Things interviewers say that let's you know you won't get an offer

Inside of one's self you know whether or not you connected well with the interviewer.

More than anything it's the interviewer's body language, facial expressions, and other non word actions that will tell you how the interview is going.

If the interviewer is reserved, seem lost in this thoughts, or doesn't smile at all, then it is certain you won't get the job.

When they stop taking notes on the pencil pad in front of them,

R2 I had HR people writing down lots of notes during my interview and I failed most of them. I don't see it as a sign anymore.

"We're in the process of interviewing others, we'll get back to you." Means: You suck and do not fit what we're looking for.

"I actually have another meeting starting shortly, I'll have HR follow up to share next steps." Means: you talk too damn much and I need a way to get out of this convo.

Weeks without a response even after following up. Means: I'm too busy to respond, hope she/he gets the point.

"The hiring manager is currently on travel for the next week, but I'll get you a response as soon as he returns" Means: We're still interviewing candidates but don't want to let you go until we lock in a candidate...we're trying to see if we can find someone better.

"We'll keep your resume on file." Means: you didn't get the job and never will. We're just being polite.

When, in the middle of the interview, they draw a giant X on your entire resume.

OP, the fact that you used an apostrophe in "lets" when there shouldn't be one shows you do not pay attention to details.

Actually, it should be "let" to agree with the subject, "things."

When your hilarious anecdote about a mishap at the Bellagio Hotel doesn't get the reaction you were hoping for.

I agree with R6, especially since he corrected himself @ R7.

R6 Sorry and thanks for correcting me.

Interviewing is pretty tricky, in some ways it's a crapshoot. It could depend on the interviewer's mood throughout the day, it could be they have more in common with other candidates, things that are completely out of your control. I would say there are ways to make yourself more valuable vs. other candidates, but some times it's just plain luck

If your interview is the result of an inquiry to a job posting, keep in mind that many companies have existing internal candidates for positions. HR departments are required to post open positions, even if they have already identified the next person for the job.

This reality cuts down the number of true available positions even if you reach the interview stage. When an interviewer is very enthusiastic about you, but finally says they will keep your resume on file, the likelihood is that an internal candidate got the job.

Usually when someone has wanted to hire me I hear from them in less than 48 hours, but almost always in less than one week.

Why do they even bother with the "we'll check your resume on file," nonsense--it's so phony.

OP, I know I'm not answering your direct question as well as others have, but I want to add that sometimes there will be no signal. It is typical for an interviewer to say something like "Well, great! We still have more interviews, but someone will be getting back to you withing the next blah blah blah." And it doesn't always mean you failed or they didn't like you.

I've been in a few situations where I made it through the phone interview, the first round of face to face, and the second, only to be informed that while they loved me and would keep my resume on hand I didn't get the job. I was feeling so positive too.

But there are other factors. Sometimes management decides to go in a different direction, realizing thru the interview process they are looking for something different. And then there's the old hiring from within crap, that's really infuriating. Management always knew they'd hire from within, and interviewing qualified outsiders often helps them gain insight by picking your brain, into what they want the insider to do.

Another factor may be that they revise the budget and decide not to fill the position. Of course there's also the old power struggle where a department head may want you but the HR department asserts their authority and blocks it for other reasons nothing to do with you. I was once hired by a guy who got fired a month later and the redefined my whole job structure so they could lay me of.

Or you interview with a department head and HR has no input, so HR gets pissed. If the department head who wants you doesn't have clout to make it happen you're the victim of a power struggle thru no fault of yours. Bottom line, don't beat yourself up because there are too many factors that are out of your control.

Unless the conversation moves from formal to personal, and they start confessing about specific issues to be addressed once you're on board, then you didn't get the job.

If the interviewer starts talking out his or her background and career, you know it's over. This has always signaled the death knell for a job offer for me.

It happened to me in November 2010. I got hired a month later somewhere else.

