Do you know anyone who has always been offered the first job to which they applied at every stage of their career? Perhaps such people exist, but they are far outnumbered by the rest of us who on our way to job hunt success encounter rejection.
No matter how nicely the communication is couched, and no matter whether it comes by phone, email, tweet or snail mail, no one looks forward to getting the message, “You’re not hired.” Especially when you hear it time after time for months on end, not getting the job can be a depressing, debilitating experience.
When you find yourself in this position, it’s important to put it into context. Virtually everyone, at one point or another, has experienced something akin to what you are experiencing. Hope for getting a good job still lives, and here are some things you can do to bring it to reality.
[See: 25 Best Business Jobs for 2017.]
Don’t take it personally. One of the hardest things about being rejected is confusing your feelings of not being worthy with the real message that someone else is a closer fit to the needs of the hiring authority for this particular role in this particular context.
You’ll almost never know how many people you are competing against, or how their background compares to yours. It’s likely that multiple people in any candidate pool are capable of doing well at any given job if they are given the opportunity. And it often comes down to shades of difference between applicants.
It might be that the person who gets the job has just a bit more experience doing some key element of the role. Maybe the position is “hard-wired” for someone who already works at the company. Alternatively, it might be that you are already at the company and the boss feels the need to bring in some “fresh blood.”
When you take the rejection personally, you prevent yourself from figuring out what really is going on and moving ahead in a businesslike way to concentrate on nailing your next opportunity.
Always have alternatives. Remember that until you have an offer letter in your hands, the employer still has the possibility of selecting someone else, or even letting the job stay vacant. You have every right and responsibility as a job hunter to continue submitting your resume and interviewing with other companies until you accept a particular offer.
The strongest negotiation position is always to have credible alternatives to the job at hand. This way, when you are in final negotiations, you have considerable leverage. By the same token, if things fall through, you aren’t back at square one. The loss will sting less, and you’ll still be able to focus on your alternative job interviews.
[See: The 25 Highest-Paying Jobs That Don’t Require a College Degree.]
Figure out what went wrong and improve it. If you are “always a bridesmaid but never a bride,” it demonstrates that people see you as being quite capable of functioning well in the kind of role you are pursuing. But, somehow, you are likely making one or more small errors along the way.
Few employers will provide constructive feedback to you about this, so it becomes incumbent on you to do your best to reconstruct all your conversations and analyze your interactions. Perhaps something you said was taken to mean something that you didn’t intend. Maybe there was a moment in the conversation when you forgot to make an important point, or perhaps there was another reason your progress was halted.
Use rejection to better understand your own value. Perhaps you want to make a big career change. Some people are very successful at doing that, while others don’t necessarily have the transferable skills to make it happen. It may be worth making the effort to see if you have what it takes by putting out several “trial balloon” applications.
If you don’t get traction in your new dream field, it may be time to recognize the rejections as a form of feedback. Determine what you are missing. Perhaps taking some courses or doing an apprenticeship will make you a more attractive candidate.
And, at a certain point you may need to get the message that despite your desires, you just aren’t going to be seen as a good fit in your desired field. In cases like this, the underlying message of the rejections is that it is time to be looking for something else altogether.
[See: 14 Best Jobs for Work-Life Balance.]
There is almost always another opportunity around the corner. No matter how much you fell in love with a given job and think that this is “the one” for you, don’t become so infatuated with it that you forget that we all can be good fits for multiple positions and that there are always new jobs coming onto the market just as others are filled. There is no such thing as the “last possible job,” so remember today’s rejection may pave the way for tomorrow’s even greater opportunity.
Happy hunting!
More from U.S. News
The 25 Best Social Services Jobs of 2017
7 Excellent Sales and Marketing Jobs for 2017
5 Things to Remember When You Don’t Get the Job originally appeared on usnews.com
