Clearly, there are many more rejections in a professional job search than there are offers. And there should be. After all, if you are not getting rejections than you are not seeing many opportunities.
So, how can you leverage rejection?
A top ranking career military officer, who during his time in the Reserves also developed a stellar career as a senior-level executive in industry, had the daunting task of re-entering the job market after his return from 2-3 years active duty; and during the worst economy in his lifetime. After job searching for some time, he summed-up his frustration with this: “For the first time in my life I am doing something and have no idea how I’m doing.” Hearing this from an Officer at one of the highest official levels in our Military, was at the very least, unsettling to a career biz person like myself. Now he didn’t say, “What I’m doing…” he said, “How I’m doing…”
Does anybody really every tell YOU how you are doing in YOUR job search?
I am going to share with you what may be the single-most important letter in a job search, one that will address the challenge of not knowing how you’re doing.
The Rejection Response Letter goes like this…
Dear _____,
I understand the rationale behind your letter of [Date] in which you said there are currently no openings at [Company] for an experienced sales manager. Undoubtedly, you receive multiple unsolicited resumes, and I thank you for taking the time from a busy schedule to respond to my inquiry.
It is this type of consideration that reaffirms my belief [Company] is a well-managed company. As a result, I would like to ask your advice because I believe you have a great deal of information and expertise from which I can benefit.
More specifically, I would appreciate 20 minutes of your time not to discuss current job openings, but to discuss what you look for in outstanding sales managers, what your opinion is of the long term growth in the [Type of Field], and any advice you would have for a sales manager with a keen interest in the same. Your expertise and experience in directing [Company] make your opinion invaluable.
I will call early next week to see if we can arrange a mutually convenient time to get together.
Sincerely,
John Smith
Certainly there are more rejections than offers in a job search; and most people do send a cordial letter: “Thank you for your time and interest and if something opens up, please let me know.”
“Thank you” is good; “Thank you” plus feedback is better. The more you are rejected, the more opportunity for feedback; and the more feedback you have, the more improvements you can make – a continuous process improvement. Soon you will no longer say, “I have no idea how I’m doing.” In fact, you just may be thinking to yourself, “Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for that rejection! I’ll be so much smarter the next time.”
In his book, How to Master the Art of Selling, sales guru, Tom Hopkins wrote, “I never see failure as failure, but an opportunity to practice my techniques and perfect my performance.”
I say…gotta love that rejection!
[This article was originally posted on an earlier date]
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11 Comments
Yes, thank you and follow up letters are super important- and this is another great way to just re-position yourself, show off how professional you are and leave them with a positive note of you. Hey, ya never know…. they just might find a place in the company for you after you send a letter like this.
Yes, thank you and follow up letters are super important- and this is another great way to just re-position yourself, show off how professional you are and leave them with a positive note of you. Hey, ya never know…. they just might find a place in the company for you after you send a letter like this.
Bravo. I was just sent a rejection letter today. I have had a couple more so far in my job search since April in seeking a job in the nonprofit or government sectors. This is a great template to draw from. It's good to know that I am making some headway if I am seeing rejection letters.
Thanks.
Will
http://www.willhull.com
This is a great idea, but as Michael pointed out originally, it's very difficult to get much concrete feedback. As a recruiter, I always try and get feedback from the client when a candidate is rejected, and as time goes along (I've been doing this for almost 10 years), the specificity of the feedback has gotten less and less. Perhaps there are more legal implications; perhaps managers don't want to argue with recruiters and/or candidates when they DO provide feedback. I can tell you that many times when I tell someone they don't have XX experience or YY experience, I get an argument in response (“I DO have that experience 7 years ago”, or “I can learn it”, etc). That doesn't make me want to provide specific feedback in the future. It's easier to say “They went with another candidate” and end the conversation at that.
All that being said, a letter like this can't hurt, but it's good to have realistic expectations.
This is a great idea, but as Michael pointed out originally, it's very difficult to get much concrete feedback. As a recruiter, I always try and get feedback from the client when a candidate is rejected, and as time goes along (I've been doing this for almost 10 years), the specificity of the feedback has gotten less and less. Perhaps there are more legal implications; perhaps managers don't want to argue with recruiters and/or candidates when they DO provide feedback. I can tell you that many times when I tell someone they don't have XX experience or YY experience, I get an argument in response (“I DO have that experience 7 years ago”, or “I can learn it”, etc). That doesn't make me want to provide specific feedback in the future. It's easier to say “They went with another candidate” and end the conversation at that.
All that being said, a letter like this can't hurt, but it's good to have realistic expectations.
I think the personal touch is excellent and to get the feedback is valuable. I do have to wonder 1) how many employers feel they have time to mentor (even for a short visit) a candidate they didn't hire and 2) how many employers would see this as just another job search tactic.
All in all, good advice, especially if you're receiving rejection after rejection.
Yes, thank you and follow up letters are super important- and this is another great way to just re-position yourself, show off how professional you are and leave them with a positive note of you. Hey, ya never know…. they just might find a place in the company for you after you send a letter like this.
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Rob,
This is an excellent way for a job seeker to stand out! I am a big advocate of personal touches after each contact with a prospective employer – hand-written thank you cards, thank you emails, LinkedIn connections, and of course, emails. However, I had not considered your approach in using a rejection letter as one more opportunity to shine and stand out from the crowd.
As MichaelPhipps pointed out, I have not been able to get real actionable responses when I ask employers why someone else was chosen over me. But perhaps by using your technique I might at least be able to get more information about the company, and still stay in touch with the recruiter / hiring manager.
Good article. I personally used “is there anything I would be able to do to make myself more successful to applying in the future?”.
Also, just wanted to point out that the “gottal”. though, I think this has to do with is whoevers publishing the page?
Thomas Accomplished Regional Sales Mgr. based out of Ohio. Experienced with Instrumentation-Electrical-Motion- Pneumatics. See Profile.
When I was looking for work years ago, I tried this approach, and got these sort of responses
* We just went with the better candidate
* They had more experience than you in xxx
* Sorry, don't have the time to talk with. Good luck.
No one ever gave me concrete answers that I could act on, bt that was because I was asking the wrong question. I was asking “Why didn't I get the job, or how could I improve” rather than “What sort of things do you look for in a xxx”
You are asking people to judge and criticise you, which is hard for anyone to do tactfully, and can sometimes have legal implications behind it. The question “What do you look for” is a much safer question for an employer to answer.
Ultimately, I never got a job by interview, or applying, it's always been word of mouth. Eventually I started my own business and work for myself. It's like a job interview, everytime I try to get more work, but it is completely different.