In my case I think what happened was, I was doing the interview with two people, and one had more leverage than the other, and I wrongly assessed which. It went really well with one of the two, who told me I had the job during the interview, while the other didn't speak much. I didn't sense a very good vibe from her but couldn't really tell one way or the other. In the end they contacted me (via e-mail) later than they said and claimed I was asking for too much money. It was the "friendly" one that did it.

OP, you'll drive yourself mad looking for all these supposed signs. It will depend up on the employer, the hiring manager/hiring team, how strictly regulated the interview process is and whether or not they already have identified a likely internal candidate. But, since you asked, a few signs I've noticed:

- The interviewer arrives late or wraps up earlier than scheduled.

- When you answer a question, the interviewer asks you the question again, multiple times, in slightly rephrased ways, demonstrating that whatever the topic is, it's a major red flag for them and your answer is not satisfying.

- The interviewer seems genuinely surprised that you'd be interested in the job (in other words, they think you're over (or under) qualified).

-The interviewer appears to be looking at your resume for the very first time and asks you basic questions about your background and experience that anyone who'd spent 2 mins reviewing your application would know.

- The interviewer never asks a follow up question or asks you to explain your answer in more depth.

Also be aware that many "jobs" offered by government contractors are just phantom positions, designed to rake in resumes in order to enhance the company's chances at landing a contract. Do your homework on the company before even bothering to interview with one of those.

I find that if an interviewer says "thank you for your time" at the end, it means you're not what they're looking for.

In my personal experience you either get told in person you are hired the same day or they call you within 2-3 buisiness days. If you got a interview friday you should either be told on friday you got the job or monday or tuesday. Unless they are holding out for the candidate they want maximum should be 3 days in my opinion

What level job are we talking here? Hiring is so often done by some unknown process involving a few stakeholders and the company's HR needs. Its not about you, OP, being bad or good.

Walk you out and did not shake your hand (non-verbal)

Leaving you in a conference room for almost an hour alone until the next interviewer shows up. (non-verbal) Yes, this happened to me.

"We'll be in touch..." "We're interviewing other candidates..." "Thanks for coming in..."

"We have other interviews to conduct today, so we will be in touch with you, either way"...usually signals that you will never hear from them again.

"Let me walk you out". I never understood this one. Every job that I have been hired for, they NEVER walked me out at the conclusion of the interview.

"Good luck"

Or....the interviewer will actually be honest and tell you that you would not be a good fit. This is rare though

Audible farting. Total deal-breaker.

R267 I second the "let me walk you out". My few successful interviews, I've never had anyone escort me out. On the other hand the people who had no interest in me, gave me the petty let me walk you out son talk.

We're still interviewing others. This one is really deceptive. My successful interviews ended with this statement, as well as the failed ones. I think gut instinct is the best indicator.

Good luck.

I will add I'm in the I.T./InfoSec field. I pretty much nail every job I want in phone interviews, face to face etc. In fact there's been a few face to face interviews where I've ended it saying I don't think they properly represented the position, etc.

It's funny - one of those I did that in - guess where I work now. They respected me for seeing through their ineptitude.

r12, that is very true. At my workplace we are actually dealing with the exact opposite; management pre-selected an external candidate for a position that was supposed to be a promotional position. They ROYALLY pissed off two internal employees who thought they had a good chance.

Either way, I think there should be laws and standards to prevent internal candidates from being mixed in with external candidates. It is a huge waste of time for all parties involved, most of the time. We have a huge conflict now because the people at my job that wanted the position have already stated they will not work with the new external candidate.

If they won't work with the external candidate who now HAS the job, they are shooting themselves in the foot for any future advancement. Dumbasses.

What R15 said, especially as you get higher up the food chain.

I've worked at places where we interviewed a dozen people, some of them 3 or 4 times, only to learn that a big client was leaving and so the job was no more.

Or, as R15 said, after talking to people who fit the job description, the hiring manager realizes they want someone completely different.

Or hiring from within/the other candidate is the daughter of someone's college roommate.

