No Job Offer? Request Feedback From Hiring Manager

This has happened a couple of times lately and I am getting very upset.

I recently had a great, promising interview with a D.C.-based nonprofit. It is health-related and has a big HHS contract with plans to expand and grow a great deal in the near future. I did my homework before the interview, looked at their site and went to the interview prepared to demonstrate my enthusiasm and how my past experience perfectly fit their needs, which I was convinced it did. The interview lasted an hour and a half and I thought I was personable and enthusiastic, my stated salary requirement was within their range. The HR person assured me I'd either get a letter, if no offer would be forthcoming, or a phone call with an offer. That was over two weeks ago and I have heard nothing. Last week I left a phone message for the HR person, but haven't received an answer back. Today I noticed that the position (they may be hiring more than one person) had been re-posted within a week of my interview.

I'm deeply disappointed. Is there any way I can find out what happened, why it seems I was passed over? How do I know this isn't ageism? I am 54 (may look a couple years younger) and was interviewed by a young staff. As I said, this is about the second or third time I have had a similar experience in my current job search. Can you comment? Do I have any options?

If you have not heard anything from the human resources department after two weeks, it is fair to assume that you are no longer under consideration for the job. Yet organizations are known to take their time deliberating after a round of interviews for a number of reasons. They could be uncertain about the budget for the job, they could be gathering input from a great number of sources, they could have a highly structured or somewhat cumbersome applicant selection process, or they could just be plain inefficient. I imagine that a nonprofit that is trying to quickly ramp up staffing to fulfill a big federal government contract could conceivably have hiring delays for any number of reasons. But I will assume for our purposes that you actually did not get the job.

Age discrimination does exist, and it is always possible that this is the reason you were passed over for the job. If your interviewers made age-related comments, for example, or you have it on good authority that the candidates selected instead of you are under the age of 40 and less qualified, then your fears might be founded. In the absence of such facts, however, it is equally likely that another candidate was selected because that person was able to make a more persuasive case for how their experience and qualifications would strengthen the organization.

It is no secret that people tend to favor those who share something important in common, and this sometimes gets in the way of making good hiring decisions. However, I would not automatically assume that a much younger interviewer is going to pick someone else for the job just because of your age difference. I can understand why you might feel awkward about being interviewed by a young staff, especially if they are less credentialed than you, but this does not necessarily mean that your interview process was irregular.

Competition for jobs is stiffer than I have ever seen it. When hiring managers have their pick of highly qualified candidates for scarce jobs, I can imagine that they could be cavalier in their choices. Then again, the same economic pressures that make it hard to find a job also mean that organizations can hardly afford to invest resources in a new hire who may not work out.

Reach out to the human resources department once more. This time, leave a message stating that you assume they have selected a different candidate for the job and that you would welcome the opportunity for a brief conversation to discuss any feedback they could offer about your performance in the interview process. If you can send an e-mail, that will make a response more likely, but it will also tend to diminish the candor of the answer you receive.

You might hear back that you were great, but that they interviewed a number of other highly qualified people and simply chose the one who seemed like the best fit overall. If so, ask for specifics about what professional attributes you could develop to better position your candidacy in the future.

You should also consider asking a close professional associate or two whether they would be willing to role play an interview with you. Ask them for help in fine-tuning your presentation so that you have the best possible chance of making a lasting positive impression. This is not to suggest that something is necessarily wrong with the way you interview. Just think of it as fortifying yourself for success in a formidably challenging job market.

Lily Garcia has offered employment law and human resources advice to companies of all sizes for more than 10 years. To submit a question, e-mail HRadvice@washingtonpost.com. We reserve the right to edit submitted questions for length and clarity and cannot guarantee that all questions will be answered.