Why you were rejected, and what it usually was not
7 minute read · Updated 2026-09-01
Rejection almost never comes with a reason, so people invent one, and the invented reason is usually harsher and less useful than the real one. Here is what actually happens, roughly in order of frequency.
1. Somebody applied earlier
Many small employers interview the first few suitable people and stop. Nothing about your CV was wrong. Apply within the first day or two and this reason disappears.
2. The reader could not find the thing they were looking for
The card, the licence, the years, the town. It may have been on page two, in a footer, or in a sidebar the parser ignored. This is the most fixable reason of all, and the most common genuine one.
3. An internal candidate
Often already decided before the advert went up. Not your problem, and worth following up on later, because internal moves fall through more often than people expect.
4. The commute, or where you live
Employers quietly worry about a long journey in winter, particularly for early shifts. If you are willing to move or the journey is easier than it looks, say so in one line on the CV.
5. Availability that did not fit
Weekends, nights, an immediate start. If you can do the awkward shifts, say it explicitly, because a lot of applications are rejected on an assumption the employer never tested.
6. The application looked mass produced
No covering note, or one addressed to a different company. Three specific sentences would have changed the outcome.
7. Pay expectations
Where a form asks for a salary expectation and yours is well above the band, the CV is often not read at all. Give a range, and say "negotiable for the right role" if that is true.
8. The job changed or was pulled
Budget freezes, restructures, a resignation withdrawn. This happens far more than candidates realise, and the employer rarely admits it.
9. Something on the CV raised a doubt they could not resolve
An unexplained two year gap, three jobs in one year with no context, a claim that seemed unlikely. One honest line closes each of these, and its absence is what does the damage. Wording for gaps.
10. It was genuinely a stronger field
Sometimes the person who got it had done exactly the job before. That is not a flaw in you, it is arithmetic.
What it was almost never
- Your age. It can happen, and it is unlawful, but it is nothing like the most common reason.
- A robot. Most UK small and medium employers have no filtering software at all.
- One typo. Sloppy throughout matters. A single typo mostly does not.
- Being too honest about a gap. The gap is fine. Hiding it is what causes problems.
The one email worth sending
After a rejection, send three lines: thank them, say you would welcome anything similar, and ask if there was one thing that would have made your application stronger. Perhaps one in five replies, and that answer is worth more than any advice on this page because it is about you.
Then change one thing, not everything, and go again: the week by week version.