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There is a job that I would like to get, and when I applied and interviewed, I got to the final round of interviews (of 3 rounds), but was not selected. This was 6-8 months ago. I recently got a generic email saying they have decided to move forward with another candidate (I assumed as much after not hearing back from them), but that I am welcome to apply for other jobs as well. I now see another opening for a very similar position as the first one, which I am still interested in.

My question is if I should do anything special or keep in mind when applying to this new position - I.e. should I ask how this position is different from the old one, use different stories/examples when interviewing, etc. The interviewing team and hiring manager are likely to be the same as last time I applied for the position.

Its a large company and I am not sure if they would normally contact previous candidates or not - I imagine that depends a lot on the personal choices of the hiring manager, nor am I really sure where to ask / look for that information other than their current employees

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  • if the company is known for contacting previous candidates, and the did not contact you, then your chances are low. If company generally does not do this, then, given you got really far previously, your chances are high. Do you know which case it might be?
    – Mołot
    Mar 6 '17 at 14:24
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    @Mołot While that's true, I don't see how anyone could possibly know either way without having worked for the company previously or knowing someone who did or does.
    – Lilienthal ♦
    Mar 6 '17 at 14:43
  • @Lilienthal and before I asked I had no idea. Who could knew if OP already know anyone inside or what info is available? No hurt to ask, is it? And as you can see I haven't downvoted or vtc this question. No attempts to "punish" OP for not knowing were made. Just a simple question for information he might have or not.
    – Mołot
    Mar 6 '17 at 14:50
  • One personal question you need to ask yourself: Would you be willing to wait another 8 months to finally get to know that you did not get that job as well? While I would normally take the invitation to reapply for other positions as a good thing, this far in I personally would refrain to do so. Their hiring process seems to stretch out very long.
    – skymningen
    Apr 18 '17 at 12:53
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You should apply and using the knowledge from the last interview process prepare more rigorously. You should be totally on point technically.

Despite being a large company, it is very likely that the department you are applying for is smallish and the hiring managers chat. So even if the position is with a different manager he likely has talked with the manager that interviewed you the first time. Part of your job is to remind them that you interviewed there before. "I recall meeting Joe Manager and really enjoyed my time with them".

You cannot be bitter at all about not being hired during the first interview. You do not know what kind of internal drama went on behind the scenes. Given your information it is somewhat likely that the person they picked over you did not work out. It is likely that you had people on the hiring committee advocating for you over the person that they picked.

Going in more technically prepared, with a "happy to be back; I really hope to work here someday" attitude is the best course of action to be hired. Also do not have the attitude, that you are a "shoe-in" for the job. That is very self-destructive.

Interviewing people takes time, the fact that you were interviewed three times shows a high level of interest. You should take that as a positive.

Good luck. It would be great for you to update this question with the things that happened.

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    In addition to the answer, applying a second time also shows that you as a prospective employee are very interested in working for this employer. To me, that's another strong pro for applying to a similar position in the same company you applied to earlier.
    – Cronax
    Mar 6 '17 at 14:57
  • Why do you think the first hire didn't work out? Maybe the first person they hired worked out so well that they were quickly promoted to a broader role, creating a need to hire someone else for their original role. Maybe the company just needs additional people in that same kind of role. And why assume anything about the size of the department? There's enough info in the question to draw the conclusion you have.
    – Caleb
    Apr 17 '17 at 2:20

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