Dear Applicant 4 – Learn How to Take Rejection

Have you’ll seen the endless screaming Twitter account? Check it out, I think it will help.

We apply for jobs everyday, all candidates won’t be the applicant chosen, and you need to know how to deal with that emotion. I’ve had this happen a few times, when I was younger, I pretty much got every job that I applied for. Now that I’m an “adult” (crazy eye roll here) and I’m looking for a 2nd part time job just to make a few extra bucks, I’m overqualified for everything. To be fair, I’m looking for a job that will require the absolute least out of me, but, still.

Dear Applicant: We thank you for your time, unfortunately, we have decided to go in another direction.  No, just because we didn’t hire you, this doesn’t mean we are being discriminatory, and you might not receive a reason.

Story time, I had an applicant call a little over a year ago and said their application wasn’t being handled properly and wanted to speak with the corporate office, i.e. me. I took the proper information from the applicant, informed that person I would look into the matter and call them back later the same day. That afternoon my office phone rings and the applicant is calling back. Their words this time, “I haven’t been hired in a month and I’m being discriminated against” 

Now there is a part of me that really had to dig deep and ask myself, “Am I judging them because I’ve heard this before or is one of our locations really discriminating against this person?” I don’t want to become this harden HR person that I’ve heard of, but I also don’t want to be naive by any means. That’s another blog post for another time.

Back to the topic – rejection from a job, it is always a tough pill to swallow. When a candidate applies for a position and gives us all of the information we’ve requested, the HR department doesn’t take it lightly. We are trying to fill a position and add another great member to the team. If you had multiple interviews, or even just one, we know our team and you may not fit into the dynamic at this location. Not meshing well with the standing team is a real reason to lose the job that you, on paper, though was a perfect match.

I would love to find out why I was not selected for certain positions, but I know that’s not realistic for every company. As long as they inform me that I did not make the cut, I hate when companies don’t tell the applicant they didn’t get the job. Discrimination is a REAL problem that people are facing every day, just because you didn’t get a job offer, does not mean you’re going through it. Turns out the GM to this store was new and had hired all of the people needed to fill that position, hadn’t hired in a good month and informed the applicant of this when they turned in their application.

Not being able to fit into a company and its’ culture can happen or someone did have better qualities. It’s the reason for interviews, we are asking questions to find out how you would fit our team. You should take responsibility and think about your interview and or resume. What went wrong and how can you grow to become better for the next one.

Did you show up to the interview on time? No, you were 45 minutes late and had not called to say why.

During your interview, I asked you how long you were planning to stay with the company, you said, “Until something better comes along”. – It cost a lot of money to interview, hire, and train a new hire, just for you to walk out the door a month later.

Your parents joined you at the interview and answered all of your questions – I could write not only a blog post but possibly an entire book on how this 100% guarantees that you aren’t getting a job. – I’m not looking to hire your parent, nor am I looking to hire someone who really doesn’t want a job, but their parents are forcing them to find a job.

You had an awesome resume, but when you came for your interview you only answered with yes or no to my questions – once again, an interview is a conversation, if you’re just sitting there and not engaging, what will you do when the store decides to have 30 minute party to motivate the team?

Rejection is hard, especially when you really wanted to obtain this position. Reach out to people who can help you through the hiring process. Brush up on your interview skills, have your resume checked, do all that you can, to land the next job offer you receive.

Thanks for sticking around, I know this was a long post, but I hope you were able to take something away from it and come back better. If you have questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me. These are just my personal opinions and I definitely don’t know it all. I’d be happy to help you get in contact with some great pros that will help you in your search. I am currently working on a list of resources to post.

Until Next Time …

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