Would You Hire You?

So many of you are out there in the market competing for jobs. Prior to the unemployment rate increasing, HR departments were very good at communicating rejection to job seekers. If you applied, received an interview, typically you received a phone call or letter to let you know the status of your application. Today, not so. Many job seekers interview for a job, and then go home and wait by the phone. Unfortunately, the waiting may seem eternal when you don’t hear back from the organization one way or the other. So my suggestion is to prepare for rejection. It is inevitable if you are seriously pursuing job opportunities. Here are three ways to help you prepare for rejection.

First, as you work your job search strategy, plan for “no”. In a perfect world, you would get a job offer every time you meet with an organization, but that is unrealistic. You are not going to get a job offer every time. So plan for it. Prepare yourself mentally so that you don’t allow discouragement to creep in. Every “no” is an opportunity to make an adjustment and keep moving forward in your search.

Second, keep your pipeline full of potential job opportunities. Don’t allow yourself to put all your hope on one job. If you have an opportunity to interview for a great job that you believe was tailor made for you. Find another one. Give yourself options so that if the opportunity doesn’t work out, you still have other opportunities where you are competing.

My third recommendation for you as you handle rejection in your job search is to learn how to self correct. If you are not getting job offers and no one is willing to give you feedback, than you have to learn how to assess the interviews, get input on your resume/cover letter, make minor or major adjustments and stay in the game. Self correction takes the anger and frustration out of the rejection. Look at your self with an objective eye and ask yourself of you would really hire you based on your responses, your resume, your experience, etc.? If you wouldn’t hire your self than why should anyone else?

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