Job Hunt 50+ Blog

Episode 3: Lessons in Rejection Part 1

Author: Justin Paul

Welcome to the Job Hunt 50+ blog. Over the next few months I intend to publish a series of articles about the pitfalls and challenges of job hunting for the over 50s, using my own experiences in the 2024 job market to illustrate how to navigate this difficult market.

I'm now three months into my job search and in the past two weeks I've had three job opportunities reach the final stage only to be rejected. Sadly, in job hunting there is no prize for second place.

I've also set up the Job Hunt 50+ LinkedIn Group. Please feel free to join and post interesting material to other job hunters here.

The importance of rejection being done well...

When you are job hunting it's really important that rejection is done well. Done well rejection can be an important way of getting actionable feedback and helping you get the next job faster.

Done badly, it can be harmful. You can lose self-confidence, you can become depressed and it can make your next interviews even harder.

Sadly, in many companies rejection isn't done at all, particularly in the early stages of the process, you're just left hanging. I'm actually waiting for a response from my previous company, for a role I know I'm well qualified for but I'm now experiencing "radio silence". So two-weeks after an introductory HR interview, where I was told I was a strong candidate, I've decided to strike this opportunity off my list. I now know that they don't want to interview me, because they aren't responding to me, but it would be nice to be told this rather than having to work it out for myself.

"Ghosting" applicants can be the hardest aspect of the job hunting process to accept. I quite often see companies put this statement in their job advert:

Due to the volume of applicants if you do not hear from us you should assume that you have not been successful...

This feels wrong on so many levels. It tells me that a company lacks respect for the candidates that apply for their roles. It tells me that they don't value feedback, and who wants to work for an organization that never provides feedback? It also tells me that the company has problems with inefficiency, processes and is unable to use automation, all of which are not good indicators for a good place to work.

Remember, if a company performs badly when its trying to attract you, how is it going to perform when you're onboard?

Minimum expectations for job-seekers

As a minimum the applicant should expect:

1. Acknowledgement of their application
2. Rejection - Clear confirmation that they are not taking your application forward
3. A minimal reason for the decision

Companies that don't do this should automatically set alarm bells ringing. I know that some people will say, "They may have had too many applications to be able to respond to each individual application" to which I say, "Have you heard of email automation?"

There is no excuse for not acknowledging receipt. It tells the candidate that their application has been received. Its incredibly easy to automate a response to your application.

There is also no excuse for not telling a candidate that they are not being considered or progressed. I know that sometimes people do this because they like to keep candidates as reserves but actually there is no excuse for not closing off the opportunity at the appropriate time.

Providing a reason for rejection at an early stage may be harder. Candidates aren't expecting War & Peace, but some explanation would be helpful. Some honesty would also be novel...

1. Thank you for your application but due to us writing a very vague and open ended job advert we were inundated with responses and lost the will to live! Quite simply we haven't read your CV...
2. Thank you for your application we know we wrote a job description for a very senior marketing executive but we really wanted someone junior and you're too experienced for the role.
3. Thank you for your application but you failed our "salary expectations question" in the application by entering your actual salary or a fair market rate for the role we described. We're cheapskates. We want a VP level candidate but we only want to pay an entry-level salary. We're hoping we'll find a mug, someone who doesn't know their value in the marketplace or is really, really desperate...
4. Thank you for your application. We showed your CV to the hiring manager and quite frankly you terrified her. She doesn't want someone in her team who could expose her lack of experience even though having experienced staff is important for succession planning. Our preference is for mediocrity rather than excellence...
5. Thank you for your application. We saw you went to school in the 1980s and we think you're too old to fit into our cool, hipster company. Better luck next time, Grandad!

Early stage rejection being done well

Firstly, I don't think the Apprentice is necessarily a good example of rejection being done well. However, in fairness to Lord Sugar, he certainly gives the candidates plenty of feedback on where they fell short. If it was me being "fired" I would tell Lord Sugar that technically he can't fire me because he doesn't employ me and this is simply a long job interview...

To date I've applied to around 77 jobs and had around 15 rejections. That doesn't mean I have 62 live opportunities, it means around 50-55 companies have never given me any response at all.

When I do go through my multiple rejection letters I did find one that I thought was a good example of how to reject someone positively. So here it is:

**

Dear?Justin

Thank you very much for the time and effort in putting your CV and application together for this role. I’m afraid on this occasion we won’t be progressing your application any further. This is based on the strict instructions we are working to with our client for this role, and have only been able to shortlist applications who have met the minimum selection criteria.

We really look forward to working with you though going forward in finding the perfect next role -so please do follow our company page for further job alerts and useful job search information and free events we run which we hope you will find useful.

