How to Deal with Rejection

How to succeed at seeking jobs

Let's start with a familiar story

You've been actively searching for a role online, and suddenly you see a job ad for a dream role in your dream company or gig. You read the job requirements. Boy! You’re suitable for this job!

You get tinkering, dust off some of your resumes, review them, get them vetted by friends and your mentor, choose the best one, fill the form with a compelling cover letter, and submit. You get an email almost immediately, they like you, but you must complete a few stages.

The first stage is an assessment test of your skills, it's a challenge to prove you are knowledgeable about the role. You go through the test, O wow! Quite a stuff but in the end, you made the 80th percentile. O yes! That means you passed.

After a few days, you get a congratulatory email for the test you just took but not yet, hold up! You still have a couple of interviews to do to make sure. So the time is set. You prepare like your reading for your final exams.

The first interview comes, it is technical, you’re asked really pressing questions about that field but you answer them. After the gruelling session, your interviewer/s is/are impressed. You really proved you are knowledgeable in that subject and they see potential. The next day you get positive feedback, it's up to the final stage.

Now, you are at the final interview. You are excited yet a bit apprehensive. This interview is quite chill unlike the last. It’s probably with the CEO or an HR rep. They tell you about the vision and mission of the company and ask you some personal questions about yourself.

You must be feeling, “Mehn this job is finally mine!” You start dreaming about the clothing you would rock in church when you give testimony when the interviewer brings you back to the reality that they send you a response in a few days. You wait excitedly. This would finally be the one!

Only to get this!!!! Emotional Damage!!!

Yep! It’s a rejection letter! Probably the 2 millionths in a role (just exaggerating) We've all faced rejection probably in careers, business, education, relationships etc… Las las everybody will chop breakfast!

But Why? What went wrong?

Not really.

Is rejection a bad thing? Probably not, but staying in a state of continuous rejection or feeling bit down about a particular rejection isn’t the way forward.

There are a particular group of people that keep getting rejections on a regular You’ve probably been praying and fasting for a turnaround. You’re probably regular on either NLP or NSPPD or Prayerrain screaming at the top of your lungs for a turnaround.

How do you overcome rejection?

Strategy #1: is to do an evaluation. You can ask the company why they rejected you and if they are kind enough some might answer. Resist the urge to cry or beg, and take the feedback with acceptance and humility.

Strategy #2: Build an outstanding profile for yourself online. If you are a professional in a skill like UI/UX, you need people to know that too Take to social media, post your work, and talk about your thought process and the problem that you built/designed/wrote solved.

Strategy #3: Join a network of growth-minded people who are striving in the space. A great to do this is by joining Discord channels, Slack, Twitter and WhatsApp A community will connect you to a pool of experience to learn from and more opportunities.

Bonus Tip: If you want a second shot at it, you can also contact the employers directly. You can contact an employer through their official LinkedIn profile. As a rule of thumb, be straightforward and concise.

Finally, believe in yourself, pray continuously and remain focused. Consider yourself a learner with a lot of potentials and get grinding. Remember in the end, what will matter more is how much you’ve grown and not whether you got accepted or rejected at a job.

See you at the top!!!

The article is brought to you by Dome Academy, a community that equips young people with technical and collaborative skills so that they can be able to lead successful careers in tech and entrepreneurship. If you want to be part of the community you can join using this link → https://bit.ly/join-dome