It is said that you never forget your first. First love, first heartbreak…Well in this letter, we aren’t discussing our first rejection from a boy. Oh no, we are talking about our first “Thank you for your interest in our company, but unfortunately we have ended up moving forward with another candidate". Everyone experiences this type of rejection at one point in their life, whether for a role in a school play, a college rejection, or a breakup email from a dream company saying that you are essentially not good enough to be hired. And although these life experiences are inevitable, they don't hurt any less. Over the years, both of us have definitely compiled a good enough list of rejections that we have received from positions we have applied to from college jobs and summer internships to full-time positions post-graduation. Trust us when we say we know it's the toughest thing to get back up on your feet after you've been knocked down many times. What we can tell you is that you will appreciate those rough moments because experiencing failure allows you to taste the sweetness of success that much more in the end. We hope you enjoy our candid, open letter in response to an anonymous rejection.
Open Letter:
I'm sorry that our 30 minute meeting was not impressive enough. I'm sorry I didn't ask the right questions during the interview or that I didn't have the answer to "How many baseballs can you fit in Yankee Stadium?" because somehow those 5-10 questions decided if I was worthy of working at your company. At the same time, I am NOT sorry, and I won't apologize because I have learned so much from getting that "No", and because of all the "No's" I have received, I have grown to be strong enough to chase after a million Yes'. Little do you know, 3 years have passed since your rejection e-mail was sent to my inbox, and it turns out that I am pretty darn successful at 22 years old. Did you know that I am now making it in the city of dreams, employed at a Fortune 500 company, and on top of that, I am running a blog with my best friend and we are taking on the world together, 1 country at a time (talk about good time management skills, am I right?) That being said, I can't take all the credit for myself - family, friends, and mentors all guided me to this point and surprisingly, so did you. I know I have such a long way to grow in my career, but thank you for teaching me how to emotionally handle the 20+ future rejection letters that will come my way the next 20 years, thank you being the fuel to my fire to stay up later, study harder and for showing me that someone else's success does not equate to my failure. It is because of you that I don't go into a full blown panic mode when I make a mistake at work because I know that at the end of the day, everything will be alright and I will survive and be stronger than I was before. You've guided me to where I need to be, and I thank you for helping to build the drive and perseverance I have for when the going gets tough.
I'll repay the debt I owe you with the success and happiness of my life.
Love Always, Jess & Mel
Spring recruitment often comes with an air of stress and slight anxiety since it's the last wave of recruitment before summer internships and graduation. There is nothing like the unsettling feeling of an endless job search and weeks upon weeks of interviews where you already know your responses in your sleep. If you've already received one or even a handful of rejections from companies, just know that there is something else out there waiting for you - you just have to pick yourself back up and keep going. One thing to note is that we often hear about the successes of others much more than the many failures that come along for the ride. Never look at someone else and think that you are inadequate to their success because you often do not know the entire story. The only person you should compare yourself to is who you were yesterday,
We will leave you with one of our favorite quotes - "Never let success get to your head and never let failure get to your heart".
So work hard, stay humble, and kill it out there!
