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Ask HN: Getting rejected by HR for cultural reasons?

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Ask HN: Getting rejected by HR for cultural reasons?

#1

Post by Souzana »

Experienced software developer, got rejected via email after some interviews with X company.

I contacted them to ask for the reason, and they told me that I'm good technically but an HR lady decided that I'm not a good fit for the team as a person or something. The HR interview I had with her was strange, she had asked me several personality questions, like "what do your friends think about you?".

I really think they're just lying and don't want to pay what i asked for to be honest. Anyone has similar experiences?

Re: Ask HN: Getting rejected by HR for cultural reasons?

#2

Post by AnimalMuppet »

Yeah. Nailed the in-person interview. They turned me down, telling the headhunter that they felt they were unable to connect with me personally.

Five months later, they laid off all but four people. That was in September or October 2008, when economically it looked like the world was ending.

I thank God they turned me down.

Re: Ask HN: Getting rejected by HR for cultural reasons?

#5

Post by Souzana »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #2

Yeah. Nailed the in-person interview. They turned me down, telling the headhunter that they felt they were unable to connect with me personally. Five months later, they laid off all but four people. That was in September or October 2008, when economically it looked like the world was ending. I thank God they turned me down.

They tried to connect with you on a spiritual level and your aura didn't match theirs friend.

Re: Ask HN: Getting rejected by HR for cultural reasons?

#6

Post by re-thc »

Souzana wrote: post #5
AnimalMuppet wrote: post #2

Yeah. Nailed the in-person interview. They turned me down, telling the headhunter that they felt they were unable to connect with me personally. Five months later, they laid off all but four people. That was in September or October 2008, when economically it looked like the world was ending. I thank God they turned me down.

They tried to connect with you on a spiritual level and your aura didn't match theirs friend.

Your soul was the wrong color.

Re: Ask HN: Getting rejected by HR for cultural reasons?

#7

Post by SonOfKyuss »

znpy wrote: post #3

Yeah, “cultural fit” is a jolly term used not to give an actual explanation. In fairness though, they don’t owe you an explanation.

It’s also often a euphemism for not being a member of the same race/gender/age/class group as the rest of the team

Re: Ask HN: Getting rejected by HR for cultural reasons?

#8

Post by logicalmonster »

There's 1,000 potential reasons why you might be rejected for any job. It could be subtle discrimination, it could be not wanting to pay you what you're asking for, it could just be a crooked interviewer reaching for a reason to hire her friend over you, or it could be that they found somebody even better than you.

But the reality might be as simple as she didn't like you that much, just as you might not like random people for random reasons. People want to hire people they like talking to. Hiring is rarely as simple as Candidate A scored 19/20 on the tech questions we asked, but Candidate B scored 18/20 on the tech questions we asked, so we automatically must go with Candidate A if Candidate B seemed a lot more easy-going and cool to talk to.

If you sounded boring or rude to her or whatever or if your voice sounded unpleasant or whatever to her ear, maybe she didn't want to contemplate dealing with you 8 hours per day for the next few years. I guess the best thing you can do is try and figure out what makes your interviewer tick and try and bond with them over that. This is a tough pill to swallow for many of us introverts in the tech world who have to force themselves to be socially on for interviews, but this is part of the process unfortunately, particularly when not dealing with other super technical people in interviews.

Re: Ask HN: Getting rejected by HR for cultural reasons?

#9

Post by brudgers »

Take it at face value.

Put it in context, though.

1. The culture might based on convoluted psychological theories. The culture might value asshole behavior. The culture might value people skills over technical skills.

None of those is a reflection on you…assuming you’re not offered a job in an asshole culture.

2. Finding reasons to reject candidates is most of the work of a hiring pipeline. There’s one job and a hundred qualified applications. Again that’s not a reflection on you.

3. If it was a great place to work, they would probably be hiring through personal networks not talking to strangers.

4. Bullshit interview questions can measure how a candidate navigates bullshit. Selection for thigh high bullshit boots is useful in organizations with a lot of bullshit.

5. Yes not getting a job sucks. But if you walk in looking for a job, you’ll probably walk out looking for a job.

Good luck.

Re: Ask HN: Getting rejected by HR for cultural reasons?

#10

Post by ipaddr »

In the end it's better not to contact them afterwards. If they are interested they will let you know if they aren't they will make up some reason. The reason for not hiring you is unimportant.. it's a few placeholder words hiding the real reason.

Money is the number one reason, age probably two. Sex, race, nationality closely follow.

Next time look her up on facebook, check out her family photos, videos and minic her likes and mannerisms. You will be surprised how little actual qualifications are needed for a role. But no one does this because the effort isn't worth the reward but for some top jobs it might be.

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