Thank you once again for your time and application.

PS....... I have attached a best practice guide to developing your All Star LinkedIn profile, which I hope you find useful.?Culture Linkedin All Star Profile.pdf

Many thanks again

Kind Regards

XXX

**

What I liked about this, which was from an agency, was that despite being auto-generated, was that it was sensitively worded, respectful and provided some useful feedback. They also used my name in the email, again this is easy to do with a good email automation system but you'd be surprised how many organizations don't even bother to do that.

The actual reason given, we could only short-list candidates that met the minimum selection criteria, is a bit generic but they have tried to provide a reason for rejection. I'd love to know what my actual failure criteria was but also the comment about strict instructions from the client sounds like the client isn't very open to non-standard career profiles or outstanding people from different industries.

The key take away from this is that it is possible to do early stage rejection well but that the majority of organizations simply can't be bothered.

Late stage rejection being done well

If you have gone some way through the recruitment process, or all of the way through the process, you should expect not only formal acknowledgement that you are no longer being considered but also some feedback on the reasons for rejection. These reasons need to go further than just "....the other candidate was better."

As a candidate you've probably spend hours preparing for interviews. The majority of my late stage interviews require a presentation on a specific topic or some analysis of their business. I do know one company that asked for a detailed analysis of their business and a presentation of a high-level marketing strategy. They then went on to reject all the candidates. It would be cynical to think that they had just received four-to-five very detailed independent analyses of their business from industry experts which ammounted to thousands of pounds worth of "free consulting".

At a late stage I would expect to be informed by a phone call or zoom call, and be offered a separate opportunity to receive feedback on the process.

If you're anything like me you don't want to have the feedback straight away because you're still processing the disappointment. You want to finish the rejection call, and then scream and/or kick the cat, rather than listen to someone cataloging your failings in detail. Ask for feedback at another time when you're genuinely ready to listen to it and process what you're told. This feedback is incredibly important in helping you do better next time.

A recent example of a "good" late stage rejection was for a Director of Product Marketing role at a Cambridge-based software company. Their HR, Talent Acquisition Partner, scheduled a meeting with me the weekend after my final interview, and the day after they said they'd make a decision. As soon as the zoom call was scheduled I knew that I hadn't got the job. However, they had the courtesy to tell me in person and to offer me feedback on the process.

If you're successful and are offered the job, you'll get an email confirming this at around the time that they said they'd make a decision. No one wants their preferred candidate to get away and an email is perfectly fine for delivering good news.

If you're unsuccessful, they'll hold off telling you partly because no one likes giving people bad news, but mainly because the preferred candidate may reject the offer and your second choice may still be a good alternative. This means they'll keep the second tier candidate on the "hook" rather than start the hunt all over again.

Getting back in the saddle

The important thing about rejection during your job hunt is that you recover from it as quickly as possible, dust yourself down and get back out there.

Its not unreasonable to be upset about losing out, particularly if like me you become really invested in the company you've applied to. I recently got rejected from a company that had a company value:

Don't be an a**hole - Company Value

I really liked that company. I thought I'd found a company that was a really good cultural fit for me....and then they rejected me. Its OK not to be OK when that happens.

It sounds like a cliche, but you have to learn to move on quickly. Be sad, and then focus on the next opportunity.

The key is to be like Russell Crowe's character in Gladiator, and simply say, "Bring it on, I'm ready for the next one!"

I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member - Groucho Marx

In my next Job Hunt 50+ blog entitled, Lessons in Rejection - Part 2 I will dissect a very detailed late stage rejection letter I recently received.

Remember - you bring experience, credibility and gravitas to the team and any employer would be lucky to have you.

The scores on the doors: Job Search Metrics

I want to share with you the metrics of my job search since I started in December. I'm also analysing where I spend my time and effort during my job search.

W/C 4 Mar 2024 - 14 weeks job hunting (including Christmas)

• Jobs applied for - 77
• Interviews (A single interview or a series of interviews for a particular job counts as 1) - 21
• Rejections - 15
• Offers - 0

14 weeks into job hunting and I'm needing to "channel my inner gladiator". Three months without work seems a long time. I'm disappointed to have got close three times and not received a job offer. I know in my thirties and forties I would have landed some of those jobs and that as a 50+ Job Hunter I'm fighting a lot of ageism and unconscious bias.

That said, I remain positive because I know that I will land my dream job soon.

I hope that you've enjoyed the third edition of Job Hunt 50+.

Any feedback or comments will be gratefully received.

Please join the Job Hunt 50+ LinkedIn Group here.