4 Things Job Rejection Teaches You

By Allie Mitchell on January 26, 2017

You’ve applied to many jobs and now you are waiting to hear back — impatiently at that. You get a few replies back from employers who want to interview you, and you couldn’t be happier with the progress you are making. Interviews may not mean you have the job entirely, but they are a means to a good start.

Then you see that you have an email from an employer with a job you have been really wanting — the job that took the most time to apply for and the one that you have been waiting to hear back from. You click to open the email to find that it isn’t what you hoped for. It isn’t an invitation to interview, but a rejection letter. You feel extremely sad and like the employer didn’t give you a chance to impress them in person.

Job rejection emails or letters are usually pretty short and sweet and go one of two ways. They either tell you that they went in another direction with the job offer or that you just didn’t meet the criteria they were looking for. Sometimes, jobs don’t even notify you when you aren’t selected so you are forever in the dark.

Getting a rejection letter is never an easy feeling and it is something that everyone goes through at least once in life, especially when you are trying to find a job once you become of age to legally work; no one seems to want to give you a chance. Well, it doesn’t get any easier, even when you have experience under your belt.

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The wonderful thing about rejection letters, as ironic as that sounds, is that they can teach you something — maybe not a lesson you want to learn, but in the end, you can use that rejection as something to strengthen you for next time. Perhaps that job wasn’t meant for you or just maybe there is something you could have done better that would have made you a more sought after candidate. You thought your personal statement was great, but maybe it needed a second layer of proofreading. Even rejection can teach you something.

1. Don’t be a fake: Sometimes we go into job interviews pretending to be something that we aren’t. We pretend to be something that the employer would want. Believe me, dedication is a good thing, but lying isn’t. Ultimately, that’s what you are doing. You aren’t being yourself; you are being someone that you think they would like. That can only mean that if they hire you, they aren’t hiring you for you, but for the person that they think you are.

Do you think you can pull off that façade for the duration you hold that job? I don’t think so. And honestly, why would you? Be you and if they don’t like you, then the job wasn’t meant for you. Period.

2. Confidence is key: Interviewing can be intimidating, to say the least. You can clam up, go blank when asked a question, stutter, start sweating (a lot), etc. When you are about to go into the interview, take deep breaths and tell yourself you can do this.

Confidence is one thing that every employer likes in their employees. They want to know that you know what you are talking about and that you honestly believe in your abilities to do the work. I think they can live with some slight intimidation, but remember that they were in your shoes once and if they are a good employer, they want you to just feel good about yourself fully.

3. Improvement, improvement, improvement: As I said earlier, what you think is perfect may not be as perfect as you think. Maybe your resume needed a bit of a touch-up or maybe you should have elaborated more when they asked you about your past experience. Maybe you should have remembered to take that negative about yourself and turn it into strength somehow.

Everything can do with some improvement, even when you think it’s perfect. If you get a rejection, sometimes employers are willing to let you know how you can improve for another interview you may have. You have already been rejected by the company, so what do you have to lose by asking them how you could improve?

4. Rejection: the silent blessing: Lastly, sometimes rejection could quite possibly be the best thing that ever happened to you. Did you ever think that maybe that company just wasn’t right for you? You could have been miserable there and wanted to quit immediately. Sometimes things happen to us and we realize that certain jobs would have gotten in the way of what’s happening at the moment. You never know, so try to move on and move forward with life, putting rejections behind you.

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