It’s not personal…

It’s hard not to take every rejection letter personally.

Wait, let me back up a bit.

Being downsized is a roller coaster of emotions.? From heartbreak to indifference to fear and everything in-between.? It doesn’t matter if you loved or hated your job, being downsized is tough.? Every step seems to magnify all those emotions.???

When you have your first request to schedule an initial screening after many (hundreds?) of applications hope blossoms and you start to feel that your value is recognized.? And during that initial screening when you’re asked a question about some technical tool that you have never heard of?? You feel useless and dumb.? Then you find a new job posting that seems to be made for your skills, and you once again start that upward emotional climb again.

The hardest thing to get are those anonymous rejection letters.?

I know it is impossible for a company to read through the hundreds or thousands of applications that they receive for one job posting.? I get it.? But when I read the posts from fellow job hunters that have been looking for months - 3, 6, 9+ months - it is hard to not let it impact you.? The fear starts rolling in and I begin to question my skills.

And the roller coaster starts all over again.? That’s when I have to remind myself; I am skilled, I have value, I would be a great contributor for those positions that I am applying for.??

In our work world we have all had rejections where projects were halted or ideas didn’t work - we can handle that because it is work and it is not personal.? When you get a rejection letter for a job application that you put yourself out there to be reviewed and judged it feels like a personal rejection.??

It’s not personal, even if it can feel like it.

Going forward I’m going to use a different name for those anonymous rejection letters. ? I shall now deem them “It’s not you, it’s us…” letter.?

It is me, I’m too good for them.? It’s not personal.