Lets hear your rejection stories

I was told by a S&T MD that I was a shoe in, but anyone who has their 7 would get hired ahead of me. They had the last couple trading assistants fail multiple times and they were tired of letting people go that failed. Another reject was for a cash commodity firm. After doing a mini-IQ test and industrial psyche exam I was told intellectually I would be great for the job and could learn it in no time. However, I was to big of a risk in terms of fit to relocate to a new state. They worried about new traders quitting after down days.

I networked with the head of a group at a top MF and was invited to follow up in a few months to interview for an entry level investment position. I did just that, and she replied that while there were positions available in her group they were actively interviewing for, they wouldn't interview me because they "weren't appropriate roles for me". Meaning they wanted an experienced hire. I got what she meant, but I just thought her delivery was funny/awkward. It did feel good a couple months later when she reached out to see if I wanted to interview for an entry level position that opened, but the day before I had accepted another buyside offer, so I got to reject her back.

Some years ago was interviewing for a Risk Analyst position, made it through HR and Management, really good feedback. Was given a take home task, to build a segmentation model etc. Made a decision tree model + some stats/hypothesis and data exploration, sent SPSS + R code files + presentation, had to come onsite to present the results to the head of risk. Came, made a presentation, receive great response. 2 days later a generic rejection email comes to my inbox. Never again I'm gonna spend time on that sh*t.

I've my share of bad interview rejections... the one that stuck out was for strategy finance role at a large company. They didn't have the job very well defined (it was all vague 'special projects' but not M&A), so they ended up asking a bunch of questions out of a GMAT book and having me do long division to test for 'finance or raw math intelligence.' I wasn't brushed up on my geometry, so it felt like getting punched in the gut to know I would be rejected before I left the building. Although they called me back asking if I wanted to do another 'quant' interview since that was the only thing holding back an offer... just had to say 'no' at that point. I am kinda bad at interviewing, but this one felt tragic.

Not work related.. Was in Poland when I studied in Europe. Saw a major babe and walked up and she didn't even give me a second... this was like in the middle of a circle, so you can imagine everyone saw. Friends I came with hooked up with the ogres that I introduced them to, so I went home alone with my tail between my legs that night.

Had an interview for a summer internship at BB's Asset Management. Nailed first interview and was really excited to learn from the PM, to date probably the smartest guy I've ever met. Send thank you emails, get great responses. Get called for final interview the next day, scheduled it in about a week. Two days before the final interview, not my HR contact, not the analysts or PM I met with, the fucking front desk receptionist emails me to let me know that they moved forward with another candidate. Cowardly move and I was crushed.

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I pulled up to McDonald's and ordered a milkshake. They said the ice cream machine was down. Ten years have elapsed and I still cannot forget the gut wrenching horror of that evening.

A friend had a final round interview with the MD of a bank. The MD drew out a normal distribution curve and said "Look we like to hire people who are here on the curve (points at top percentile), but unfortunately you're much closer to here (points at dead centre of curve)."

Was selected as an qualified alternate for on campus-interview for MM IB in Fall of 2015. Nailed the interview with the associate and was invited to NY superday. Crammed hard and received some great insight from the associate in a follow-up call pre-superday so I was well prepared. I killed it. I mean 100% destroyed all aspects of the interviews. Answered every single technical correct. It went about as well as it could have went.

Received a follow-up email from one of the interviewers mentioning that I was their favorite candidate of the day.

I was notified soon thereafter that I was placed on waitlist. I waited for a month before receiving the email informing me that they would not be moving forward with my candidacy. Not to mention this was about a week before Chirstmas. I was devastated to say the least. I really thought that marked the end of my chances in IB.

I was in final rounds for a buy side position in a infrastructure fund out of MBA. I had a great deal of overseas experience, was fluent in another language and had a regional specialization in my MBA. It was down to the final round, me and some other dude. At the end of the day the other guy got the job, because as the portfolio manager put it, "I don't believe you want to live in north america." Turns out he was right.

The funny part of the story is that the guy who got the job rejected an ibanking offer in order to accept the job... only to have them rescind the offer 2 months later. If that had been me I'd have been completely screwed.

This summer I interviewed with one of the ABCDs in the commodity 'sphere'. For an internship mind you...

