A reader writes:

I used to be rejected from a task for not answering an interview query.

I had all the talents they requested for, and the recruiter and hiring supervisor liked me.

I had a last spherical of interviews — a peer on the hiring crew, a peer from one other crew that I might work carefully with, the director of each groups (so my would-be grandboss, which I assumed was bizarre), after which lastly a technical take a look at with the hiring supervisor I had already spoken to.

(I don’t know if it issues however I’m male and everybody I interviewed with was feminine.)

The interviews went nice, besides the grandboss. I requested why she was interviewing me because it was a technical place and she or he was clearly some form of center supervisor. She informed me she had a technical background (though she had been in administration 10 years so it’s not like her expertise was even related), however that she was interviewing for issues like communication, potential to prioritize, and mushy expertise. I nonetheless thought it was bizarre to interview with my boss’s boss.

She requested fairly commonplace (and boring) questions, which I aced. However then she requested me to inform her in regards to the largest mistake I’ve made in my profession and the way I dealt with it. I informed her I’m an expert and I don’t make errors, and she or he argued with me! She stated everybody makes errors, however what issues is the way you deal with them and stop the identical mistake from taking place sooner or later. I informed her perhaps she made errors as a developer however since I truly went to highschool for it, I didn’t have that drawback. She appeared tremendous with it and we moved on with the interview.

A pair days later, the recruiter emailed me to say they’d determined to go along with another person. I requested for suggestions on why I wasn’t chosen and she or he stated there have been different candidates who have been stronger.

I wrote again and requested if the grandboss had been the rationale I didn’t get the job, and she or he simply informed me once more that the hiring panel made the choice to rent another person.

I regarded the grandboss up on LinkedIn after the rejection and she or he was a developer at two business leaders after which an govt at a 3rd. She was additionally linked to quite a few well-known C-level individuals in our metropolis and business. I’m pondering of mailing her on LinkedIn to elucidate why her query was fallacious and asking if she’ll think about me for future positions at her firm however my spouse says it’s a nasty concept.

What do you concentrate on me mailing her to attempt to clarify?

Don’t do this.

Not solely did they reject you for this job, but it surely’s very possible they gained’t think about you for jobs there sooner or later. Emailing an interviewer to “clarify why her query was fallacious” (!) will solely make it worse.

There quite a few issues with the way you approached this hiring course of, however the largest is that you just have been smug and snotty to one of many interviewers. And never simply any interviewer, which might be dangerous no matter who it was, however to the hiring supervisor’s boss! No affordable employer would rent you after that; in case you’re impolite and snotty to somebody a number of ranges above you, it’s simply too damning about what you’ll be prefer to work with day-to-day.

You informed your interviewer that perhaps she made errors as a developer however because you “truly went to highschool for it,” you didn’t have that drawback? Other than how rudely insulting that was, that made you look extremely un-self-aware. Everybody makes errors, whether or not they went to highschool for a topic or not, and one of the best of them embrace these errors as methods to be taught. The one individuals who suppose they don’t make errors are people who find themselves oblivious to weaknesses of their work, or too smug or insecure (and people are sometimes two sides of the identical coin) to acknowledge them. Managing somebody who’s satisfied they don’t make errors is a nightmare — and it’s an absolute non-starter in hiring, because you’re saying that you just’re going to withstand suggestions and be unable or unwilling to be taught and develop. That by itself would have torpedoed your candidacy, and that’s earlier than we even get into the snottiness.

However let’s speak in regards to the snottiness too, as a result of it’s coming by so loudly in your letter that it’s possible it got here by in your interview as nicely. You clearly have disdain for the director — “she was clearly some form of center supervisor,” “it’s not like her expertise was even related,” her questions have been “boring,” she made errors as a result of she’s inferior to you … come on. If even a fraction of the disdain that comes by in your letter was detectable  in your interviewer, that’s the form of factor that can get you placed on a “by no means interview/by no means rent” record.

And now you need to contact the interviewer — to not apologize for a way you got here throughout or to say you understand you must answered her questions otherwise — however to inform her why she was fallacious? All that may do is get your identify bolded and underlined on the “by no means interview/by no means rent” record. It is going to verify that their preliminary evaluation was proper. Don’t do that.

For what it’s value, a great deal of individuals work their means into administration positions with out a diploma within the particular topic they’re overseeing and excel there (and that’s actually true in technical profession paths). It’s additionally not bizarre or uncommon to interview with the boss’s boss. It’s actually widespread.

I’m unsure what your work life has been like up till this level — I’m guessing you’re both early in your profession and don’t but perceive how work works, otherwise you’re additional alongside however have been oblivious to how a lot interpersonal talent deficiencies can maintain you again — however this ought to be a wake-up name that treating individuals with contempt and conceitedness gained’t get you the outcomes you need.