Should employers that previously “rejected” me be contacted again?

manpreet Best Answer 2 years ago

I've been searching for a job for a while now(too long, in my opinion). The employers I have gotten interviews for have so far led to one of these cases:

1. Them politely saying they are no longer considering me as a candidate(ie, someone else is better suited)
2. They just do not send me another email after the interview
3. They reply back saying that they decided not to hire someone after all(position no longer exists)

Now I'm looking back and trying to figure out if I should send these companies an email to "check in". Is this a normal practice? Should this be done in all 3 of my cases? How much time should be given before sending back a check-in email?

manpreet 2 years ago

1. Just because they're no longer considering you for this position doesn't mean they'll neverconsider you again. Usually it just means that you're near the bottom of the totem pole in the application process and they have better candidates they're considering. The application process frequently goes through stages of elimination in order to narrow down the candidates and find the perfect one(s). Definitely don't contact them again right away.

   Generally, most companies have policies that your application remains "active" for a period of 60, 90, or some other amount of days after being submitted (if there isn't one listed, I tend to assume 90). If they do have a policy such as this, wait at least that long before even thinkingabout contacting them. Past that, if you see the position available again at some point in the future, feel free to apply for it again. If they're not a company that actively posts job listings, I would (personally) wait around double the time limit (maybe 180 days) before contacting them again, just for good measure.

   Companies realize that people change over time, so they're not going to look at your profile and go "he's applied before, toss that one out." If you're gaining additional experience in the related field, they'll probably choose to interview you again (I'm assuming that by the interview they've probably done the background checks, etc and have deemed you a potential fit candidate) to see how your mindset has changed and/or developed. If you've interviewed with them multiple times and shown no pattern of improvement in their eyes, then they may begin to set your application off to the side when they see your name come up.

2. While I personally feel this is a horrible and rude way to end an interview process, I can understand that sometimes a person can be forgetful, too busy, or just too kind to reject someone. However, I would take this situation as the same situation as above. Most likely if they never contact you again, it's because you're no longer being considered.

3. Keep an eye out for the position again. This doesn't mean at all that you're a bad candidate choice (I hope they wouldn't lie to you) or that you were eliminated in any way. Again, if it's a company that doesn't generally list their available job openings, wait a decent amount of time before attempting to contact them again.

Considering all of this, if you see a job opening at that company for a completely different position, always feel free to apply for it. The application and interview process for different positions can also be completely different. Sometimes the interview questions they ask and the things they look for vary greatly. Just because they don't see you as qualified for one position doesn't mean they're going to instantly eliminate you for another. However, make sure these positions aren't too similar. I've done this recently and have actually gotten farther in the process on the second application (which is still pending at the moment) than I did in the first one.