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I have had an interview with an employer a few months ago. I think the interview went pretty well but they decided to go with another candidate. Come a few months later, I see another job posting for the same position.

What would be the best approach to contact the employer to ask if maybe they can consider me again? I plan to write a direct email to the person who interviewed me, which I think I had a little bit of a connection with during the interview months ago. Would it be best to ask why they are looking for again for a candidate in the same position?

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    You could ask informally whether the re-application is desirable if you do not know how close to being selected you were. You interviewed, so it might be worth it. Jul 11, 2018 at 7:52
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    how do you know they went with a different candidate, I know companies who post up the same job all the time but don't actually hire anyone
    – Kilisi
    Jul 11, 2018 at 9:33
  • You should try applying because you're not losing anything by trying. However, I didn't have good experiences with re-applying for the same position. Normally I didn't ever get invited to an interview unless the position was similar, but not the same.
    – BigMadAndy
    Jul 11, 2018 at 9:55

2 Answers 2

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If the job is being advertised again, potentially someone else may have left or it could have been the same person. However you should re-apply the same way you did the first time to not seem desperate and in need of the same job. If the company has no regulations on re-application times then there is no reason why you shouldn't reapply the normal route.

I wouldn't recommend personally emailing the interviewer as it could be a different person second time around and they may not remember you. If you were never given a reason on why you didn't get the job or even any feedback it may be smart to acquire the above first...

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Depending on the size of the company even if the job description is exactly the same, and the work location is the same, it might be a different team, with a different hiring manager, and different set of candidates to be compared to.

The only way reapplying would be a waste of time would be if your previous application/interview was so horrendous that they decided that you should never re-apply. But they probably would have told you that.

The only time you are investing is the time you spend filling out the application and tweaking and resubmitting the cover letter.

Now if it is a very small company, it is possible that the same people will be conducting the interview, and they may remember your interview. That can be good, or bad; but if they call you in for the second interview then they are interested.

I have on several occasions hired somebody that was applying for a second opening. We knew that they were a good candidate the first time, and when they reapplied a few months later we decided that we would take advantage of this knowledge to hire them quickly.

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