The last job I applied for was my current position as an RA on the Oregon State campus. It is a really competitive position, where around double the people needed apply for it. It was actually a complicated process for me. I applied as a freshman and was waitlisted for the position, meaning that they would call me if a position became available after someone else quit. I didn’t know where I was on that list, so I planned to live on campus my sophomore year so I wouldn’t have to worry about a lease if I needed to leave for the job. I applied for the position again in the winter of my sophomore year and was again waitlisted. I thought that I did a fantastic job in the interview, so I was confused.
I set a meeting with the supervisor of the RA hiring committee to discuss why I wasn’t getting the position and how to improve my application in the future. During our meeting, he actually offered me a position from where I was on the waitlist from my application freshman year. He said that my application itself wasn’t hitting the points they were looking for, but my interview was stellar. Unfortunately, their system averages those points and it pulled me down the waitlist.
I was passionate about being an RA, so I accepted the position. I think the whole process didn’t persuade me to want to work with them, but I knew what the position was and how much good I could do in it, so I accepted. It showed me that there is a lack of detail in the communication the management of residential education has. They didn’t tell me where I was at on the waitlist or what I did that didn’t align with what they were looking for until I sought it out by meeting with the person who was in charge of all of it.
I love my job and I still think that I do a lot of good work that helps my residents and me develop into better people, but the application process was complicated and difficult.
Hey Alexis,
I enjoyed reading your post, thank you for sharing! It’s too bad you weren’t informed earlier about your situation with the wait list, i’m sure it would have been nice to know about the point system earlier. I give you big props for arranging a meeting and finding out why you had not been notified after over a year of waiting. Congrats on finally receiving the RA job and i’m happy it worked out for you in the end!
Hi Alexis,
I have heard about this happening to a lot of people that apply for jobs on campus. They are always put on hold for a long time and are told after such a long time if they are hired or not. I am sure that you setting up an interview to discuss why you weren’t chosen showed that you wanted the job. Good for you for doing that, I probably would have never done that and accepted that I didn’t get the job. I think the whole averaging out based on points that weren’t hit is kind of ridiculous but I guess it is structured that way.
Hello Alexis,
You definitely made a good choice in deciding to talk to the hiring manager about why you did not get the position. I liked the point you made about the application process being more complicated than it should have been. Perhaps they should have interviewed more people in person or asked you to send in a video answering some of the questions they would typically ask during an interview. People come across different on paper than they do in a face to face interaction. This is something interviewers need to recognize before deciding on an interviewing process.
Hi Alexis,
The interviewing process is challenging enough without having other factors like waitlists involved. However, I am really impressed that you didn’t give up even though there were complications. I think a lot of people would have moved on to something else after the initial rejection, but your persistence and passion about the position probably got you the job. I know if I was looking to hire somebody I would be impressed if they set up an interview to discuss ways they could improve. Good job, congrats on getting the position you wanted!