The series of events was so odd to me. I applied and within three days they emailed me back and wanted to set up a 'short personality test'. As soon as I passed, maybe three minutes later I was sent an automated email to set up a phone interview. The guy I interviewed with had just come off a rotation as a grain merchandiser and was now a trader, he loved my story and passion for markets etc... Two weeks later I received an email saying they were inviting final round candidates, three of us, for in person interviews. I was stoked, actually shaking when I got the email, if you look at my post history, I was a bit nervous that I wouldn't have a shot against other candidates in Ag, with my background. So making it this far was a big deal to me.. However, a week or so before our interview(s), we are sent another personality test to evaluate who we are and how risky we are 'etc..' I called the first guy I interviewed with back and he said to "not even stress it, they just send those out sometimes and usually they're not even looked at."

It was a six part test, each part consisting of 100 damn questions. Questions like : "Art is the most important thing in my life - Yes/No" "I like taking spontaneous trips - Yes/No" Scale 1- 5: "I am always a leader - 1.2.3.4.5" "Sometimes I get frustrated at work - 1.2.3.4.5"

Took me literally forever to finish. Maybe an hour after finishing I received an automated email stating that they would be moving forward with other candidates. I called HR and the guy I interviewed with back kind of baffled and he was surprised but could do nothing, and HR kind of just said it was their process etc... This one hurt bad, I felt I was knocking at the door of what I wanted to do, and it was ripped from me because of an online test, not of my technical ability, but my 'personality' or lack thereof.

• Fortunately I received an offer about three weeks later from an energy shop. But man even typing this.. it still stings

So I had an Asset Management phone interview set up for 10 am one morning. Had been out the night before. Roll out of bed around 845, mind fuzzy as all hell, and head to the library to do some prep. In the car when my phone rings, answer it to some asshole asking me if now is still a good time to talk. Panic and say yeah now is still good. Bombed it and could tell from this guys tone how much of a retard he thought I was. I mean he's wasn't wrong. Made sure to double check time zone ever since.

Semi target here. I've had a few terrible rejection stories...

1) super day with Non GS/MS/JPM BB. Everything goes pretty fantastically well. Got along great with the MD. Everything seemed good. Flew back to school. In the middle of my final the next day, my phone rings. Obviously I ignore it because I'm in the middle of my final. Then it rings again. And again. On the 5th or 6th time I go up to the professor and explain that I need to take the call. Pick up the phone, and it's the MD, who explains to me that I was his favorite candidate, but my school only had 2 slots and they were both being filled with connection hires. He got me a super day with the same bank's S&T (skipped all the other steps), but that just didn't go well at all.

2) Anothet super day with an EB - one of the ones this site absolutely loves. They explain to us that we are the final 8 candidates, and they are going to hire 2 for the office. All the interviews go well. Couple of days later I get a call - they were still deliberating, but I was in the final group of 4 being considered, and they had decided to now hire 3 instead of 2. All 3 who got it went to the same target school as the MD.

3) This one was more of a slog. Basically had a first round interview with a lower BB. Was cut off in the middle, told that I had done terribly, and referred to a recent alum of my school to "prepare you to try again". I prep with the alumni, interview again, am told that I did much better, and get invited to a super day. Go to the superday, do pretty well. Get a call from the same guy who interviewed me the first time, ranting about how horribly I did, how dumb I am, BUT how I have the offer because I was LESS horrible than everyone else. I turned it down.

Ended up with a GS/MS/JPM IBD offer, so all's well that ends well, but fuck recruiting.

Rejected for an entry-level recruiting job at Google. We joke about HR on here all the time, and to be told I couldn't even hack it there was a devastating blow.

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After passing the third round with the MD, I was given a make-or-break technical case study. I told them if this case study was so important, why wasn't it given in the first round? Hiring managers should always determine if candidates are technically competent enough to do the job first before proceeding to determine if they are likable. Case was relatively easy, I feel like I did well when I reviewed my answers with my colleagues. After three weeks of no response, I followed up and got the rejection. Reason was they went with someone who had direct experience in the role. Typical answer but if they knew they wanted someone with direct experience and they have a few candidates in their shortlist with direct experience, why bother wasting the time of the candidates who only have relevant experience?

The most teasing and misleading part is when they tell you that everyone likes you, MD starts discussing salary expectations and start date with you.