Some More Thoughts on Rejection

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I completely understand wanting the job applicant in question to be ready to accept the job if you offer it -- but there's a difference between leading the applicant to believe they have the position with phrases like "you're our first choice right now" and "it's just a matter of protocol to interview remaining candidates, so keep your schedule open." This last position I interviewed for and didn't get never used those phrases, but other positions I have interviewed for have. I don't even allow myself to get excited about a possible position because of recent experiences. Fool me once and so on.

While we're on the subject of job process phrases that I don't like to hear, let's talk about the rejection process. I can usually feel it in my gut before it happens. I just knew this time because it had taken so much longer to hear back from them than usual. That little voice in the back of my head said "they've offered it to their first choice and are waiting to tell you until after they've accepted" which is fine. If I'm your second choice but your first choice turns it down and I never know that's how I got the position -- I'm totally okay with it. Let's talk the worst phrase used to "let someone down easy" : you were a really close second.

I don't know about everyone else, but I'm a highly competitive person. When you tell me I was a close second I feel like I made a mistake somewhere, maybe if I had said more on some topic or less on some topic I would have won. That's how I view everything -- in terms of being able to win. So now I'm replaying every interview trying to figure out where I stepped out of bounds or made a fielding error. What caused me to come in second? Was it something small or some large glaring error that I made? Was I too confident? Not confident enough? Did I laugh at something you didn't mean to be funny?

That being said, it's back to the drawing board. Maybe that new MLS team in Atlanta will need a community relations person and they'll realize I'm really good at that! Do you have any "rejection phrases" that really get your goose? [I don't actually know what get your goose means, but I think it applies..] 

1 comment :

  1. Sometimes it's not that you did anything wrong, it's just that they were looking for something different. Lots of people get hired even though they have no business getting the job, simply because the hiring person also has no business doing their job. I've seen it happen so, so many times! Keep your head up!

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