Interviews — How to deal with rejection
We’ve recently started to measure the candidate experience in our interview process. We’re early on in this process, but it’s proving interesting reading so far (see below). This survey is sent out to everybody that has an on-site interview at Lost My Name. It’s purpose to is to provide a platform to share feedback once the dust has settled post-interviews. As you’ll see from the graph below, we’re scoring OK, not great but not terrible. There are certainly numerous ways that we can and will improve.
I don’t ever expect to achieve full marks on these scores because a lot of people haven’t proceeded to the next interview stage either as a result of our decision making process or their own. However, it does give us an indication of how and where we can improve.
Looking at the results and comments, it really hit home to me the range of emotions that a candidate goes through.
Firstly, rejection is not a nice feeling. When you’ve had your heart set on a job, told family and friends and built up the excitement, it makes it all the more difficult to take. So what is the best way to respond and turn that rejection into a positive learning experience?
- Let it out — I’m not advocating a public display of outrage, but you need to release the anger/disappointment/frustration of missing out on that job that you really wanted. How?
- Write it down — how you’re feeling. How did you find the experience of interviewing? What you liked and didn’t like? Why you think you missed out on the role after all? How did it make you feel to be told that isn’t right for you?
- Talk to people — no doubt in the coming hours, days or even weeks you’ll speak to those close to you, recruiters, acquaintances and the topic will come up. You’re likely to receive the standard ‘it’s their loss’ or ‘it wasn’t meant to be’ or even ‘you should be proud for getting so far’….let’s face it, none of this really makes you feel any better does it? Find those that you trust and are willing to listen and talk through it, I promise you’ll feel better about it.
2. Give it time — I’ve been rejected for roles in the past, ones that I’d invested significant time in preparing for…it didn’t work out and that sucks. The initial feelings of being gutted, then annoyed, then slightly bitter are all part of the process. However, like with any feeling, they pass. My biggest advice is to not jump straight to the next thing, take some time to consider options and let the dust settle.
3. What did you learn? This is where you can turn a negative into a positive, share this experience with the company that you interviewed with. How you felt you were treated, what you enjoyed about the process. At Lost My Name, candidates can do this with the above mentioned method. Any company that is vested in improving its interview process and delivering a great candidate experience will be glad of the feedback.
4. Future interviews — consider the feedback you received from the company. What did you do well, where did you fall short? Leverage this and take it forward to your next interview. You’ll be more confident in yourself. If there is one thing that I value extremely highly from an interviewee, it’s someone who can talk through a difficult time/situation and show key learnings from it. Successes tell you so much about a person, failures give a real insight into character, resilience and courage. Some of the qualities that we value so dearly in our teams.
You may or may not agree with the advice given above and that’s fine. Everyone is different and will deal with awkward and difficult situations in their own way. What I hope you will agree on is that a negative can be turned into a positive and the initial pain and frustration can quickly transform into a feeling of personal growth and maturity.
I’d love to hear other people’s views and comments on this subject as it’s one often ignored when we thinking about hiring and interviewing.
