Job Rejection = Success

Failure…it can be hard for anyone to come back from dealing with it. Thinking to yourself you’re going to go out there and try again with yet another job application, can be a difficult thought to process. Especially when you feel like you gave it a 100%, you thought you did everything right, only to receive a call saying the company has decided to go in a different direction or a different candidate has been selected. So where do you go from here?

This is the advice I give my clients:

Remember to maintain poise, professionalism and always end things on a high note. Thank the person that has emailed or called you to deliver the news. As upset as you may be, respond politely saying “Thank you very much for letting me know, I appreciate it.” This type of response is best for a few reasons, for one thing, obviously being nice is never a bad thing- but more importantly- how you react will leave a lasting impression. I recently had a client who after receiving news about not being chosen for the job he applied to, received a call from the organization -a month later- and was offered a different position. Imagine how different this situation could have turned out, had he been rude to the HR person when he received the initial rejection call.

Most importantly you need to be introspective and try to extract lessons from the experience, understand what you can take away and use these to better yourself moving forward. Your first step, post interview, should be to save your research, write down all the questions you can remember from the interview, as well as your answers (PS- a quick google search will give you different methods for answering interview questions) Your main goal here, is to try to pinpoint what you can improve upon. If you can do this successfully, your odds of nailing your next interview increase exponentially.

The next tip I recommend is speaking to the hiring manager or the person you interviewed with to find out if there is a specific area of improvement, that they recommend? Is there a particular skill or skill set that they believe you would benefit from improving? Now don’t get me wrong, you’re not looking for the answers to your career life questions here- your main aim should be to try to gain useful tips that would help with your job search/interview skills- nothing more, nothing less.

Now that you’ve been reflective and you’ve asked the tough questions, it’s time for what some people consider the most challenging step, it’s time to act! Depending on the feedback you receive and the changes you decide to make, this step may seem easier for some people than others. My clients in the past, for example, have decided to take an Excel course or a graphic design course or even work towards an additional certification. Whatever you choose- create an action plan and begin to work on it.

The bottom line is rejection can be a hard pill to swallow, but if you are able to take the experience and learn from it then you have created your own success- and THAT is what really matters!

#aftertheinterview #interviewrejection #interviewsuccess