Dealing with a Job Rejection

Being rejected is just a part of life, many people get rejected throughout their lives, not just when it comes to career-related matters. The important thing to consider is to learn from past experiences and to find out what could be done differently next time in order to get accepted. There are two situations in which you might get rejected: either after sending your application (pre-interview stage) and therefore not get invited for an interview or after going to a job interview but then not getting the desired job.

Case one: You send your CV and cover letter but you don’t get any responses.

If you are trying to apply for different jobs and all you get back are rejections don’t feel disappointed. The reason for that could be that you might have to improve your cover letter and your CV. It’s a sign that it does not get the attention that it deserves, you didn’t promote yourself as effectively as you could have or simply other candidates had better skills, qualifications, experiences or connections.

One should ask himself certain questions when applying for the next job:

• Do I have the experience, skills, personal specifications that the company is looking for? If there is something that you are not able to offer that the company is asking for, you should consider other jobs and apply only for those were you perfectly match the profile. There are lots of other candidates who will meet all the necessary requirements, your chances would be low. Don’t waste your and another interviewer’s time.
• Could I highlight in my cover letter and CV what would make me a great candidate? If in your cover letter all you wrote was “Please find attached my CV with all the relevant details” then don’t be surprised that you did not hear anything from the company. They might have not even looked at your CV because they thought this is just one out of many, there is nothing special about this candidate.

Case two: Your application got accepted, you went to the interview but you did not get the job you hoped for.

You receive a letter saying “We are sorry to inform you that you were not successful on this occasion. We wish you all the best for your career.” In that case you also need to think about what you did well but also what you could have done differently. You need to be able to assess yourself and find out where you could have done better. Again you should ask yourself some questions, such as:

• Did I turn up on time?
• Was I friendly to everyone in the company?
• How was my body language? Did I feel relaxed and confident or nervous and stressed?
• How well did I answer the interviewer’s questions?
• Was I able to sell myself the best I could at any stage during the interview?
• What questions did I ask the interviewer?
• What impression did I leave at the end of the interview?

It might be highly unlikely that if you ring them up and ask them for the real reason of your rejection, that they would tell you. It would be very beneficial for the jobseeker because he could learn from it, unfortunately in real life that simply doesn’t happen like this.

However, no matter whether you face scenario one or two (as described above) it’s important not to take it personally but to consider that in most of the cases it is about a job. Sometimes you might have the same skills, experiences and qualifications like any other candidate but might just not fit in the team or the corporate image somehow or the candidate who got the job had connections with the hiring manager or with someone else from the management team. Considering that in India the job market is very tough and competitive a candidate has really to bring something of real value to the company in order to be selected.

No matter how many rejections you might have to deal with, it is important to remain confident at any time and not feel pity for yourself, that will hardly help you in your job search in the future. My personal experience always taught me that even a rejection can still have something positive to be gained from. I consider rejections often as a gift because I learnt to see them as opportunities to find something better. No matter how disappointed you are when again one of these rejection letters lands into your letter or email box, start seeing it as a sign that something better, more suitable and more satisfying might be waiting for you at another company.