First, know that receiving a Job rejection email doesn’t mean that you’re worthless. You’re way more valuable than you think.
At the turn of 2020, when all hopes were hinged on the anticipation of what could be the best year of most people’s lives, the surge that swept across the globe rendering many people jobless would kill such hope — the covid-19 pandemic.
While people moaned and lolled in dismay at the misfortunes triggered by the pandemic, some people took the opportunity of remote job hunting.
Remote job hunting has been the trend since 2020, but the agony it comes with when your job application is unsuccessful can be more stinging than death.
“Hi, Amanda
“Thank you so much for taking your time to apply for the role of a content writer at Blez company. We know how much time and energy a job application takes. After carefully considering your application against the requirements of the role, we’ve decided not to take your application further. We wish you success in your future endeavours”.
OR the most common
“Hi, Peter,
“Thank you for your interest in the position of social media content manager at Glaspin company. Unfortunately, we will not be moving forward with your application, but we appreciate your time and interest”.
These messages can be very demoralizing, and when you receive more than 20 of these messages in a month, you would feel as if you’re the definition of worthless.
You’re not!
I had been the proud recipient of those demoralizing messages in the past, so I will give you 8 tips on what I did to ensure that those messages never weighed me down. You can choose any that works for you.
They are:
- Reply to the rejection mail immediately
- Talk about it with someone who has higher experience than yourself
- Joke about it with a friend
- Reapply for another job immediately
- Go through the job description to belittle the job
- Go out and have some fun
- Pre-determine your expectations
- Move on! Don’t think much about it. I’ll tell you why
Reply to the rejection mail immediately
When you get a rejection mail, you can raise the bar of your curiosity by replying to the rejection mail immediately. This would help you inquire why you didn’t get picked from the company. Most times, if not all the time, you won’t get any response from them.
But replying to the rejection mail will make you let the bad energy and shock received by the mail flow out and give you that relief needed to remind yourself that it’s just a little stain, nothing too serious.
Talk about it with someone who has higher experience than yourself
Talking about the mail rejection with someone with in-depth knowledge about the job and its basic requirements will help you not feel too bad. It might even be of great help to you in the future.
How?
When we receive job rejection emails, sometimes it’s due to our fault. We may have the experience required, but we do not have a properly drafted résumé that serves as proof that we match the job description. Here are some excellent links I found to help you create that standard résumé likely to land you that dream job:
LINK 2 (HUMAN SERVICE) — with careful consideration of your skills
Joke about it with a friend
When you receive the pop-up notification and realize it’s one of those insignificant job rejection mail, start laughing. Yes, you heard me. Start laughing. If you’re with a friend, make a joke about it. If you’re not with a friend, place a call to a friend and crack a joke.
My story:
“What’s up, Frank? So you know that job I applied for, the content writing job. They just sent me their usual anthem. I’m not surprised, they can’t afford me. They’ll probably settle for someone with lesser experience that matches their wage bill…”
Jokes make you feel at ease.
Reapply for another Job immediately
Another piece of advice is once you receive that insignificant email, don’t ever let it cool off your steam. It is meant to galvanize you to reapply for another job. There are a host of companies out there looking for your unique services. Don’t let one insignificant email kill your spirit and make you lose that opportunity to land your dream job?
I applied for a job once, and I received an insignificant email. I went straight to LinkedIn, and I applied for two more jobs. One week later, some people contacted me for not just one interview but two interviews.
You may have been rejected by one, but that doesn’t mean you’re not good enough for ninety-nine.
Go through the job description to belittle the job
When I started remote Job hunting, this was my tactic, and it worked for me. I received five daily insignificant emails. When I received the notification via email, I went back to their job description, and I realised that their offering was poor:
“– You are to deliver between 2 to 3 articles a day
– You are to deliver between 1000 and 1500 words of each article
– You will be placed on a fixed payment of ₦20,000 ($50)”
And then I asked myself. How on earth did I apply for such a job. How and why?
Sometimes the job description might not appear like mine, but try to find a fault. It always helps.
Go out and have some fun
It might seem depression is creeping in when you’ve received up to 15 rejection emails in a month. This is because you have chosen to let such insignificant emails get the best out of you. To free your mind, go out and enjoy your beautiful time.
Trust me; you’ll forget about it when you start having a good time.
Pre-determine your expectations
This strategy works best for people who love to plan their life. If you’re a proper planner, then before you click “apply”, weigh the chances of getting the job on a scale of 10. That way, you won’t feel dispirited if you don’t get the job.
Some advice: always go below a 5 on a scale of 10. And never raise all hopes, even if you’re the best fit for the job in your books.
Move on! Don’t think much about it
Lastly, When you get insignificant emails, 99% of the time, it is not because you’re not good enough. It’s because you applied late, and someone else has already been onboarded to fill that position.
Sometimes, you might see over 200 applications for a job requiring only two persons. Crazy right! Let me share something useful with you.
I know a friend who served as a hiring manager who told me about her experience hiring. Her company needed only one person to fill a role immediately, but over 400 applications were sent in in less than 48 hours. She reviewed the first 70 applications and slated the best 7 for an interview. Once she was done, she began processing insignificant emails to those rejected.
The 330 applicants that had their applications overlooked due to the volume of applications received within a short time for a position requiring immediate filling would probably feel that they were not good enough. Unknown to them that the hiring manager never reviewed their application.
And even when most companies assure you that they review all applications, in all honesty, they don’t.
It’s not easy to review over 1000 applications, especially in a short time. So why let it weigh you down? Move on!
Last Note
How to handle constant job rejection has no basic rules. Still, if you follow any of the strategies I’ve provided above, I assure you that the insignificant emails won’t mean a thing to you as they never meant anything to me.
PS: Between January and April 2022, I received over 1000 insignificant mails, yet I never gave up. So don’t give up job hunting. Your dream job could be waiting for you.
Thanks for reading
Feel free to share with me via the comment section which other completely new options you’ve employed after you received the insignificant mail. I’m open to learning more.