A positive response to rejection can reap later rewards -- Career Center Blog

October 1, 2012

A positive response to rejection can reap later rewards

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By Randy Woods
NWjobs

Like the quest for true love, the course of a job search usually takes people down a series of dead ends and disappointments before a desired destination is found. According to career coach and author Orville Pierson, the average job seeker will be rejected by about 24 employers before getting hired.

Along the way, job seekers must learn how to handle such rejection, sometimes in the cold, clinical form of a mass email. Or, even worse, the overworked hiring manager will send no word at all, leaving the job seeker hanging indefinitely.

As difficult as rejection letters can be, they can also be turned into a small positive if you react to them in the right way. Here are some rules I have about the various ways to respond when the dreaded "Dear Applicant" letter hits your in-box.

Be nice. Rule No. 1, of course, is to never go negative; to do so can be career suicide. Even if you've gone through six interviews over four months with the same firm before getting the boot, always resist the urge to tell them off. Speaking your mind may feel cathartic, but the only result that can come of it is resentment on the part of the interviewer (plus a confirmation that they chose wisely) and a bad reputation for you in your industry.

Do nothing. For the majority of rejection emails, especially those that come from the "do not reply" addresses, the best response is to just let it go. Most of these notifications come from automated systems and have very little connection to any human contact you made during your application process. If you only sent in an online application and received one of these emails, you didn't make the hiring manager's short list, so any further contact wouldn't help much. Move on.

Send a thank-you letter. If, however, you did have a formal interview or some kind of face-to-face contact, it's usually a good idea to send a quick note thanking the interviewers for showing some initial interest. As a thoughtful applicant, surely you have already sent a thank-you note immediately after the interview, but I think that another note after a rejection is still called for. Don't go into too much detail; you don't want to annoy them with unwanted attention. Just acknowledge that you appreciate the time they set aside to meet with you. Small professional courtesies like this could prompt them to contact you again down the road if another position opens up.

I can remember at least two occasions in my career when a position was filled at a company I worked for, but the new hire left within a couple of months. In both cases, the second-choice candidate was re-contacted and hired for the position. Keep those lines of communication open.

Ask for feedback. If you have been to more than one interview with a company and were later not selected, definitely send a note back to the hiring managers thanking them for their time, but also ask them if there is any advice they could give you about your future job search. By the second or third interview, you've probably developed some kind of rapport with the interviewer, so you might be able to receive some constructive criticism about how you can better present yourself. You might not hear back from them, but by being inquisitive, it shows that you are dedicated to continuous improvement in your career.

Invite them to join your network. Remember that any hiring manager — even one that said "thanks, but no thanks" — can be a great addition to your network. Invite them to connect with you via LinkedIn or follow their Twitter feed. These connections can help carve a path to other positions in the company or elsewhere in your industry.

Also: Remember that networking works both ways. If you know of people who might fit the job descriptions for other open positions (preferably jobs you're not also interested in), give the hiring manager a recommendation for a potential candidate. By focusing on the needs of the hiring managers, your name will likely remain high on their list for future openings.

Randy Woods writes about job-search tools, networking techniques and other tips to help you land your dream job.

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Paul C. Loehr | December 8, 2012 6:31 PM | Reply

Yes Randy, A bunch of deaD END ROADS, and more disqusting for the fact that most of the jobs that I applied for and was interviewed for the job and wait around for the STATE dEPARTMENT OF TEXAS TO MAKE A SELECTION ONYL TO FIND THAT I WAS NOT HIRED. QUALIFIED, aND WORST OF ALL, WHAT ISN WITH THE HIRE THE VET PROGRAM. REALLY THINK THAT IT IS MY AGE, JUST GOT A LETTER FOR THE APPROXIMATE 30 TIMES FOR A JOB THAT I WAS TURNED DOWN AGAIN, YEA, RIGHT HIRE A VET, GIVE ME ANOTHER ONE.