What to Do After a Job Rejection

Many people deal with job search rejection at some point during a career. The trick remains to turn a negative experience into a positive one by taking several actions shortly after you receive the bad news. Even if you aced the interview process in your mind, there still may be some details for you to consider before moving on to the next opportunity.

If you don't find ways to improve after a rejection, then the same pattern of behavior may happen over and over again until you learn how to finally ace the interview process and land your dream job. The reason for taking action remains the fact that you get agonizingly close to the goal after multiple interviews only to be told "thanks, but no thanks." Just as you would after winning a silver medal, try to figure out what you could do differently to win the top prize.

Allow Yourself to Feel

Start by allowing yourself to feel angry, upset and disappointed about the job rejection. Then, find an activity to release the negative emotions and move on to something else.

Express Gratitude

Call one of the interviewers and tell that person "thank you" for the time, effort and consideration shown towards you. The very fact that you got to the interview in the first place means the interviewers respected your work ethic, skills and experience. Try not to take the rejection personally, as there could have been many other factors that led to another candidate getting the job. Your network can still turn up great leads, so try not to burn any bridges by showing anger towards the interviewers.

Assess Your Plan

Honest assessments of your interview skills don't always present themselves. However, you can control how you work your plan moving forward. Talk to a career coach or a recruiter to find out how you can improve. Don't be afraid to ask for help from colleagues, mentors, friends and associates.

Find a Better Path

A rejection may simply alter your career path a little. Instead of dwelling on what you could have gotten, move forward to something better. You might have to take a lesser position at another company, but you may see a faster job promotion within a dynamic team at the next company.

Change the Search

Narrow or broaden your search to include other avenues of employment. Do you feel the rejections could be due to a disconnect between your skills and goals? Perhaps you need to find a different type of position than the one you have been trying to get for so long.

Look at Statistics

Find better opportunities when you look at what careers and industries have good job outlooks. Some sectors of the economy may present better chances for employment than others, so be wary of companies that may need a lot of quality hires.

Work Your Personal Brand

Take to social media, and work your personal brand. Write blogs, connect on LinkedIn and get your name out there for people to see.

Try not to let rejection get to you. Yes, it remains hard to find your dream job in a competitive labor market. However, the correct job presents itself eventually if you open yourself to the possibilities.

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