Rejected for a job? Figure out your next steps & identify your growth areas 🪴

After waiting for months, you finally get an email back from the job recruiter. You eagerly open it only to see,

"After careful consideration, we regret to inform you that..."

Rejection can feel discouraging. I know because I've had to read countless of these emails myself. You might have heard from others that you should learn from your failures.

But how exactly do you learn from these generic rejection emails?

Don't worry! You can learn from rejection and improve your chances of getting hired next time.

Take some time to first process your disappointment. Being in a poor emotional state makes it difficult to learn from your experience.

Ask yourself: "How am I feeling today? How have I been feeling this week?"

Rejection can be tough. Try not to blame the company or take it personally. Sometimes luck can play big role and it might not have anything to do with you or your ability.

We want to reflect with curiosity, not judgment. Ask yourself: "What can I learn from this experience to improve my chances of success in future applications?"

There are many ways to become a more attractive candidate but here are some main areas to consider:

Skills and Qualifications

• Do I have all the qualifications and skills I need?

• What are some core skills I'm missing?

Application Material

• Did I follow instructions carefully?

• Does my CV highlight all the skills/experience they are looking for?

Interview Performance

• Did I confidently present myself during the interview?

• Was I specific about my past experiences?

Company and Culture Fit

• Am I a good cultural fit for this company?

• Do I align with the company's vision and mission?

To learn how to assess if a company's culture is a good fit, read How to Find Out if a Company is For You.

To get a better perspective on our areas of improvement, it's important to receive feedback from others. Share your cover letter and resume, or practice simulating the interview so that they can give you quality feedback.

Here are some ideas for people who can give you valuable feedback:

• mentor/career coach

• someone working in similar roles/industries

• colleagues or peers

• job interviewer/hiring manager

Photo by Scott Graham on Unsplash

Yes, you can ask the hiring manager or the recruiter! It can feel scary but it shows your commitment to growth.

For more information on how to do this, check out Harvard Business Review's recommended approach to how candidates can respond to rejection emails to improve future hiring chances.

Once you've taken time to reflect and gathered insight from others, you can start looking for patterns.

• What are some common themes among feedback?

• Which feedback stood out to you? Why?

• Have you made any observations about what's been working well for you?

You don't need perfect insight — you just need a good hypothesis that you can test in your next round of applications.

Maybe after reflecting and reading other people's feedback, you noticed that you...

• didn't highlight a core skill for that role

• gave vague responses during the interview

• forgot to add keywords from the job description

You can test these hypotheses by trying them out and see if your success rates change!

Now that you have some ideas on areas of improvement, it's time to put them into action.

Write down some specific actions you want to take to improve your next job application. Here are some examples:

• refine your cover letter body section

• spend more time researching about the company

• practice situational interview questions

Identifying growth areas doesn't guarantee that you'll get the next job. But each time you reflect, gather feedback, and put them into action, you're gathering valuable insights for future success.

Lisa wants to be a data analyst. After multiple rejections, she worked up the courage to ask the job recruiter for feedback, she learned that her portfolio didn't demonstrate her proficiency in SQL, a database management language.

Turn these experiences into a valuable learning experience!