We are all hardwired to take rejection very, very personally. In our everyday lives, being told “no” is something that we are not comfortable with – and for good reason. Being denied of something we intended on getting can be an upsetting and even unsettling experience for most people. People spend more time fantasizing about all the positive outcomes which could result when they get their way in contrast to preparing for scenarios where they were unable to get what they want.

Hence, when we get rejected within any part of our lives, our first instinct is to take blame someone or something. Most people choose to blame themselves by over thinking about what they might have done wrong in order to achieve the state of rejection, while others do what humans do best and simply pass the cause of rejection towards anything other than themselves. Both these approaches, while embedded into our psyche, are not productive and can result in further distress and even worse, render us unable to recognize what really went wrong.

Let’s look into certain productive ways to deal with a job rejection.

Consider it a Learning Experience

Not all experiences are good, and not all learning is fun – however, if you consider the little things you gained during the failed recruitment process, it would be easy to observe what went right and what could have gone better.

For instance, perhaps your interview had certain moments which stood out in terms of allowing you to express yourself in a positive way while also including times where you might have lost momentum. Learning from these moments can allow you to ensure that your future interviews fare better, and actually lead towards a successful outcome by the end of the day.

Gaining feedback after a failed recruitment run might feel tricky, but it is always wise to get in touch with hiring managers after a job rejection in order to gain an insight into what went wrong – these areas can then be worked on and improved so that they are unable to cost you opportunities in the future.

Understand that Rejection is a Part of the Process

As bitter as it may feel at first, rejections are fairly common during any hiring process. Consider how you were not the only one applying for the job opening, and how the organization in question was only interested in choosing one (or a few) candidate from a pool of many. In that sense, everyone who applied for the post and was not chosen happened to be in the same position as you.

Remember – you are not alone!

Future-Proofing

Bear in mind that it is always a good idea to have an alternative strategy, or Plan-B, when it comes to job searching. Never rest all your hopes and dreams in one unpredictable basket – instead, distribute the risk of rejection by keeping a backup. Applying to more than one organization, or keeping your mind open to the idea of joining another company should the initial one fails could save you a lot of personal stress and time in the long run.

Don’t forget, no is always an answer and it is in your best interest to spread the risk of rejection across different organizations,