Job rejection can really dent your confidence and sometimes it can be difficult not to dwell on it. Especially if you were at the last hurdle (final interview) or it was your dream job! It can be easy to exacerbate the situation by focusing on this rejection as a ‘failure’. But really it just means you weren’t right for the job or the company wasn’t right for you. After all, job rejection is a normal part of the job search process. 

Things To Remember After You Have Experienced Job Rejection: 

It’s important to thank the interviewer for their time and ask for feedback! It’s so important to see where you are coming up short or if it’s just a bad fit for you. Sometimes you can be rejected due to the interviewer’s gut feeling which can be harder to come to terms with as there is not one deciding factor which you could work on to improve. It’s important to think about the other opportunities out there and to pick yourself up to still perform to the best of your ability. 

You’re not the only deciding factor 

In companies, things can change quickly. This is completely out of your control and a decision is rarely based solely on your performance. If you were well prepared and tried your best, there is nothing more you could have done. 

No one lands every job they apply for.  

 
It’s normal to face rejection in any job search process. Our brains are programmed to focus more on the negative than positive communication. However, it’s important to understand this happens to everyone and is an important learning experience. 

What’s The Most Common Reason For Rejection? 

Technical knowledge 

Interview style (Make candidate’s nervous) 

Other rejection reasons include: 

You’re not right for the job, internal politics has changed the actual role, discontinued it, lack of budget or even placed an internal staff member in the role. 

When you’ve faced constant rejection from jobs is when you must develop some resilience. 

Learn From Your Rejections and Gain Constructive Feedback 

The number one thing to remember is rejection is NOT feedback. Ask your recruiter or contact the hiring manager to develop a better understanding of what went wrong. If you fail to get feedback as hiring managers can be busy, try to be objective about your performance and understand where you went wrong. But don’t overthink it, if you’re an overthinker, I’d suggest not thinking about your interview (easier said than done). 

When you receive a rejection email, Josephine from Forbes has described it as being told: “you’re not good enough”. Developing resilience and asking for feedback can only position you as a stronger candidate in the future, thus increasing your likelihood of landing the next job you want. 

As this is a blog post about dealing with rejection, here are some motivational quotes which can inspire you to understand this rejection has happened for a reason. 

“A Rejection is nothing more than a necessary step in the pursuit of success.”

Bo Bennett 

“I take rejection as someone blowing a bugle in my ear to wake me up and get going, rather than retreat.” -Sylvester Stallone 

“We all learn lessons in life. Some stick, some don’t. I’ve always learned more from rejection and failure than from acceptance and success.” – Henry Rollins 

Attending Another Interview After Facing Rejection 

This will be a different company with different hiring processes. You should have learnt from your prior rejections(s) and face it with a fresh perspective, a great attitude and a positive outlook. Learn from your past rejections and stay motivated for the future.  Keep up to date in the market and continue your learnings to keep you in the loop. 

If you’re still in the pursuit to find your dream job, why not view all our jobs or get in touch [email protected]