In this solo career‑advice video, Natalie Fisher explains four common reasons candidates are rejected for a role, emphasizing that many rejections are not personal failures. She outlines (1) external, uncontrollable factors that lie outside the candidate’s influence; (2) a mismatch between the candidate’s technical experience and the specific skills the job requires, illustrated with a Ruby on Rails example; (3) a weak or forgettable interview impression, such as a timid demeanor or lack of confidence; and (4) concerns about cultural fit, demonstrated through a story of an outgoing employee placed in a quiet office. Fisher then directs viewers to a free situational‑interviewing guide that provides formulas, templates, and practice questions to help candidates prepare strategically and improve their interview performance. The video ends with calls to action for related videos and a brief personal aside.
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Hey, so there are many reasons why people don't get the job, even if they thought the interview went really, really well. In this video, I'm going to share the top 4 reasons that I have personally seen in my experience that why people are not getting the job, and it's not because they smell bad. Reason 1, it really had nothing to do with you. That happens a lot. There could be various unknown reasons or other things that happened that couldn't have been controlled by you. You can refer to my video, Why You're Not Being Chosen, and that could have something to do with it. And you could see some examples there for some good reasons as well. Reason 2, you didn't have the exact right experience. Sometimes it's just technical and there's nothing that you could have done. They could have loved you as a person. You could have been a great cultural fit, but another candidate maybe had more specific, more practical experience that was very tailored to what they needed. So for example, they wanted someone who had an expertise in Ruby on Rails, for example. That's a programming language. There was a time when my husband actually didn't get a job he wanted because he wasn't quite well-versed enough in Ruby on Rails. He was good in Ruby, but not Ruby on Rails. So the good news is that if that's the specific reason, then you can take that and you can go back, you can brush up on your skills, you can go get some courses on that topic, and then you can come back and you can try again. And quite often you will be able to get the job then. If you really do want to work for that specific company, you can learn how to meet their needs and come back and try again. Reason 3, you didn't make a really strong impression, or you were forgettable. You might have had a weak personality, a weak handshake, too much like everyone else. You weren't confident enough. You were too shy. You weren't convincing. They needed to see more of you showing up in a convincing manner. Reason 4, they had concerns about fit. So for example, maybe their environment was really quiet and maybe you were a more outgoing person who needed more social interaction, or that's the impression they got of you. And then maybe they were concerned that your personality wouldn't be a match or wouldn't be valued in a room of very quiet people. Perhaps they worried that you would get bored and leave them. I have a story about this. So I had a colleague who was very friendly and very outgoing and he would always greet coworkers in the morning. First thing he came in, sometimes he'd bring coffee and he'd want to engage in small talk and have a chat about the weekend or about the evening. And when it was time for him to move on to a new job, he ended up in a company where the mornings were very different for him and he didn't like it at all. He would walk in, everyone had their headphones on, their heads down, they were working. He would come in and say, good morning, here's some coffee, and they would all just completely ignore him. This made him feel very disconnected and he did not enjoy that environment at all. So this is a prime demonstration of the wrong cultural fit. And if this was the case, if you did get a job and that was what happened, you wouldn't be the best fit for that job and you would end up leaving anyway. In the next video titled Why You Keep Failing at Job Interviews, that's when I explain to you the things that you can actually do about it. So now you're probably wondering what you can do about it right now and what you need to do to succeed. Well, one of the things that always— strategically preparing is something that you can do to set yourself apart and make sure you end up in the right fit. So I have a free guide for you. If you want to download it, you can just click the link below. You can get It's the ultimate situational interviewing guide. What you're going to get is an in-depth look at the formula of how to answer the questions and communicate your value effectively every time. You're going to get a series of concrete examples with the 10 most commonly asked behavioral interview questions, fill-in-the-blank templates for each question, each question. And if you're still stuck, I give you 25 questions to ask your own brain to be able to come up with those stories yourself. And speak very confidently and authentically about yourself so you end up in the right position. So that's all I have for you on this video. Thank you so much for watching, and I will see you next week. If you want to watch another video from me, click here. If you want to watch another video in this series, click here. If you like the video, give me a thumbs up, and I will see you next week. I got this new shirt, by the way, for the video, so let me know if you like it.
