Why Won’t You Get The Job? You’re Not A Clone Of The Competition

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Veteran of the Career Wars; photo by Andrea Lightfoot on Unsplash…

So you find a job opening you think you could fill perfectly. You have the skills, the education, the lofty employment record with glowing recommendations, and the requisite enthusiasm for both the company and the opportunity.

You apply and wait for the employer to contact you.
And you wait.
And you wait.
And weeks go by, making you think they hired someone else.

Then you see that they’re still running the ad for the position. And you dig around and find out that, no, that ad’s not a fake, and no, they haven’t hired someone else — in fact, they just retained some expensive recruiters to fill the position.

And that’s when your self-esteem implodes like it just got sacked by a Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker. What did you do wrong? Or, more self-destructively, you ask, “What’s wrong with me?!”

So you start binge watching The Walking Dead, since the only activity that will cheer you up is seeing people worse off than you.

And to you I say STOP. Well, keep binge watching, because that’s kind of fun. But do STOP BEATING UP ON YOURSELF, because, odds are, it’s not you, it’s them.

I know — cliché, cliché — but from dealing with hiring managers and recruiters for years, I learned a sordid secret: No matter how awesome you are, a company might not hire you because you’re not doing the exact same job right now for one of their competitors.

Real Life Example: The TV Social Media Gig

A recruiter called me seeking a social media producer for a TV network. I knew a lot of people seeking jobs, and they would be excited about this gig.

So I referred several former students and colleagues, most with advanced degrees in marketing or communications, and all with experience producing social media for corporations, including entertainment companies.

Plus, I could attest that every single one of them met the requisite cliches: passionate hard-working self-driven team-player with strong oral and written communication skills and attention to detail while juggling multiple responsibilities simultaneously and making a mean cup of java.

But none of them got even an interview.

When I followed up, the recruiter apologized and explained that the TV network only wanted to hire a social media producer currently serving one of their rival networks. Did I happen to know any of those people?

The Experience Catch-22 — But Worse

We all know the Experience Catch-22: you don’t get a particular job because you don’t have the requisite experience, but you can’t acquire the requisite experience because you can’t get a job.

I advise job seekers to bridge the gap by doing similar work for a charity, a friend’s company, or their own project.

But in this case, the Experience Catch-22 is impossible for nearly every applicant. Even more frustrating, in order to lure their competitor’s employee away, the executives would have to pay them more than they would have had to pay you — especially if recruiters are involved. Why would they do that?

1. Cowardice: They won’t get fired for hiring a picture-perfect match for the position on paper, even if another applicant is a better worker with more talent and education. Why take a risk on someone who’s (gasp!) a little different?
2. Laziness: They won’t have to train the new hire — a huge plus since they have no clue how to do the job themselves. Wanting to hire someone who only needs to be told “go” is a common, easy out in today’s market.
3. Small-mindedness: They’re incapable of projecting an applicant’s unique qualities and experiences onto the job. That requires imagination — a rare commodity in corporate middle management. And if they managed to become execs despite little to no education, good luck convincing them that your advanced degree matters.
4. Ruthlessness: Their philosophy: in order to beat the competition, steal their talent. This creates a momentary skills gap for the competitor, and the turncoat might have juicy secrets.

So What Can You Do About It?

Although breaking this Catch-22 seems near impossible, here are 3 ways to respond:

1. Wait It Out: If the position stays open too long , the execs might feel pressure to adjust their requirements. In the meantime, continue building your qualifications and your professional network. Binge-watching The Walking Dead can come later.
2. Join The Inner Circle: Meet existing employees of that company or their competitor. That means more than just connecting on LinkedIn. If you can, take a freelance or contractor job with the company to impress those execs to give you a full-time opportunity. At the least, get together, hang out, and impress them with your character (that doesn’t mean brag about yourself). If the idea of self-serving socializing discomfits you, corporate America might not be your best choice — particularly if it involves the word “Hollywood.”
3. Seek Something Else: Remember that job hunting is dating. While you want to impress the other party, you’re simultaneously judging whether you want to spend a lot more time with them. And do you really want to work for an executive who’s cowardly, lazy, small-minded, or ruthless? Some climbers don’t mind, since they see that exec as just a speed bump on their way to the top. But unless you have skin as tough as a cheap steak, and guile that would intimidate the writers of Succession, seek a saner option. Consider working for a well-funded and innovative startup. They might be more open-minded and creative when it comes to hiring, particularly if they’re striving to be cutting edge. The last thing a daring startup wants is an employee who will bring an old-school mindset to their culture of innovation.

With any luck, that startup will become a runaway success and you’ll rise to the top of its gleaming ladder. And while you’re there, you might receive job applications from those very same execs who wouldn’t hire you in that old-school company. Turns out they got downsized because their company just couldn’t innovate or differentiate. Gee, how do you think that happened?