below what we ask for similar products, our market share dropped 10 percent in a year.”

Candidate: “That’s quite a challenge. I was called upon by the XYZ corporation to solve a similar problem. I’ll tell you what we did, how we did it, and what the results were…” (Doesn’t that sound just like the CCAR or STAR approaches you use to gather your clients’ success stories?)

Our second hiring manager is not very good at what he does. Here’s that conversation:

Candidate: “My experience in sales is broad and deep. But just as every customer has different needs, so companies do as well. Could you please tell me what sales-related problem keeps you up at night?”

Hiring manager: “Well, we pride ourselves in being a world-class industry leader. We work hard and we play hard. We under promise and we over deliver. We stand for quality every time.”

That answer shows the hiring official has no idea what problems needs to be solved. Furthermore, his bosses allow him to operate that way. Your client now knows this isn’t the company for which they want to work.

If your client is disappointed the interview didn’t go well, remind them how lucky they were! They came that close to joining a substandard company.

Helping clients prepare for the interview is based on a confidence building assumption. Your client is qualified. That’s proven each time he’s called in for an interview. Why would a company waste their time interviewing people they didn’t think qualified?

I hope this article helps you build justifiable self-assurance in every client. Collections of detailed tactics, lists of the top ten (or is it 15?) questions are worse than useless. They rob your client of self-assurance when they need it most. 

Your website may call you a résumé writer, a career coach, or both. But you are really a sounding board that helps your clients get full credit for the careers they deserve. You improve the lives of your clients and their families, often for years to come. Very few others can share that honor