I recently worked on a search where a strong candidate made it to the final rounds but was ultimately not selected. She wanted to know how she could have turned the situation around. Having hired thousands of people over 20+ years, I have worked on many job searches, like this one, where there were several strong finalists, each of whom was qualified for the job. There could be only one hire. Therefore, even the candidates with the right experience will be closed out.

In past blogs, I have shared some of my recruiting stories that show reasons why being qualified is not enough to get the job. This time, I canvassed my recruiting colleagues to get their take on why even the right experience is not enough:

Employers are cautious and prefer to say No over Yes

There were too many people involved in the decision making — too many cooks in the kitchen so to speak. And the majority like the candidate but there is a key influencer and/or decision maker who doesn’t agree. They will invariably err on the side of a no rather than embracing the yes." – Lynda Fraser

Lynda Fraser is a Vice President at recruiting agency, Solomon Page, where she focuses on hiring for interim experienced HR roles. Fraser brings up two excellent points here. First of all, employers are cautious with hiring and will more easily say No than Yes. Therefore, you don’t want to give a prospective employer any reasons to say No. Every meeting needs to be strong. Your follow-up communication needs to be polished. As you go further in the hiring process, there are more meetings and more communication, so more chances to make mistakes. You need to stay on top of your game throughout the hiring process.

Secondly, just one of many decision-makers is enough to derail an otherwise positive outcome. This means that you can’t only please your immediate boss. You need to perform well in all of your interviews. Senior roles are more likely to be cross-functional. This means more decision-makers involved in the hiring process, and extra vigilance required from you if you are going for a senior role.

Source - Read More at: www.forbes.com