5 Ways to Bounce Back
You open the mailbox and there it is – the letter you have been eagerly anticipating from your dream company. After some second-guessing, you summon up the courage to tear the skinny white envelope and cautiously extract the letter. Reading the few carefully typed, dispassionate words sink both your hopes and spirits. You feel it is the end of the world.
Rejection is a hard pill to swallow, whether it is delivered to your mailbox or inbox. But the stunning blow of rejection letters does not have to be life-shattering. Just as recovery from an illness is dependent on treatment and the patient’s attitude, you too can survive with the right tools and a solid determination to persevere.
Here are 5 steps that help you bounce back in no time.
React: It is easy to allow rejection deals a blow to your self-esteem. Your resume is an extension of who you are, so it is difficult to not equate a rejection letter as a rejection of you as a person. A key to overcoming rejection letters is to recognize them for what they are – business. When an employer writer “your resume does not fit our current needs,” it is the truth.
Take a little time to feel disappointed about not making the cut. It is perfectly natural to feel bad. Call a friend up. Schedule an appointment with a school counselor. Shake it off by exerting yourself physically. Allow yourself a day or two to react, but do not obsess about it. The less you dwell on negativity and the more you emphasize future goals, the better.
Reframe: After an endless array of submissions it is easy to feel your efforts are in vain and you will never land a job. Take a different perspective, however, and you could banish much of the pain! Learn to see all those rejections as a rite of passage nearly every job seeker has to go through in order to earn his or her stripes. Visualize yourself as among the few who will persevere, and make it – if not to the peak, then far enough to admire the view.
Revisit: Sit back and take stock of all the things you have accomplished. Motivate yourself with past successes. If you don’t have a list of past successes, make one. Remember previous hurdles you have overcome, and what you’ve learnt in the process and focus on the future.
Revamp: Look over your resume: is it a drawn-out reciation of past job descriptions? Everything you need to say can be said in a page or two. This means taking the time to slice, dice, and shave your resume until you have expunged every shred of excess flab. Invigorate your strong points and accomplishments by using action-packed verbs to describe your daily job/volunteer duties and activities.
Resubmit: From a statistical point, you are not alone in getting knocked back – in some occupations, applicants can expect 30 or more rejection letters before getting an interview. In order to success, you must embrace one of the most important tenents of job searching: persistence. Landing a job isn’t always about being highly accomplished, as much as it is about those who consistently search markets, refine their resumes and persistently submit and resubmit. Submit to the most desired organization first, but hold in reserve a list of other companies in the event of rejection.
And finally… replenish: All work and no play keeps the good life at bay. Take heart in the fact that you are doing the best you can and try to squeeze at least a few hours of fun or physical activity with friends and family. Engage in activities that take your mind completely off from the grind. The time away from the trials and tribulations of a job search will help you come back replenished, ready for another – and hopefully definitive – round.