Or the interviewer loves the candidate but someone else does not.

So many reasons, OP. Other than the obvious, it's hard to know what really went down.

I almost always knew by the end of the interview if it was progressing or not.

We'll file your resume...

Yeah, the CIRCULAR file.

What the f...?! I am so furious. Listen, I went to a job interview recently. There were two people interviewing me: a woman who was to be my next boss if everything goes smoothly, and a young guy who upon meeting told he is just there to 'watch and learn'. Thirty minutes in and I am asked about a hypothetical situation involving preparing a promotional strategy to a client. I have two alternative ways in approaching this case, and just when I am about to speak on the second one, this guy interrupts me and presents his own idea. He goes and goes and of course she listens very closely, and I am left with nothing but nodding along to his speech. Then when he is over she says 'Next question...'. I am stunned. It was my job interview, not his. Now I think this one is lost, since his idea was more innovative and I am sure other candidates were not interrupted. But I am still pissed I didn't react, or even told him, jokingly of course, to not steal my spotlight since I am the one who is being interviewed. Unless he was the internal guy who already got the job and they just interviewed the potential candidates to get insight.

"Take Care" almost always means you will never hear from them again

I had a job interview in a very specialized field with government. From the start, the woman heading the interview was sullen, almost hostile. I tried to disregard the "vibe" and make the best of it. At the end of the hour, she ESCORTED me out alone and never shook my hand simply stating, "You should do a PH. D."

About 3 weeks later, I took a call from her to get a de-brief on the interview. I listened to her blab for 2 minutes, thanked her and we hung up.

So yeah from the first second I entered that room, I knew.

The vibe was overwhelmingly negative, almost disparaging all my experience. Even criticizing the amount of time I spent in various jobs. (This comment was made disregarding my international job experience and international academic research).

Just today (4 months later), the same government department is advertising a job using the same skills I had on my resume.

Oh. I was asked by this same woman - during my interview - if I "know anyone who works at the Department." I said, no.

This is a small province in Canada - where who you know is key to success. Very parochial. Government is very corrupt, spending taxpayers dollars on political projects like a drunken sailor. While others parts of the province live in near 3rd world conditions (poor infrastructure, etc).

Run by the same political party that runs this country.

R32, your colleagues who are refusing to work with the external candidate should resign. If I was the supervisor, I'd be very much inclined to fire them. Unless the contract or policy specifically states otherwise, no one is entitled to a promotion and no one gets to choose who they will and will not work with.

I had an office interview with two people yesterday. One went well and the other was okay. I liked the woman a lot and am cool on the guy. I'll be glad when I receive feedback. I think it could go either way.

Bump

"Get out."

[quote]I didn't get the job despite my interview going pretty well

Then it didn't go well. That's like saying you're "not guilty" by reason of committing the crime.

r44, that's not true. Your comparison doesn't hold water because re: crime, the criminal controls both ends of the deal. But when interviewing, the interview can go well but petty politics or other things outside the control of the interviewee influence the decision.

Some interviewer are just hostile. I've had a couple of (I thought) shitty interviews that ended with offers. Others that I thought went swimmingly only resulted in more searching.

Correct, R45, an interview can go well and you can be the top candidate until someone interviews a little better, his/her experience is a better match, etc. The interviewer complimented you and that's rare. Sorry you didn't get the job, OP. The next opportunity will be better.

Ha! R43

Bump

Well, yes, R49. If an interviewer says that, it's probably a sign that you're not getting the job.

Interviews and the process can be so weird to traumatic. I've been in the hiring/interviewer position too. I do not get other companies and the interview process, makes no sense to me.

I see. I see to everything.

Sometimes it's what they don't say. If they NEVER ask a follow up question or ask you to elaborate on something or try to connect your answer to one of their next questions? That means there's no real conversation happening there and they're just getting through a checklist of questions as quickly as possible.

