Here I go, dreaming about the swashbuckling life I could lead while I am in between jobs. At times, I am weighed down with moments of fear of the unknown. I wonder where my next paycheck is coming from?
I job search on job boards like www.linkedin.com or www.indeed.com and drop my resume into the abyss of resumes of thousands of other job seekers, wondering what the fate of that attached file will be. Will someone’s eyeballs actually skim my resume or will I just not have the right keywords to be picked up by some resume software? Was there already an internal candidate down selected and for compliance purposes, the company just needed to open the position up to the public? Who knows. All I know is the all too familiar rejection letter that states, “thank you, but we will not be moving forward”. You’ve been rejected, and you feel dejected. I’m no stranger to this world. I’ve been here many times, so the moments aren’t as worrisome as they were in the past, but I am human.
I awoke from a dream, actually a nightmare, that I was interviewing for a job at a company I formerly worked for. It’s the second time I dreamt that I was interviewing there. I grabbed my phone to check what new emails had arrived while I was asleep, and there it was — an email from the hiring manager of a company I had had a third interview with. I started to read it and the words actualized my bad feeling. I didn’t get the job.
Except this was different. The hiring manager actually wrote the note as opposed to receiving a canned message from HR or worse yet, no response at all. It read as follows.
Really appreciate your time last week and your patience as we worked through the process on our end. We very much enjoyed the conversation and certainly believe you have a qualifying background for the role, but we will be moving forward with another candidate who we believe betters aligns from an industry perspective (which is very niche).
If nothing else, we received around 300 applications last time I checked, and we narrowed it down to around 5 (you being one of them)…so certainly just an extremely refined applicant pool.
Best of luck in your search and praying for much success in your next endeavor.
It was the best rejection letter I’d ever received! In fact, at the time of the interview with the hiring manager, he had told me that they had about 250 applicants, so it was already nice to know that I was plucked out of a pile of that size. My confidence was already boosted! And now to learn that I was the top five out of 300, well, I didn’t have that deflated feeling. I felt proud to have made it that far. I remember what has always happened before. You can’t keep my down. I always come back and better. So look beyond that rejection sign and see the beautiful blue sky with pillowy clouds — opportunities — that lie ahead.
With that, I will look forward to the next opportunity. Whatever you are, you will be lucky to have me.
Please share your thoughts here!
Keep persevering!! The right job for YOU will transpire and this was the right “rejection” letter you needed to keep your spirits and hopes up!
Most definitely! This is just the right boost to propel me forward!
That’s nice to hear that you were treated like a human at least! Keep firing off those applications. You only need one to stick. Wish you all the best 🙏
Hi AP2. It is nice to be treated like a human. I’ll keep trying!
Deanna, thanks for sharing your experience. Top 5 among 300 candidates in such a competitive market in the DC area is certainly something to be proud of! I know the right opportunity is there for you so keep trying. Best of luck my friend.