We regret to inform you that we have chosen to proceed with other candidates for this role,” this might be the worst letter to ever receive after waiting for so long for a job offer that you have anticipated. Rejection letters are really mood spoilers, and sometimes they make a lot of people give up on the job hunt they started, it can also make a person lose their self-esteem especially if the letter doesn’t explain why they have been rejected. The good news is that after being rejected for the job offer you have been dreaming of for quite some time, you can change that rejection into an opportunity. James Nkundimana, a Human Resources and Admin Manager, says that rejection doesn’t mean the end. “There are many types of rejection, the email rejection or the face-to-face rejection and both are equally hurtful, in so many cases when a person is rejected they feel sad that they just want to leave the interview immediately or close the email and never open that again. But that rejection can be an opportunity, not necessarily one to get you the job but the one to inform you on what you could have done differently.” Nkundimana continues, “After an interview, if the recruiter gives you the answer right after, yes feel sad but also have the courage to ask them what made them think that you are not the candidate they wish to proceed with. No one will ever refuse to give out that information and if they are scared to hurt your feelings they can give suggestions on what to change next time you get the same offer whether in their company or in any other company. Asking is always a great tool of learning about the mistakes and correcting them.” Henriette Munyana, a Hiring Manager at a shipping company, says that although rejection is bad news people can find a way to turn around the situation. “You can always find a turnaround when you receive a rejection, it can be persuasion or a follow-up, if you receive a rejection you can email the hiring manager later and express your interest in the job and ask for another chance, that is if you are really interested in that job because if you are not you might also end up being fired from it if the manager decides to give you a chance. Your interest and passion for that job might be a chance to have an interview again and also a chance to be more prepared than before,” she says. According to Top resume’s article, an online career guidance blog, turning job-search rejection into a major career win is also another way of making a rejection into an opportunity. “Viewing rejection as a good thing doesn’t happen overnight. For some rejections, the positive reframing may take a long time, or may never happen at all. Successful candidates allow themselves the time to process the temporary defeat, learn from it, and look for cues that the decision could possibly be less permanent than it seems. They also take control over sprinkling positive interactions and experiences into their everyday lives. Another effective strategy is to actively seek out examples of other people’s “favorite failures” that have turned out to be blessings in disguise,” the article notes. According to another article by Recruiters, an online blog, after the initial emotions have died down a bit, take some time to step back from the situation to assess your particular skill set and the job in more detail. Double-check that your qualifications and those required for the job were a precise match. Think about your interview performance. Can you think of any questions that stumped you or tripped you up? Were there aspects of your education or job experience that you should have mentioned but didn’t? While reliving a fresh rejection experience is never pleasant, what you can learn from the memory can help you become a better self-promoter and overall candidate. Once you determine your interviewing shortcomings you can apply your new knowledge to future interviews.