R22 I the only thing I can grab on to. Whoever coined the phrase "no news is good news" is the biggest schmuck ever. It's not true when interviewing for jobs, it's not true when you go to the doctor, it's pretty much not true ever.

That said, on occasion my instincts have been totally wrong. Sometimes a chatty friendly interviewer is just that; ditto a cold more reserved interviewer. Meaning that they treat everyone the same so you didn't necessarily get the job in the first instance or not in the second. It's just their way.

But usually, my gut has been right.

I'm not sure where someone gets a job offer on the day of his interview? Maybe at... McDonald's?

R55 law firms, for one. Some are even egotistical enough to make you accept or not accept on the spot.

I've also interviewed in other fields where essentially the interview was the formality and been offered jobs on the spot.

I work in tv post production, lots of freelance jobs that run anywhere from 3 months to a year. I once had a woman interviewer be condescending to me about being a psychology major. I'm an Ivy Leaguer. I have almost a decade of TV credits on shows you've heard of. It was just a weird attitude, like the bitchy shop girl from Pretty Woman. Plus, it was bullshit pay so I was happy to mirror back the bitch smile on my way out. I usually get the job when I interview, but it's a lot of applications sent before I get an interview. The best trick is to mail in your resume with a cover letter to where you want to work. Don't wait for an advertised job. Use LinkedIn to find out where old coworkers worked or are working now. Then find out who does the hiring. I might send out to 30 companies and get one interview. That strategy has worked for me three times, but it took three or four months to get a response. Still, the job offers came at times when I really needed them.

One more thing to add. Sometimes they will hire two people for my position, day and night shift. Twice I've been asked if I know anyone, and I recommended an old coworker who knew everything I knew. In essence, other people interviewed and were shut out by the new guy's recommendation.

I've never really interviewed for a job. I've sent in resumes and them gotten an offer. My last job lasted 10 years until the CEO tanked the company. But at the interview, I sat down and the manager said, "The job is yours if you want it." That was it. That's been my experience. Lucky. I've had my own business for the last 9 years.

r57 I might send out to 30 companies and get one interview.

Are you posting from 1995? That's a new one, because most companies I've worked with will not accept a paper resume for a job application. If they receive one, it will end up in the trash. It has to be sent as an attachment via their company website.

Sometimes a company intends to hire an H1-B (foreigner) employee. Perhaps it's someone they've already worked with. In order to hire an H1-B employee, a company must state that they first tried to hire a qualified citizen, but couldn't find one. This is why some jobs have a slew of requirements that almost no one could ever satisfy - no one except for the H1-B employee.

Similar to the above, some companies require that a competitive employment candidate process be implemented, despite the fact that the hiring manager has already decided to hire a specific employee anyway.

r61 Yes, and the H1-B (foreigner) employee will work for substantially less money than their American counterparts who are just as qualified. I know this from an industry insider.

When the interviewer says...Dude you're gay as hell.

I knew I didn't get the interview when they would tell me, "You'd be bored here" or "you're over qualified."

I knew for 100% that I got the interview when they wanted me to "meet the other team members."

I knew I didn't get it when they said, "We'll we're really looking for someone with ...."

I knew I had a great chance when the interview went longer than expected.

[quote]If your interview is the result of an inquiry to a job posting, keep in mind that many companies have existing internal candidates for positions. HR departments are required to post open positions, even if they have already identified the next person for the job.

Thanks R12 for bringing this up. This is such a huge thing that I think people forget because you likely won't know. I was in the "pool" of candidates for a position in one of a mega ad agency's departments and I interviewed 10 times for different areas before I said, "no more!" Luckily, I had a friend who was at the executive level and she told me, "You keep getting called because they like you BUT I can tell you they generally go internal and as far as I know we haven't hired outside candidates in the past three months but keep trying. As long as they're calling, you're good."

It wasn't that I sucked, they just favored their own people moving from other locations or departments.

For one interview, the team brought me to their headquarters in new york and put me up for a week. I did NOT get the job. I was shocked that all 3 finalists in new york did not get a job offer, we were all excellent too. Crazy place. Never know.

