What is the purpose of a company asking “Have you interviewed with us before?”

Question

I am currently interviewing for Software Engineer positions in Sillicon Valley, and I was reached out to by a big company. I had interviewed them before earlier this year, but I did not pass it and wasn't extended an offer.

The recruiter that reached out to me this time was different than the one last time, and he ultimately asked me "Have you interviewed with us before?" Being a candid person, I answered yes, but I honestly did not remember the exact date of when I did. I had told him I believed it was a year ago, but I just checked now and it has only been 8 months.

This morning I received an e-mail telling me that the hiring manager/team doesn't see a fit for me at this time.

So finally question is:

What is the purpose of them asking "Have you interviewed with us before?" Should I just say "no" next time around? It seems that their internal HR does't have any real way to validate this. I believe that by saying "yes" has just impeded me from moving forward with the hiring process.

Answer 1

You shouldn't lie. No good will come of it when they discover that you did.

A recruiter might ask you if you've interviewed there before because his compensation is based on you getting hired on his referral -- so if you've talked with them before, then (1) if they said no they probably will again (from his point of view) and (2) he might not even get the credit.

An employer might ask you if you've interviewed there before because of a hold policy (if they keep resumes on file for N months and you talked with them <N months ago, you're already in their pipeline), or because that context might be relevant. If a company has had a recent change in business direction, process, acquisition status, etc, they might want to update you on anything they told you before.

Answer 2

I think the limiting factor to your interview not moving forward was that you weren't a fit before. Expecting that if you don't disclose your history with the company then you'll have better luck is unreasonable. Chances are good that later down the line, they would have figured this out anyway, and you'd then have been in the position of explaining why you lied - in which case, you are likely to get a negative reaction from both the recruiter and the company.

It can really go either way. Companies ask about whether or not you've interviewed with them for a variety of reasons. It can include:

• Not repeating the process when they already turned you down for the position.

• Not starting a bidding war between internal groups if the hiring process is still going on.

• A HR policy about not re-offering to a canddiate that has turned THEM down - if they made an offer and you reject it, you may be on a "on hold" period for other offers, so that they aren't deluging you with the same sub-optimal offers.

In general - interviewing has a cost. If the company has previous experience with you, they want to mitigate the cost and avoid repeating the cost of a process you've already gone through. Yes, in a perfect world they may know that you have history with them, but then again, many people have the same name, and they may not have the data storage to compare resumes for whether you are a perfect match. I have seen companies that have resume submission systems that do automatic email matching, for example, but not everyone has this sort of infrastructure.

Addition based on comments: For sure - if a candidate isn't a fit in one place, it's not usual for an interviewer to recommend a different position - I've often done this myself in cases where the learning curve was unacceptably steep, but the candidate was clearly skilled in his own area of expertise. Similarly, if a position comes along months after the interview, it's not unusual for interviewers to be polled so that the company doesn't repeat the process. Most interviewers keep good enough notes that they can say "yes/no" and why even on a second job opportunity. At that point, the "no" may well be for the bigger reasons - personal style doesn't fit culture, wasn't impressed by the person's body of work, or uncovered a big "gotcha" - a lie, an ethical problem or a quality that we simply can't put in our talent pool (for example, with defense contracting, not citizen can be a no-go).

Given that any job is presumably a long term relationship, you really don't want to be caught later having told a lie just to get in the door.

Answer 3

What is the purpose of them asking "Have you interviewed with us before?"

Ideally, so they're not wasting their time getting the same result again. Sometimes to get feedback from the other department you interviewed with.

Should I just, next time around say "no"?

No. Outright lying as part of an interview process is a big no-no.

I believe that by saying "yes" to "have you interviewed with us before" has just impeded me from moving forward with the hiring process.

It might've, but I know of a few people who have been hired at a company after interviewing there before, as recently as 3 months before. They usually are moving departments, but not always. There is no real answer for this.

Answer 4

The reason they ask if you've applied or been interviewed before is very simple: They want to pull whatever information was recorded by the interveiwer or collected by Personnel at the time. Nothing more, nothing less.

If you failed whatever test they gave you, had an awful interview or the background revealed a felony conviction for murder and cannibalism, it can sink you. Many hiring managers won't care about the first two (the third might not exclude you at Oracle, depending on who the victim worked for.)

No sane person cares whether your memory of when you interviewed is accurate. There are idiots who would feel that your saying "about a year ago" when it was 16 months shows a lack of precision and poor attention to detail. You don't want to work for them.

Lying about something that personnel can verify from its own systems is stupid-- when they try to create a file on you, the record will show up.

Answer 5

what is the purpose of a company asking have you interviewed with us before

Maybe they want to see, how much you had enhanced your skills from the last time.

Be brave enough to say Yes, you interviewd before with them. A reason for why weren't you hired and facts supporting how you overcomed that deficiency will work wonders.

If you are interviewing with them after a gap of 2 or 3 years, then saying yes i was rejected that time will not harm you as much. because within this time, you could have gained much better experience.

Answer 6

Go ahead and say no. That question can lead to nothing good for you. You have about 30 seconds to convince them to move you forward. If you were rejected before, they always believe the previous interviewers and skip over you like that. The only exception would be if you are incredibly qualified for the new job, ie with years of experience doing the same work and you would be the man. In that case it would be better not to lie. Otherwise, you have nothing to lose because if you answer yes you have 100% certainty of being rejected.