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17:07
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A: Is it normal to be rejected with an automatic email far into the interview process?

Old_LamplighterDue to liability (more in some locales than others) you will almost never get a good reason why you are rejected. I joke that I once got rejected because my socks were untied. The reasons why you are rejected can vary from them finding someone who is just a better candidate to the interviewer jus...

Kilisi
Kilisi
You left out, too pretty, wrong denomination, don't like his family and a million others ;)
CodePanda
CodePanda
"Due to liability (more in some locales than others)". I have interviewed in US startups as well as small and large companies in Germany and always got feedback as long it was not the first round or screening. I don't think robotic rejection is that common everywhere.
Michael McFarlane
Michael McFarlane
Let's just reject this candidate— she's unlucky.
Old_Lamplighter
Old_Lamplighter
@MichaelMcFarlane I knew of one manager that would take resumes and throw them in the air and exclude all of them that landed face down because he didn't want to hire someone that was unlucky
zmike
zmike
My friend and I joke that such-and-such company won't hire us because we're too tall (neither of us are exceedingly tall). Jokes aside, I do believe that people can and do get rejected due to height.
Old_Lamplighter
Old_Lamplighter
17:07
@zmike People are rejected for height, weight, hair color, and some of the most ridiculous things you can imagine.
Kilisi
Kilisi
Yes surprising how many people get rejected purely on their looks
Stephan Branczyk
Stephan Branczyk
@CodePanda, It really depends on the reason. For instance, if someone has such a strong accent that you have trouble understanding any word they say during the interview (and I say this as someone with a significant accent myself). Most interviewers wouldn't point out that issue in their rejection, even if asked. And out of the remaining interviewers who would say something, most wouldn't be overtly direct about it. You don't want to get sued, but you don't want to hurt people's feelings either.
Old_Lamplighter
Old_Lamplighter
@StephanBranczyk Yep, they'll give you feedback, but only if the reason is LEGAL
Zibadawa
Zibadawa
A company which regularly refuses to hire people of legally protected classes already exposes themselves to legal trouble, as the evidentiary standard for establishing discrimination does not require a smoking gun and specific, incontrovertible instances. That'd be almost impossible to prove in all but the most brazen cases. A pattern that is difficult to explain otherwise is sufficient. So you can typically prove age discrimination by "Everyone in management is under 40 and here's a bunch of qualified older people they rejected, including me".
It does happen (happened to my mom, even), but it's kind of alarming to see this just blithely thrown around as "Yeah, I'm regularly an enabler, witness, or victim of illegal practices, it's the norm, you just deal with it rather than do something and go on".
Bernhard Barker
Bernhard Barker
The amount of focus this answer puts on petty and unreasonable rejection reasons seems a bit misleading given that, while those certainly do happen, most of the time candidates will be rejected for much more reasonable reasons like a lack of technical skills or knowledge, poor interpersonal skills or a lack of motivation. Or maybe you just have experiences mostly dealing with particularly petty people. Although energy can be a reasonable rejection reason, assuming they want a fun workplace. The "leapfrog" reason also seems like a reasonable concern.
posfan12
posfan12
17:07
@zibadawa timmy - Technically, random chance can produce ANY result, including a full house twenty hands in a row. In a casino, security would likely start harassing you if this happened, though.
 
2 hours later…
Old_Lamplighter
Old_Lamplighter
19:01
@Zibadawa That's all well and good, but would you sacrifice your children to stand up for some high-minded ideals? Why do you think the only way to punish a bad actor is through legal means. More than one company that did the things I mentioned ended up bankrupt, which does a good deal more than a simple fine. Now, if you want to take action against a company after your children have food in their mouths, clothes on their backs, and a roof over their head
with no fear of losing any of the above, then you might want to act.
@Zibadawa Beyond that, sure, things can be proven, with a few hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees, and five years for it to trickle through the system, but how are you going to live for that long with no source of income?

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