{"id":82904,"date":"2014-10-17T08:00:43","date_gmt":"2014-10-17T13:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=82904"},"modified":"2014-10-16T20:00:42","modified_gmt":"2014-10-17T01:00:42","slug":"dealing-with-rejection-during-the-job-search","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=82904","title":{"rendered":"Dealing with Rejection During the Job Search"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Rebekah Kati, Senior Assistant, INALJ North Carolina<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Dealing with Rejection During the Job Search<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"RebekahKati\"<\/a>One of the few certainties in the job hunt is that you will receive a rejection letter. Or two. Or\u00a0hundreds. These polite but ultimately vague missives can be discouraging to even the most\u00a0seasoned job hunter. As the rejection letters pile up, so does the frustration and feelings of\u00a0doubt, which can be poisonous to your job search. What, then, can you do to help ease the\u00a0sting of rejection?<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t take the rejection personally<\/strong><\/p>\n

Take a minute and remember that the rejection is not a reflection of you, although it may seem\u00a0that way. As the wonderful Alison Green of Ask a Manager writes, \u201cThere are all kinds of\u00a0reasons why an employer might seem really enthusiastic about you but still not offer you the\u00a0job, but the most common is that they genuinely did think you were fantastic, but someone\u00a0else simply ended up being better. There\u2019s generally more than one strong candidate for a\u00a0position, especially in this market.<\/a>\u201d You don\u2019t know who else applied for the job and what sort\u00a0of intangibles the search committee might have been looking for that informed their decision.\u00a0Many candidates who apply for a position will have similar qualifications and experience to you.\u00a0Also, the search committee needs to consider whether a candidate will mesh with the existing\u00a0culture of the department, which is difficult to identify during the initial application screening\u00a0process. Therefore, you shouldn\u2019t view a rejection letter as a negative comment on your\u00a0qualifications and abilities. Even if your application was great, someone else was the better fit\u00a0for the position.<\/p>\n

Try to distance yourself from your job applications<\/strong><\/p>\n

An unfortunate aspect of the job application process is the emotional investment that job\u00a0seekers experience as they imagine how their qualifications fit the ad. It is hard not to get\u00a0attached to a job, especially if it is especially appealing to you and you\u2019ve gone through several\u00a0rounds of interviews. However, emotional involvement in the job search process will only\u00a0increase feelings of rejection, so try not to invest in a job during the early stages as much as\u00a0possible. The best advice given to me during my job search was to put the job out of my mind\u00a0as soon as I submitted the application. Each interview offer became a pleasant surprise and I\u00a0could more fully focus my attention on the interview instead of on my other applications.<\/p>\n

Take a break and think positive<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dwelling on rejection can often make you feel worse. After receiving a rejection for a job\u00a0that I really wanted, I like to take a break from applications for a few days and do something\u00a0that I enjoy. Self-care is extremely important<\/a> during the job hunt and shouldn\u2019t be neglected.\u00a0Remember to take some time to take care of yourself and your needs, so that you don\u2019t dwell on\u00a0the negative feelings which can cloud your confidence and sense of self-worth. Rejection letters\u00a0are difficult to receive, but they shouldn\u2019t consume your thinking.<\/p>\n

Find a supportive group<\/strong><\/p>\n

Remember that you are not alone. The job market for librarians and library-adjacent jobs is still\u00a0poor and your friends and colleagues are also being rejected from jobs. A supportive group\u00a0of friends can help ease the sting of rejection and help you prepare for the next application.\u00a0Librarianship is a very helpful profession and many librarians are willing answer questions about\u00a0your job search. Check out the INALJ LinkedIn group<\/a> to get started.<\/p>\n

Keep applying<\/strong><\/p>\n

Although rejection can feel overwhelming, don\u2019t give up! The right job is out there somewhere,\u00a0waiting for you. It may take awhile to find – my last job search took almost three years – but it\u00a0will come. Use rejection letters as motivation to keep applying to find the job that\u2019s right for you\u00a0and stay positive!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Rebekah Kati, Senior Assistant, INALJ North Carolina Dealing with Rejection During the Job Search One of the few certainties in the job hunt is that you will receive a rejection letter. Or two. Or\u00a0hundreds. These polite but ultimately vague missives can be discouraging to even the most\u00a0seasoned job hunter. As the rejection letters pile…<\/p>\n

Read more \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":57201,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[145],"tags":[69,3592,3627,266,4340,4794,3952,4689],"class_list":["post-82904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","tag-article","tag-blog","tag-inalj-north-carolina","tag-job-search","tag-job-searching","tag-positivity","tag-rebekah-kati","tag-staying-positive"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/RebekahKati.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1WoMK-lza","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=82904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82904\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/57201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=82904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=82904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=82904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}