The Biggest Challenge With Job Searching: Rejection

By Isabelle Garreaud on February 29, 2016

My photo

It is time to talk about the biggest challenge you will face when applying for jobs, but it is not what you think it is.

Most college students have little experience when it comes to applying for internships and/or jobs. In high school, you might have worked at an ice cream parlor or fast food place to earn some cash over the summer, but you probably didn’t need a well-tuned resume and cover letter to get the job.

Coming to college, you are finally taught more useful life skills — things more relevant than the Pythagorean theorem — such as how to properly apply for jobs. Once we decide what we want to do with our lives (we basically have four years, so no pressure …) we start by getting the experience we will need to actually do the job we want. We create a LinkedIn page with hopes that we can be annoying enough to attract the attention of potential employers and search the endless job postings Google has to offer to find companies that are hiring college students in the industry of our choice.

After we find an internship or job that a) we qualify for (entry level will be your new favorite phrase), b) is during a time and location suitable to us, and c) is for an employer we would actually want to wake up and work for, we begin the application process. Remember applying to colleges in high school and how stressful it was to fill out all those applications? How it was almost worse than taking the SATs?

Suffice it to say, after applying for jobs, you won’t think that senior year of high school was all so bad. Luckily, though, most universities provide career services to help you land an internship/job. From there on out, you learn how to write the perfect ONE PAGE (counselors are very specific about this) resume and how to not ramble in cover letters. After going through the application process the first time, it becomes easier as you start getting the hang of it. Soon enough, writing convincing people to hire you won’t seem so hard to do.

Of course, the process does not usually end after you submit your final application. That would be too easy. If employers like what they see, they oftentimes want to see you in person. There is only so much your career counselor can help you prepare and so many mock interviews you can do. Eventually, you are going to have to put on the professional clothes your mom bought you and go answer a bunch of questions with answers that tell the employer you are the right person for the job.

To be honest, it is quite nerve wracking to sit across from someone you are probably meeting for the first time and talking about yourself in the most professional manner and pretending like you are well versed in their company background.

After we have submitted our application, and after we have done the interview, all we usually have left to do (depending on what you are applying to, you could also need to submit sample work) is wait for the call or email telling us the final decision. We are all taught the do’s and don’ts of writing cover letters, the best way to construct them, how to ace the interview and other useful tips on landing an internship/job.

What we are not told and what is the biggest challenge you will face with applying to jobs is rejection. Whether you get a formal letter from the company stating that they “regret” to inform you that they will not be hiring you or it is clear they are ghosting you (not replying back, hoping you interpret that as a rejection of your application), it is not news you like to hear. In fact, it can be very discouraging to receive rejection after rejection.

Career counselors spend so much time trying to prepare you for the application process that they do not give you any advice to cope with what to do after you’re all done with it. It’s even worse when you keep waiting and waiting for a reply, but never hear back from them.

Honestly, I would rather the rejection letter than being ghosted. It’s like when you ask your crush out and all you get back is “read 12:37” and then you question your worth because you wonder why did they reject you? Even if the company is nice enough to tell you that they are rejecting you, they don’t always explain their reason (besides the “sorry, we found better candidates” speech). The point is, rejection hurts, but it shouldn’t stop you from continuing to apply to jobs.

It is important to realize that employers get many applications, just like colleges do, and they cannot accept everyone — someone will always have to be rejected. Don’t take it personally; there is nothing wrong with you. You may have submitted a good resume and a well-worded cover letter, and showed your best self at the interview, but companies take risks in hiring new people and they may have thought that you simply weren’t the right fit.

The Beatles were rejected by Decca records when they auditioned, Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter was originally rejected by publishing companies, and the list of famous people being initially rejected goes on and on. They prove that it may not always work out in the beginning, but that doesn’t mean you should give up. Keep trying, keep applying to jobs you want and eventually someone will accept you, I promise.

The bright side is all those rejections aren’t a waste because, in the process of applying for jobs, you gain a lot of experience in job searching. You figure out how to spice up your resume, and get more comfortable with the interview process.

In the end, it was all meant to be. I mean, what would the Beatles have become if George Martin wasn’t the one producing them? Trust me, before you know it, you will get a job offering, then birds will sing, and the sun will shine, and you won’t even remember those rejections anymore.

Follow Uloop

Apply to Write for Uloop News

Join the Uloop News Team

Discuss This Article

Back to Top

Log In

Contact Us

Upload An Image

Please select an image to upload
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format
OR
Provide URL where image can be downloaded
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format

By clicking this button,
you agree to the terms of use

By clicking "Create Alert" I agree to the Uloop Terms of Use.

Image not available.

Add a Photo

Please select a photo to upload
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format