3 Major Reasons Job Rejection Can Be Good

One of the worst things that someone can hear is that they didn’t get the job. Rejection has a sting which no one enjoys! But there can be some good things about it if you use that “NO” like a tool for making your job search better. The idea is to take that situation and use it to gain the knowledge necessary to kill it in the next interview.There are more, but here are three reasons that job rejection can be good:

1. It gives you a chance to find out where you can improve. Most interviewers will have no problem explaining why you did not get the job if you ask them respectfully without arguing. Think of it as free career counseling and use it to focus on what to work on in your job search. Sometimes they will tell you that they’d like to keep your name on file for future positions as they open up and the only reason you didn’t get this job is because someone with more experience or seniority applied. Whatever the reason, this information is invaluable when it comes to tweaking your interview strategy.

2. It gives you an opportunity to learn from any mistakes. Maybe you really didn’t do that interview well, or you forgot to turn off your cell phone. Is your resume updated and appropriately designed for the job? Did you vent your frustrations with your previous job? Were you dressed like you cared about this position? This is a good time to find out where you missed the bullseye, so you can fix it for next time.

3. It gives you motivation to keep looking if you change your perspective. To paraphrase a famous quote by Thomas Edison, now you know that job isn’t right for you. Job rejections are like a search engine, narrowing down the choices by reducing the possible matches.

It’s tempting to put all your hopes on getting a specific job, but that is surely going to disappoint you if you aren’t offered the position. The reality is that many more rejections will probably be part of your job search because we rarely get the first job we apply for. Most of us have applied for jobs more times than we like to think about. Use these rejections to improve your skills and your resume: this is your chance to polish things up and that’s good!

About the author

Erin Kennedy

Erin Kennedy, CPRW, CERW, BS/HR, is a Certified Professional Resume Writer/Career Consultant, and the President of Professional Resume Services. She is a nationally published writer and contributor of nine best-selling career books.

   

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