Is this a flat out rejection because I'm underqualified?

Question

I received this notice following a job interview for a data scientist position:

At this time, based on the overall team feedback, we have decided to change direction somewhat in terms of aligned technical expertise and business needs. We will not be moving forward with you for this role but I would like to continue to stay connected with you and be an advocate in terms of identifying future roles that might be more perfectly suited to the many skill sets you possess. I would also like to share your information with my colleague, XXXXX, who supports our other analytics teams.

Is this just a polite but canned rejection notice, or is the company really interested in keeping my resume on file? I'd like to think the latter, but don't want to get my hopes up.

Answer 1

This is not a standard rejection letter.

I've seen a lot of standard rejection letters, and while they try to sound optimistic they never get into specifics.

The letter refers to "I would like..." which means that the person writing the letter wants to stay involved himself/herself. Corporate rejections are almost always phrased as "we".

The writer would not mention a specific colleague if they were merely making empty statements about keeping you under consideration.

If you are interested I would reply personally to the person who wrote this, ask for more information, and express enthusiasm for hearing about any roles in the "other analytics teams". The letter does not mean you are underqualified - it simply means the skills required for the role have changed, and your skills are not a good match.

Answer 2

I would say that yes it is saying you are under-qualified for the position you applied for.

However it seems like your contact is indicating that the skill-sets they were looking for may have changed between when they first posted the position and when they made a decision on your application. This happens.

Keep in touch, and definitely follow up with the new contact if you are still wanting a position with that company. It sounds like they have already identified you as someone they would like to work with in the future. That is a handy foot in the door from my way of looking at things.

Answer 3

It doesn't mean that you're under or overqualified. Your skills are not a good fit for what the team is looking for, but your skills might be a good fit for another team the company. It's not uncommon for one team to refer a good candidate to another team. This is a great sign that you are a good culture fit, but by no means a guarantee that the other team will interview you or give you an offer.