By Kathleen Furore
You’ve not only landed an interview with the company you’ve always wanted to work for – you knocked that interview out of the park. But, alas, the call or letter saying someone else was chosen for the dream job arrives. What is the next step to take? How can you move on with the job search without feeling like a failure?
Dr. Eli Joseph, author of “The Perfect Rejection Resume: A Reader’s Guide to Building a Career Through Failure” and faculty member of Columbia University and Queens College, says, “It is never easy dealing with rejection from a job that you always wanted … but how do you know that was an actual dream job? When you apply you almost always will think, ‘Is this the job for me? I feel like it is!’ What ends up happening is that you talk yourself into believing a certain job is ideal. It may very well be but there is also a chance that it is not.”
That still doesn’t negate the fact that your confidence has taken a hit.
“You left the interview feeling like you were invincible. Now, you’re devastated because you just found out you didn’t get that dream position,” says C.T. Price, CEO of Life Grows Green. “But you’ve still got plenty of options!”
Here are just a few options career experts recommend:
- Review the job description. “Analyze whether you might have a few more gaps in your skill set that likely lead to you being passed over,” Price suggests. “Sometimes, a strong interview can make up for a lack of experience, but many times it cannot — especially when there is an even stronger candidate vying for the same position.
- Reach out to the company. “It is important for you to get feedback so that you work on closing the last-step gap in your next interview,” says certified executive coach and life coach Smita Das Jain, who suggests emailing HR and your interviewer to express your gratitude for their time and consideration.
“Convey your thanks for letting you know their decision and mention that you would like to take the advantage of obtaining feedback from them so that you can learn and improve,” she continues. “Stress that you will be grateful for their valuable inputs. Chances are that not only will you get the feedback, but the interviewer and HR will remember you and reach out to you when the next suitable opportunity arises.”
- Don’t give up. “Never give up! It’s always worth reaching out to the hiring manager with a well-constructed message to ask for a second chance or an opportunity to represent yourself again,” concurs Paul Banoub, a leadership consultant at Productivity ACE, who has been hiring people for more than 20 years.
“Most of the time you’ll get a ‘no,’ but I have seen it several times where a rejected candidate ends up getting the job after showing their determination and persistence. And even in cases where the second answer is a ‘no,’ I always try and offer more feedback and development opportunities to help the candidate come back stronger next time. In fact, I recently hired someone that I rejected a couple of years ago, but they stayed in touch with me, listened to the feedback I provided and came back as a much stronger candidate. That was great to see.”
- Use the experience to your advantage. “There is so much that you should be learning from failures that lead you down the path to something greater. The single greatest tip I can offer you is to use your failures to craft your dream job,” says Joseph, who suggests doing that by determining eight things:
- What you like
- What you dislike
- What you presently are unqualified to do
- What you are qualified to do
- What brings you challenges that excite you
- What brings you challenges that deter you
- What you can do better
- What you are great at
Realize your interview skills, skill set or experience (or lack thereof) might have nothing to do with the hiring decision.
“It could be that company policy requires them to interview a certain number of applicants before offering the job internally. The decision might have already been made before you interviewed,” Price says. “The important thing to remember is that finding the right job for you is a process; one that you shouldn’t abandon until you find the absolute right fit for where you’re at in your career”.
– Kathleen Furore is a Chicago-based writer and editor who has covered personal finance and other business-related topics for a variety of trade and consumer publications. You can email her your career questions at kfurore@yahoo.com.