How to Handle Employment Rejection Letters
No one likes to be rejected. We love acceptance. Something about feeling wanted, included. When we are rejected, it can be one of those very painful emotional feelings to endure.
When we receive an employment rejection letter, it can really take a knock on our confidence. Especially if we have been receiving a few of these.
I remember witnessing Chuck receiving an increasing number during an extended period of unemployment.
Here was a man who could previously leave a job on a Friday and have a job waiting for him on a Monday. Not that he made a habit of that of course, but you get what I mean. Now, due to redundancy, he was now faced with a closed door behind him with no smell of a prospective job in sight.
Chuck did all the fine tunings of CV/Resume, interview practice, interviews, and so on, yet it seemed that the more he tried, the more the rejection came. In fact, we joked at one point that he could wallpaper one of our rooms with the number of rejections he had received!
So what do you do, when the email or letter arrives with the all too familiar words with ‘I am sorry but on this occasion you were not successful!’. Do you bawl your eyes out, crawl under the bed never to emerge again or just move on to filling in the next application?
Here are a few tips I learnt from Chuck:
##1 Don’t take it personally
A rejection letter does not mean you will never work again. You got to get that into you.
Even as the numbers were climbing, even as the years were rolling, Chuck did not give up or give in. The fact that he kept applying, the fact that he kept going to interviews meant that Chuck believed that he always stood a chance of getting back into work. It was a very admirable stand to take. I know Chuck had flexed his faith muscles on his long walk to freedom from mental illness. Somehow, I think this had put a quality of tenacity in him.
The fact that you have been rejected once does not make you an undesirable element. It is very easy to take rejections personally but don’t be tempted to go down that slippery route at all. Your self worth has not changed.
##2 Remain positive
This brings us to the next point. As hard as it may seem, being negative is not going to help you. I know that sounds like preaching to the converted. However, you have to remain positive even though the words in the letter are negative! Let others around you encourage you. Your friends and family can help with that.
Sometimes Chuck would say, ‘They just missed out on the best guy for the job!’. Chuck firmly believes in the power of words and never would you catch Chuck confessing the wrong things.
##3 Against hope believe in hope
In the Bible, there is a story of a man called Abraham whom the Bible notes, against hope believed in hope, that he would have a son even though the conditions looked dicey. Even though a company has said no to you, does not mean they will not consider you again. If a new application came up in the same company that rejected him, Chuck would still apply! In fact, he applied in one company three times and eventually got employed there. So there you go!
##4 Improve yourself
Once you are in the right frame of mind, do an honest critique of yourself. Get someone who is not so close to you, someone who is not a spouse or a close friend, to honestly look over your CV/Resume, or do interview practice with. Consult a careers adviser who can help you figure out where you may be missing the point.
Ask the employer/interviewer for a feedback and examine the reasons. Sometimes there are no real plausible reasons when you read between the lines. And remember what is the ideal candidate for one company may not necessarily be for another. Also remember there may be an internal candidate that filled the role even though you performed excellently! And remember too that companies have cultures. Sometimes they are looking for a particular personality to fit in. You can’t be all things to all men!
However, that should not stop you from taking on board what has been said and addressing those ‘issues’. Brush up on your skillset. Do a course. But make sure you turn the negative into a positive. Keep learning, keep abreast and keep developing yourself.
##5 Look for the positives
Look at this time as a new season. Look for the positives. Even if you are ‘just doing newspaper rounds’ pushing the local paper into letter boxes to get a few dollars out of a dime, look for the positive in that. You are learning a new skill. It could even be a new personality trait being developed such as humility, patience and tenacity which we spoke off earlier. Be thankful for these life skills. Life skills go a long way in making us great leaders of tomorrow. Nothing learned or experienced is ever wasted. Don’t see this season as a dry season but one filled with opportunity. Look forward with renewed hope.
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