Why Am I Always 2nd Or 3rd? Question Of The Week

This week, a reader asked why she's getting many interviews, yet always coming in 2nd or 3rd?

There can be many answers to this broad of a question, perhaps having to do with the interview, follow up, resume, other materials, but it all really comes down to perception.

On alternate Fridays, I'm posting a job search question from one of our readers. This was a question sent to me in response to my daily articles.

L.L. shared a question about his own job search, and asked:

"What would you say to someone like me who has been looking for one year, has applied for 55 jobs, was interviewed for 35 of those jobs and came in 2nd and 3rd for 95% of those jobs, and who has a Master's degree in public administration/policy from USC and 12 years' experience as a manager/director in corporate communications, public affairs, media/government relations, philanthropy and public relations, and another 10 years experience as a marketing-communication manager in association management, and 8 years' experience running my own PR firm from 2000 to present with the exception of 2 years as a western U.S. manager of marketing-communications for a national charity?"

I'll make the assumption that L.L. uses her communications skills more effectively in her job search than she did with me. Some additional information L.L. related: she's in her mid-50's and is concerned that she's losing jobs to people in their 30's who are graduates of Stanford, Harvard, and Berkeley. Since this wasn't much to go on, and she didn't forward her resume, I looked at her Linkedin profile for more hints of what could be holding her search back.

I found a number of potential reasons that L.L.'s job search has been frustrating, and why she can't close job offers:

( Continued ... Learn about why you come in 2nd or 3rd but aren't getting offers ... )

Source: http://reCareered.blogspot.com