Coping with rejection
Your interview went well and you thought the job was in the bag... but you've just heard that you didn't get it. Read on to find out how to cope with job interview rejection, turn the situation around and use it to your advantage.
‘Hello, it’s Sally Smart here from Laura, Croft and Croft. Thank you for coming in to interview 17 weeks ago, we enjoyed meeting you… but I’m sorry, but we won’t be offering you the position.' The natural reaction is to slam the phone down and enter into a good week or so of not moving from the sofa and eating comfort food. But there’s no need for such things.
Rejection happens to everyone
OK, we may all know an exception to that statement. The perfect prefect from school who waltzed straight into Oxford, followed by a big blue-chip graduate scheme and now has his own jet. But for the vast majority of people, even many current CEOs and directors, interview failure happens. If you get one positive out of ten applications, for example, you are doing extremely well indeed. Whether you are used to rejection or not, being told you’re not good enough hurts. You need to be strong enough to take the knocks and learn from them.
Interviewers are big shots, they’re successful, they’re… only human too, actually.
Interviewers aren't perfect. It can be easy to be overawed by the men and women who sit at the other side of the interview table. They’re big shots, they’re successful, they’re… only human too. And as such can make mistakes, and have their own likes, dislikes and foibles. The interview as a method of recruitment is therefore flawed. They may just not like you. They may have a set person-type in mind that you just don’t fit. You may look like an ex that they really don’t want reminding of… Of course there’s no way of knowing these things, but just take it on the chin and move on. You don’t want to work for people like that anyway…
You may still get the job!
OK, you’ve been informed you haven’t got the job but you felt the interview went really well. Most people just leave it at that, but it’s still possible to get a job from this situation. You could ring up the employer to state that you were very impressed with them at interview and, should their chosen candidate not work out or should a similar position arise, you would be very interested. You could even ask if they know of any similar vacancies for other companies – they may know of some on the grapevine, and you’ll lose nothing by asking. Or simply ask about their stated choices for choosing the other candidate. ‘More experience’ is the most common reason, so ask what experience the successful candidate had, and then you will learn how to improve your own performance.
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