Dealing with rejection

Being faced with rejection after attending an interview can be a depressing and demoralising situation. Many people can feel that they have put all that effort in only to be told they are no good.

Often, employers will interview a number of people who could all do the job, but have to make a decision on just one person. It may even be hard for them to explain why and their decision may have been based on gut instinct or how easily the conversation flowed.

Reasons for rejection

Remember, rejection does not mean you were rubbish. It doesn’t mean you were no good for the role.

Common reasons include:

• A perfect candidate was interviewed at last minute and pipped you to the post.
• Although excellent, you may not have enough experience in an important area.
• The employer thought you were a strong candidate but not quite right for this particular role.
• Upon reflection, the client felt the commute would be too far.
• The interviewer did not feel enough enthusiasm for the role.
• Not quite enough proven experience.

Get feedback

When faced with rejection the key thing is to remain positive and learn from the experience. Ensure you ask why you were not offered the position and gain as much feedback as possible. This feedback will be useful for your next interview and will give you a better understanding of your strengths and weaknesses. If the feedback is mostly positive then ask to have you CV kept on file and keep in touch. Who knows, they may be in touch again in the future with a different role that is perfect for you.

Stay positive

Whatever you do, do not act negatively. You must ensure you leave a positive and professional impression. You may have been very close to getting the role and the preferred candidate may change their mind in a week’s time. Being negative ruins your chances of any future work with that employer. If you're applying through an agency this might make the recruitment company think twice about putting you forward for another role.