I had a friend who told me that she once took a class where students were assigned to deal with rejection. (A slightly cruel assignment I might add!) To aid in dealing with rejection students were assigned to go to some social event with lots of strangers and ask ten strangers on a date. (I never asked what would happen if all ten strangers said yes.)
Well, I've never done anything that drastic, but I'm learning to deal with rejection. Here it is: I've applied to eight jobs. I've received five rejection letters, two no-responses, and one come-in-for-an-interview. I went in for the interview, but did not get the job. This could get depressing after awhile, but it's also becoming normal. (Oh dear.)
I must say being rejected for a job holds a lot less of a sting then being personally rejected. When a person rejects me, it is ambiguous (personal rejections rarely come with explanations), but when I get another "thank you for your application, but..." I usually can explain it to myself that my competitors are probably just better candidates. There is not much loss in saying that. I know I'm young, inexperienced, and a non-PhD holder.
I am grateful for the one job interview I did have. It proved that hiring committees are not monsters (they can be genuinely nice people), and it proved that I could interview without falling into the blather-nonsense mode or absolute-silence mode (both stunning ways I deal with stress).
So I'm back in the saddle again today and applying for my nineth job. (This is where the cowboy music starts up. Yipee, kai yeah!) As the proverb goes, "If you fall off a horse, you have to get right back on it." I did have to battle a little voice today that said--applying for another job is useless, and really do you want to get yet another rejection letter? So sure, getting back on the horse isn't easy, but my foot is the stirrup and here it goes again. Wahoo!
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4 comments:
Sorry about the rejections... Hang in there!
Thanks :). I'm trying to practice "waiting on the Lord"...Though I'm not always 100 percent successful in regards to patience.
Dear Julie,
You are a very lucky person. You are young and have some experiences for the positions that you are looking for.
I have had two opportunities for training over the past six years. The first was accounting bookkeeping training. I sent out over 110 resumes and had three responses. Out of those responses, were responses: we could use you if you had some experience. The old age question: How do you get experience without some work?
The next episode was PTEC training or Process Technician Training. I sent resumes to the major industries refineries, chemical plants, water treatment sanitation districts. I even had a resume coach. This was a brand new training that was free of charge. I was able to be counted among the 30 fortunate souls out of over 450 applicants for training. All the resumes led to grueling hours long written screening examinations, followed by multiple group interviews. Although I had the top grades in training, on testing, and even made it to the semifinals, I was NOT one of the chosen few.
The main reason I came to conclusion was AGE, (most of the candidates that got hired were in their mid 20s or early 30s.) I was not a VETERAN, a lot of those that got hired were veterans. I was not a WOMAN, some of my female training classmates with clearly lower grade standings were hired for more training as part of diversification. I was not of the right RACE, some of the companies had a quota system: 40% white, 40% black, 15% hispanic, and 5% asian. The two asians were veterans not citizens by birth but citizens as a result of going into combat in the recent wars and gaining automatic citizenship.
It was disappointing to hear the recruiter enthusiatically tell me how great I did on the exams and how she wanted me at their company and when I showed up for the interview, the odds were already stacked against me: I was the only one above 50 the rest were 30 and below. For the three positions available, three young people and myself, guess who got those positions?
I am not bitter but realistic in that the employers have a fiduciary duty to hire people that will fulfill their employment goals as they define them and to fulfill "diversity goals" for their company.
So, you have a great future in what positions you are interested in because of your age and experience. You may not be able to control your race, but at least your other factors work in your favor.
I will continue to keep you in our prayers.
ET
Hey Ernest, thanks for sharing your story. It makes my "numerous" rejection letters look small. I've been blessed so far in this process by so many people cheering for me. Just yesterday a church member (a teacher) told me about how God provided work for her after school started.
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