How to Stay Motivated While Receiving Rejections in Job Search?
After setting foot into the practical world, job hunting is the first priority of the majority of college graduates. However, the acceptance of a dream position may not be as easy as had been thought of. The application may not be entertained, maybe rejected after a few initial assessments or before the final call. And all that left is the feeling of being ghosted after all the emotional and physical efforts have been put to make that almost happen.
The duration of this emotional and physical draining cycle while dealing with job hunting can last from a few weeks, months and even to years. The most difficult aspect to deal with during all these struggling times is to keep oneself motivated and never give up on job hunting.
Dealing With Rejections in Your Job Search
Dealing with rejection during a job search is a process that depends highly upon the changes made to the job search methodologies. The healing process can be time-consuming and tough to deal with if the rejection call is a typical response.
As per several psychological experts and therapists, the rejection from a particular job position can lead to as much depression as any other typical rejections in life. In order to deal with this depression, the job searching process needs to be redirected towards the human being itself instead of focusing and spending both energy & time on resumes, covers and application forms.
5 Ways to Stay Motivated Despite Getting Rejections
Rejection is an inevitable part of the job-hunting process. Instead of becoming a part of the self-victimization and self-pity cycle, the trajectory needs to be shifted towards a strategic approach. The hiring processes are often time-taking, gruesome, emotionally exhausting and out-of-control of the prospective employees. Hence to gauge the future opportunity better in one’s favor, let us discover the 5 tips behind keeping oneself motivated while dealing with job rejections:
1. Accept What is Happening in Your Life
Acceptance is the first step toward resolution. Dealing with job rejection requires self-determination, resilience, efforts and acceptance of the fact that life is not always a bed of roses. After going through the hiring process, appearing for tests, going through rounds of interviews and by the end, being awarded the rejection letter is the hardest part to deal with. One often ends up with a spiral of self-pity episodes with dumps of vulnerability and disappointment befalling upon. In the end, the process not only leads to a constant feeling of dismay but also prevents one from locking wonderful opportunities in the future.
To achieve a dream position that is worth having, the best strategy is to accept the rejections and move on. With acceptance comes the power to feel empowered and to adopt constructive approaches for attaining opportunities. Moving on enables a person to treat the bygones as bygones and adapt to the changing circumstances for better prospects in the future.
2. Address Your Problems
Reflecting on the mistakes and shortcomings that happened during the previous job applications and especially, after job rejection, helps one with paving a path towards a successful future. Taking an honest overview of the previous job application strategies helps one with identifying the loopholes in the process. One needs to look at aspects such as the realistic expectations on behalf of the employer, the skills and expertise required and the level of qualification. If the resume fails to overreach any of the aforementioned points, then it is time to reconsider the application strategy.
One needs to look out whether or not one is overreaching to a particular position or even sound desperate to the recruiters for avoiding further job rejections. For those who want to change their career, addressing the pain points becomes even more important as vulnerability is often more admired than welcomed.
3. Don’t Take it Personal
Just because some company or organization decided to award an appointment letter to another candidate, that does not mean that they prefer him or her over anyone else. Also, it does not mean that a particular rejected person is any less good than others. A rejection letter or call may carry hundreds of other meanings than being caused by any kind of personal grudge on behalf of the recruiters. Often the hardest thing to compete with when it comes to qualifying for a particular position is internal or employee-reference candidates.
Job rejections are never a statement about credibility, intellect or personal view of a particular candidate. Rather, the decisions are made logically in correspondence with the job post requirements and the ebb & flow of commercial rules. Hence, one must never think of job rejections as personal attacks as they are never consciously taken by the recruiters.
4. Ask for Feedback from Others
Whenever one is rejected from a job position through a call or letter, it is often advised by career experts to thank the person and ask for the opinion or reason behind rejection. It will help one in clarifying the actual facts behind the rejection, such as being not qualified as per the expectations, lacking in a particular skill, under or over-qualified in terms of experience, to name a few.
The feedback on behalf of the employer and recruiter often helps a candidate in overcoming their lacking points and securing better positions in the future. Furthermore, it also leaves a positive impression with the prospective employer or manager and often ends up forming a better relationship in the future.
5. Learn and Keep Moving Forward
Job rejections are no doubt hard to deal with and often leads to depression for a number of candidates. However, if dealt with properly, strategically and in an optimistic manner, they can be turned into valuable learning lessons and a powerful asset for the future. Though they may seem like an end of the world, they are often considered an actual turning point by a number of successful people.
One must ensure not to let go of the momentum, keep the spirits high, learn from the mistakes, keep on applying and one day, the match with a perfect job will be achieved!