Having been on both sides, you never know what's going on. Main thing it not to take it personally.

There could be an internal candidate

One candidate could be a relative of the hiring manager's girlfriend

They could cut budgets and suddenly realize they can't afford you. That happened to me once, and of course for a job I wasn't all that sure I'd take if offered. But they strung out the interview process for close to a year. It was interview, then 3 months of radio silence. Next round. More radio silence. Flew me to London and had me do a round there with their senior brass. Finally called with an offer, but "we know you'd asked for $X and we had told you it was not a problem. But after talking with corporate, all we can offer is 75% of $X. We hope that will be acceptable." I resisted the urge to tell them to fuck off on the spot, "thought it over" and told them that I was flattered by the offer, but was not in a position to take a pay cut.

Did some digging and they'd been losing money.

I had a final interview and am waiting on the decision. Last week they apologized for the delay and said they would notify me soon. I hope so.

[R57] I think this means that they are in salary negotiations with the person that they really want. Have you negotiated salary with them yet? Hopefully, I am wrong, but that is what we do. You focus on the one you want and rejection letters go out after they have been hired and started to work.

R68's probably right. And, most of the time, they're not doing it because of neglect or cruelty, but because they need to cover their asses in case something goes wrong with their gold medal (bad references, does not pass background check, lies on resume, asks for too much $$ etc.). They want an opening to be able to go back to you, their silver (or bronze?) medal in case it doesn't work out with the first choice. That job isn't yours until you have a signed offer in hand.

R60 As I said, my strategy worked repeatedly for me. TV Post Production companies are very small businesses, usually without HR on premises. Supervisors directly interview and hire employees. Name drop your LinkedIn contacts during the interview. "Who you know" is a very real thing. It's not my only job search method. I apply to jobs posted online too and I get interview from those too. Read "What Color is Your Parachute?" It's always being updated to reflect new job hunt strategies like LinkedIn.

It's not you, it's me

"I'm trying to imagine you working at this company. I just can't."

I didn't get the job.

Sorry. R73, I know what it feels like and how stressful it can be. It will turn around. Don't give up.

Thanks r74. I was really upset the day I found out. I desperately want to leave my current job and relocate.

I sent handwritten letters to presidents of 4 museums I wanted to work for. No resumé. All four invited me to meet and 2 offered me jobs.

R76 - good for you, I mean that genuinely, but the plural of anecdote is not data.

Hope it works out, R75.

Haha, many years ago, I interviewed for a job and was asked the rhetorical question “where do you see yourself in five years” and I gave the standard “here at Asshole Inc., with more responsibility, because I’m motivated and always looking upward” and that cunt leaned back in her chair and said “well, you’re not interviewing for that imaginary position. It doesn’t sound like you’re very interested in the position we’re looking to fill” and went silent.

Never breaking eye contact, I said “Well, you have a point. Thanks for your time.” And I walked out.

R79, you're a superhero for that.

I remember a couple of years back being interviewed by the new company taking over our business to see if we would be moving with them. There was one spot left and it was between me, a 27 year old male and my lazy as fuck female frau colleague who was pushing 60. I was way more qualified than she was and work 5x harder than she ever did. Anyway i was interviewed first and when I went into the interview room, i had a feeling I’d be the loser when the interviewer was a 60 year old frau. I had my interview and thought it went really well. Then my colleague had her interview and when she got out I asked her how it went. She was like “oh we didn’t even talk about the job, we jut talked for an hour about Overseas holidays and our grandkids”

I was livid. I thought to myself that I had better not miss out on this because they bonded over their crotch fruit. And sure enough she got offered the position.

When the interviewer craps on you.

Another thread bumped up from 2016. I think I've figured out how to put an end to this. Go to the first "new" posting of the thread—in this vase it's R78. Then FF it. If we all do this on every one of these ancient resurrected threads, Muriel might actually take some notice.

OP are you a white male over 40 ?