As the graduate job market becomes increasingly competitive, it is a harsh reality that graduates need to develop a layer of tough skin and to learn to take the smooth with the rough. Cliche idioms aside, it is crucial that graduates foster the ability to handle rejection positively, to learn from their experience and to persevere in spite of the disappointments they may face.
Receiving a rejection is never pleasant and it can be all too tempting to wallow in self-pity, spending the following week searching for emotional comfort in the form of your duvet cover while cursing the cruelty and injustice of those who overlooked your application. While this response might be comforting in the short term, it would be far more beneficial to assume a pro-active mentality, batter away the blues and seek ways to enhance your employment prospects for future ventures.
The first thing to do in the wake of a rejection is to immediately make contact with the relevant company and to politely request feedback. Some companies may well be vague or will offer a generic excuse, however you may be able to elicit specific details as to what let your application down. With the help of this feedback you can address the elements of your CV or interview persona which you ought to alter and enhance to improve your chances for future applications.
Another constructive piece of action you ought to take is to write to a formal email or letter to the company, expressing your gratitude for their considering your application and urging them to keep you in mind for future vacancies. Whether or not your gratitude is sincere, companies will appreciate your diplomatic response and you will demonstrate a commendable (and employable) quality of determination which will stand you in good stead to be favorably considered for any new opportunities they make available.
The most important way you can respond to rejection is to look at it pragmatically and to never take it personally. The job application process is fraught with subjectivity; even the most suitable, hard-working, high-achieving candidates will be frequently overlooked and each individual employer will have their own personal set of criterion which you may fall foul of simply through bad luck. Rather than focussing on the negative, channel your disappointment into a form of motivation; for each rejection you receive send out a new application and eventually you will catch your break.
As disheartening as rejections might be, they are a feature of working life which absolutely everyone has to get used to. Graduates should always try to focus on the positive; acknowledge the experience as an opportunity to make it onto the company's radar, identify and improve on perceived weaknesses and finally endeavor to nurture an optimistic outlook which as a character trait in itself could further enhance their employability.
Graduates should approach job applications conscious that there is no guarantee of immediate success and with a resolute determination to persevere. As the over-used but all-too-accurate saying goes 'If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.'
