To laugh or to cry - Handling Rejection 101

In life you would get rejected and what you do about it after is a function of what you know and who you are. Let me explain.

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Hey there,

The first disclaimer in this newsletter is:

I'm talking about job rejections. I can't help you with your relationship problems.

Now for some back story:

The primary intention of everyone who goes out of their way to acquire a skill is to earn with it. Either independently, working with an agency or with a tech company.

Quick Pause

There would be a plan at the end of this newsletter specifically for Product designers and for non-product designers; there would be a nice (probably going to work) strategy for you to also implement in your field and with your friends.

Press play

For you to get hired by anyone who would love your work enough to pay you, you have to sell yourself, or at least they have you deem you valuable enough one way or another to trust their ideas, goals and money with you.

Now, if you have not been rejected so much that it became laughable, but in the same light, it’s not funny, then maybe you are just so freaking good at what you do orrrrrr…. you haven’t been applying for jobs enough.

I was a panellist at an Event yesterday, and this young lady in the audience said.

“Most times when panellists are brought to speak at events, they mostly just share their wins, and it’s harder for people not yet at their level to think it’s all Ups and no Down”.

The other panellists answered the question quite brilliantly and emphasized that it would be much easier to be able to relate and share your downtimes if you network with your peers. That we “the panellists”, also have downs, but the medium with which they are shared may not be readily accessible to everyone.

LOL.

As they were speaking, I was having flashbacks of some interesting downs I’ve had, and one of them is what we are attempting to solve here today.

Getting jobs, Increasing employability and how to not become a poster child for rejection mails.

Before I get into the value to be shared for the day, a major L that I have repeatedly taken in my career development journey is “Rejection Mail”. I still received one last week.

However, I’ve chosen to see it as an opportunity for growth. So that’s what we are going to be discussing today - A plan towards increasing employability globally.

Steps on handling rejection:

1. React
2. Analyse
3. Act
4. Reapply

Step 1: React

Depending on how many rejections you have gotten, you can do either of the following:

• Cry
• Laugh

But things you should not do:

• Hate yourself
• Look down on yourself
• Give up

Always make it to step 2.

Step 2: Analyse

Let’s start with the fact that there’s a reason for everything, and the following are a couple of reasons why you might have been rejected.

• God has something better for you
• The recruiter was high the day you were evaluated.
• At some point, they realised you were not a good fit either technically or based on other criteria.

Don’t overthink it. It’s usually number 3. So the most logical thing for you to do is to find out where you were not a good fit and fix it.

Remember that the company is trying to make the best bet on who has the highest probability of helping them grow in the direction they want to do if they don’t select you, it means they aren’t convinced that you are the best option.

You can still cry at this phase sha, but don’t let that affect your analysis.

Things to analyse:

• Interview Skills
• CV
• Portfolio
• Overall Knowledge
• Specific Knowledge
• Conduct and etiquette
• and so on.

If there’s a way you can find out where you fell short or just ask the recruiter, then do so.

Step 3: Act

This part takes time, focus, determination and ability to work on the important things.

Start with research:

• What is the required standard for the areas you fell short?
• How do I beat that bearest minimum?
• Who do I need to talk to?
• What do I need to learn?

Once you get your answers, start acting on them and fixing the problems one step at a time.

Once your confidence level increases again, move on to step 4 more confidently.

Step 4: Reapply

Notice I said more confidently. This means that depending on your strength, skill level and personality, you might not want to stop this step at all even as you are working on improving your employability.

My reason for recommending this is:

• Applying for jobs is a skill in itself, so you need to keep learning about it to be better at it.
• You also want to stay in touch with new requirements and trends so you don’t work on improving outdated knowledge.
• It helps you build a thicker skin.

Now, to my plan.

I understand that having the right network makes things like this easier, so I will put together a group of 5 product designers to learn and master the art of being globally employable as a Product designer.

All of us must have the following:

• Must be Product designers
• Have similar skill levels
• A strong desire to increase their global employability.
• Must be ready to put in the required work.

An exciting criterion would be that they must already have something going for themselves. The reason is, that the goal of this exercise is to build on what exists, not precisely to help beginners figure things out.

The inspiration for this plan is Fred, my frontend developer friend whom I have seen get better at being employable partly due to his access to someone who gives him reasons to and ways to do it better and primarily due to his desire to make sure his children don’t suffer, in his own words.

My Children gats enjoy.

Oh well, it's time to scout for my five horsemen.

Cheers.

In summary

• Getting rejected for jobs indicates that you need to work harder on something you are currently not good at. Either it's looking for opportunities to be better prepared for them.
• Although you can get lucky and always get the jobs or things you want, there’s a strategy to things. I’m attempting to execute my global employability plan. You should have one for your goals, too.

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