Rejection is a ball

Rejection is a Ball

  Author:  John M. Dix  Trainer, Facilitator, Strategist, Founder JMD Partnerships

I’ve been thinking about it all wrong and maybe you have too.

Getting that rejection notice thus bringing the interview process to an end.

“We’ve decided to go in a different direction.”

“We have selected a candidate whose qualifications and skills better match our needs.”

If you are like me and have been in job search mode for a significant length of time, you don’t even want to think about the number of times you have heard and read those types of statements.

But I have come up with a better, healthier and more realistic way to look at it.

Think of it as similar to being the batter in baseball.  That feeling you have as you wait for the pitch, anxiously awaiting what you might get.  Curve ball, fast ball, slider, change up, low and away, etc.  The waiting can seem like forever.  Kind of the same feeling you get when you are waiting to hear how the interview went and whether you are still in the game … or not.

That feeling you have when there is a called strike or a swing and a miss.  Remember that feeling?  It’s kind of like when you get the word that you didn’t get the job.  Loser, dejected, denied, etc.  With that swing and a miss, it didn’t turn out the way you had hoped.  Kind of like when the interview process comes to that end you were hoping didn’t happen.

Better to think about it as a ball, a pitch outside of your strike zone, a pitch you couldn’t hit.  A pitch you shouldn’t take a swing at.

The interview process is about two things; them getting to know you and you getting to know them.  The end result being a decision, by both parties, of whether or not it is a good fit.

So when the rejection comes, think of it as a ball.  A job you should not have been offered.  A job that is not the right job for you. It’s a ball!  Rejection is a ball.

Now pick yourself up, get back in the game and wait for that next pitch.  It could be a home run!