How many jobs did you interview for before getting an offer?
Feeling a little defeated lately and curious if others have been through the same.
I was laid off from my job about two months ago and I have been actively job searching ever since. So far I’ve interviewed with 4 different companies and I have gotten rejections across the board (details below). I have another first round interview with another company tomorrow, but after so many rejections my confidence and optimism are rapidly shrinking.
Company A: I knew the hiring manager personally and reached out. Had a phone screening with the recruiter then a 1 hour interview with the hiring manager. The hiring manager ended up selecting someone with 15 years of experience (I only have 5 YOE, and the job description only required 5). She did reach out again recently and said there may be another role opening on her team and asked if I’d be interested. I won’t hold my breath waiting in the meantime.
Company B: A colleague of mine received an offer at this company and rejected the offer, but had a good experience and referred me for the job. I had a video interview with the recruiter. The recruiter gave me a call a few days later to let me know the hiring manager gave an offer to someone else. I respect that she at least took the time to call.
Company C: I spoke with a recruiter at a staffing agency, then I was invited to two virtual 1:1 interviews with the hiring manager and the director. I was then invited to interview on-site for 3 hours with 8 cross-functional team members plus a tour of the building. After that, I was invited to interview virtually with the SVP and the CMO separately. After all of that, they went with another candidate because they had “10 years of experience working with major brands”. This was absolutely crushing. I had invested so much into this process over the course of 3 weeks, and I feel like I was just strung along.
Company D: I was invited to do a phone screening (which the recruiter asked to reschedule twice), then I was invited to a virtual panel interview with the two hiring managers. The interview was very dry and disorganized/unprepared from their end, but I thought I did well. I got a rejection email a few days later.
Company E: I have a video interview scheduled with a recruiter tomorrow. I would love to work at this company, but we’ll see how it goes.
Outside of these interviews I have applied to 171+ jobs within the last 2 months, using AI to help me tailor my resume for each one. I’m also actively networking with recruiters and hiring managers on LinkedIn. I feel like interviews for only 5 jobs at this point out of the 171 jobs I’ve applied for is not good. I know job searching is rarely a straight line, but it’s hard not to feel discouraged when I’ve been laid off from my job then putting effort into every application and interview and consistently getting rejected.
For those who’ve been through a job search recently: how many rejections did it take before you landed something? Any perspective would really help.