Picture this:
You've been to the interview or assessment centre for your dream job and are now waiting with bated breath for the outcome... You are constantly refreshing your inbox and checking your phone. Then it arrives, the dreaded "thank you but this time there were candidates who had more relevant skills or experiences"
Close, but no cigar!
So what do you do? Well, this week I came across some interesting feedback from Bath students and graduates which offers a flicker of hope. Below I would like to share job hunting experiences of two students (names and personal information has been altered for confidentiality purposes).
Student A
Situation: Student A had a telephone interview with a well known Energy firm in December 2014, at this stage they were told they weren't going to progress their application further. Student A had successfully passed the aptitude tests and their application had clearly made the right impression.
Approach: Student A is still job hunting and decided to contact the employers who had rejected their application. A simple email explaining that they were still looking for work and utilised the follow up opportunity to ask if they could be considered for other roles in the company. Student A also listed relevant experiences they had gained since their telephone interview in December.
Result: 3/4 of the organisations Student A followed up with replied and two have asked Student A to undertake a telephone interview for a different role in their company.
Learning point: be creative in your job hunt, you might just surprise yourself.
Student B
Situation: Student B had been to an assessment centre at a Bank in February 2015, at that time they had applied for a back office analyst role. Student B didn't receive an offer.
Approach: Student B was proactive in asking for feedback and took the opportunity to send a thank you note to the recruiter. Student B also connected with said recruiter on LinkedIn.
Result: completely out of the blue, the recruiter got in touch with Student B and explained an opportunity had come up in the technology division. The student was put in touch with a graduate trainee currently undertaking the technology role to find out more about the division and the day-to-day work. Student B thought the technology role was interesting, accepted the offer and is now waiting to receive a contract. Luckily Student B didn't have to reapply, interview or attend another assessment centre.
Learning point: don't narrow your job search and keep an open mind.
So the moral of these two stories? Rejection is a natural part of the job hunting process. It is important not to get depressed and instead to act in a strategic manner, turning the disappointment into an opportunity. Remember that the rejection was for a single job and not for all future opportunities that may appear at the same company.
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