The Job Shop
- Apr 25, 2019
- 4 min read

11 Reasons Why You’re Not Getting Job Interviews

Author: Biron Clark Source: Career Sidekick

Common reasons for not getting job interviews include not “tailoring” your resume correctly, not applying with the right methods, having a resume that’s longer than it should be for your experience, and a number of other reasons.

In fact, there are 11 common reasons why you are not getting calls for interviews, so we’ll look at all of them in this article.

If you’re wondering, “why am I not getting job interviews?” then keep reading and you should be able to start getting more.

11 Reasons Why You’re Not Getting Job Interviews:

1. You’re relying too much on job boards and job websites

Many job seekers rely entirely on large job sites like Monster, Indeed and LinkedIn, or niche job boards (for example tech job boards, creative talent job boards, etc.)

While this is a good way to supplement the rest of your job search methods, it should be FAR less than 50% of your effort, and definitely not 100%.

I’d recommend job boards and job sites as only 20% of your job search effort.

So if you’re spending more effort than that, it’s a big reason why you’re not getting calls for job interviews.

There are just too many people on here and companies get flooded with applications.

It’s difficult to stand out, it’s not personal at all, and although you can apply for a ton of jobs, it’s not very beneficial if nobody’s calling you back to interview!

So what should you be doing for the other 80% of your time?

I’d recommend networking to get interviews, and applying directly to companies that interest you.

2. Your resume has responsibilities but not accomplishments

The next reason you might not be getting job interviews is related to your resume, specifically your employment history section.

Most job seekers make a big mistake here, listing responsibilities only. Like this:

Responsible for ____

This is NOT going to impress a hiring manager or a recruiter because it’s really just telling them what work your boss assigned you to do, not what you accomplished.

Start your bullets with a verb when possible (like “led,” or “grew,” etc.)

Examples:

Led a team of five to do ___
Grew company’s social media following from 900,000 to 2.1 million in nine months

If you want more help with this, we have a full article on how to write awesome resume bullet points, with examples.

3. You’re trying to send applications quickly and not “tailoring” your resume

Sending out more applications isn’t always better – the point is to get interviews, right?

What’s better… sending out 20 applications and getting one interview… or sending out 10 applications and getting three interviews?

The choice should be obvious.

This is what tailoring your resume for each job will do for you!

It usually takes less time than you think once you spend 30 minutes learning how to do it to begin with! Most people just don’t want to put in the time to understand it and so they apply for a ton of jobs but get very few interviews.

If you want to avoid that, read that article I linked to above and start “tailoring” your resume for the job description.

In short – you want to re-order your bullet points to show the employer what’s most important to THEM. And you want to make sure to include some keywords from the job description on your resume, too.

4. You’re applying for positions that aren’t the right fit for your background

While you don’t need 100% of the job’s requirements to apply, you should have around 70-75% minimum.

If you’re applying for jobs that you’re not at all qualified for, it could be part of the reason you’re not getting calls for interviews.

I know this one is pretty obvious but some job seekers I’ve worked with are still doing this, so I wanted to make sure to include it here.

Let’s keep going now…

5. Your resume is too long and is getting skimmed over rather than read closely

The modern resume should be short and easy to read. While it doesn’t NEED to be one page, it should certainly be a maximum of 1-2 pages for job seekers in the first 8-10 years of their career.

If you’ve been working just a few years and have a three-page resume, that’s a problem.

Your resume is really a highlight reel and a sales pitch to the company showing how you can help them for their specific job. It’s not a list of everything you’ve ever done… at least not if you want to get interviews.

Your paragraphs should be only a few sentences each, too. Avoid big, bulky paragraphs if you want to get your resume read!

And utilize white space between paragraphs/sections. Make sure it’s all well-spaced and inviting to read.

You can look at this article itself as an example. Notice how there are no huge paragraphs with 10 sentences. That makes it much easier to read and more attractive (and less likely you’ll leave after a few seconds).

Here are more tips on how to make your resume stand out.

6. You’re not applying for enough jobs

I mentioned earlier that you should focus on the quality of applications, not quantity.

Don’t rely on job boards, don’t mass-email your resume out without “tailoring” it. But I do see job seekers that aren’t getting interviews for the opposite reason – they’re just not applying enough.

You do need to send out some volume to get interviews.

That’s why job boards are okay as 20%, and why you should be applying every day if you’re in an active job search!

So if you’re not getting any interviews and you’re only applying for a few jobs each week, it’s time to start putting more time and effort in.