Clean-start shortly after a rejection?

manpreet Best Answer 2 years ago

I'd applied and been turned down by a company about 2 months ago. The HR manager, say Jill, first asked me what I'd been doing since my last position. I'm in a new town this past 4 months, and there was a 4 months' gap on my resume back then.

I'd replied to Jill saying what I did. “What i did” included the following:

• wrote a system of my own -- also sent her the URL,
• took 2 short trips here,
• relocated here,
• wrote a framework into my own codebase (I'm a software developer),
• job searched.

In her response to this, she said that she went over my resume with her team, and that they decided they need developers with more experience. I read this as she didn't like this gap on my resume. My technical experience and the number of years I worked are well fitting, even more than what the role describes.

In a professional gathering last week, I came across a developer, say Jim, who works for that company. Jim is close to the HR manager and is helping her in finding developers. In fact, Jim was there that day to keep an eye out for candidates. We had a nice, lengthy conversation, and he strongly suggested that I should re-apply. I didn't remember Jill's response while Jim and I were talking. So, I said to him "I'll look up and ping her unless I'd heard from her." Jim is in another technical team-- not the one hiring for this role.

Later on when I checked and found out about her refusal, I told Jim about it, thanked him "still for his call on this" and left it there.

Today, I received a message from Jill saying that she spoke with Jim, that she's sorry not to have gotten back to me on my application, and asking me for my resume.

Her letter is nice-- I couldn't have put it in a better way if i were to write it myself. I'm not greedy - well, I like to think I'm not. But then I don’t want to start on the wrong foot. Her response before was a discredit to my skills. If I go along with this as is, (Jill's message today hasn't the slightest hint to her rejection), I'll have accepted the situation as is, a part of which is I've already been marked down once as "not good enough". But then I don't want to come out as difficult/dragging.

The role is interesting and fitting. And I’ve had a positive feeling about the company culture.

What I think I can do are the following:

1. reply saying something like "not much change in my skills since then. I took up a project, however it’s very recent and early yet to add to my resume." -- which is what it is. I took up a freelance project 3 weeks ago. Haven't yet put it on my resume, but told Jim about it when we talked. This kind of response may come out as getting back at her, but this is nowhere near the intent.

2. Just go ahead and reply her in the same “tune”-- forget about her prior response and resend the resume. This is the advice I’ve got most so far. But I don’t feel comfortable about it. Feels a bit like joining the charade-- if nothing else. These are people I’ll supposedly be working together with.

3. There’s always the option of sitting on my hands and doing nothing. But then the role is all good aside from this “flaw”.

How to handle this situation? I'd appreciate any suggestions/insights.

TIA.

manpreet 2 years ago

"Needs more experience" is a convenient and nice way to say "did not get the job".

You then had a conversation with one of the other people that worked for that organization and got along well, which changed the how they perceived you as a job candidate.

This new perception fits with someone that they want to hire.

It seems like you are taking the first rejection as a personal slight directly from the HR manager but they was almost certainly not the only one to make that decision. Perceptions change, and thus decisions change. If you want the job you should reapply for the job under these new circumstances.