Interviews — a daunting process one must experience in order to land their dream position. The thought, and even the mere sight of the word “interview” is enough to make one’s heart race. But what is more intimidating is the possible rejection email that can suddenly pop up in your notification bar after an interview that you thought you did exceptionally well on. Sooner or later, you will find yourself drowning in disappointment and getting stuck in a rejection rut. Similar to any other form of rejection, it may be hard for a lot of us to move on and not take it personally. While the feeling of frustration and embarrassment still lingers even weeks after the disheartening news, it is necessary to look ahead and quickly rebound from them so that the long-awaited “Congratulations!” can appear in your notification centre sooner than later. Here’s some things to keep in your back pocket if you ever face that rejection slump:
Is this position really what you wanted?
This is undoubtedly an important question that we often neglect. Yes, I do admit that most of the time we seek out roles we are genuinely interested in, but sometimes we deviate from our goal-oriented path due to societal pressure and apply to something only for the sake of it looking good on our resumes. If this was your mindset going into the application process, chances are you might still be unsatisfied even if you end up landing that position since your heart is somewhere else. So, the next time you get a rejection email from these kinds of positions, you should be glad that you now have the freedom to pursue what your heart truly desires.
At least you gave it a try.
You have already taken a considerable step, battling self-doubts and anxious thoughts when applying and attending the interview, so pat yourself on your shoulder as you deserve it more than anyone else. There are many people out there who are still struggling and are too afraid to give it a try. Think about how you would feel if you did not apply to that position at all — the feeling of regret is not any better than disappointment. Your bravery should be honoured more than your failure, and we should refrain from magnifying the negative emotions to the point where they overshadow the positive ones.
Do not start questioning your abilities.
After getting defeated by the sad news, you might start to overthink and doubt your intelligence and abilities. But rejections and interviewers cannot define who you are, nor can they deny all of the hard work that you have put in. You have to remind yourself that there are too many qualifying candidates in this world that you are fighting against, and they probably experience the same as you. If every candidate starts to doubt themselves and struggle to move on from this episode of their life, I am sure the job market would be a whole mess, and no one would benefit from this outcome. One or a few interviewers’ decisions do not represent the entire working industry. Who knows, someone you never expected might value your qualities.
There will always be a “next time.”
New opportunities are constantly popping up, and the old ones will always repeat themselves. Take, for example, an executive position for a club that you are interested in: applications will probably be open next year around the same time period because people come and go. Getting rejected from a recurring position is not as bad as you think since you get the opportunity to practice before making a big move next year. Even though my academically inclined brain does not allow me to say this, I still have to agree that practice does make perfect, and failure acts as a stepping-stone for you to become the big fish in a small pond.
After all, there is nothing to be embarrassed about as everyone has or will experience interview rejection at some point in their life. Like what my family friend said to me after an interview rejection, “Maybe it wasn’t meant to be. Sometimes things turn out for the best.”
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