I’ve had two near misses for tech jobs where I made it to the final round and then got rejected with vague feedback. How honest are hiring teams really about why someone doesn’t make it, and is it ever worth pushing back and asking for more detailed feedback?

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Many teams are not fully honest about rejections because they worry about legal risk, time, and uncomfortable conversations, which is why you so often get vague “fit” feedback even at the final stage. It is reasonable to politely ask for more specific, forward‑looking feedback once, but if they decline or give you something generic, it is rarely worth pushing further.

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100%. I agree. Sad but true!

This hits hard. It’s such an emotional rollercoaster to get so close, prep your heart out, and then get brushed off with a vague “not a fit.” In my experience, hiring teams often do have more insight than they share — but due to legal risk or internal culture, they keep things surface-level.

Being rejected on the final round is tough, I bet they mentioned picking someone with a better fit or something? There is also some luck factor going in, for example 2 different engineers in the same department can provide a totally different feedback on the same take home exercise. It is normal to be rejected, and sometimes it is also a learning experience. Don't give up, next time it will be better!

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