How do you face Job Rejections?

The job market was never this competitive as it has become now. Earlier it was meant to find the educated and the skilled while the two components still remain the same, there have been a few more expectations while hiring a person for a particular job. Who do you blame? Globalization, the growing number of skilled professionals. The employers are now looking at the wow factor, they have set new criteria, gender, age, salary bracket, and demographics before handing out that one offer letter. As a recruiter, I have seen times, where a client selected one candidate out of the 3 CV’s, sent for a particular position, never a struggle, we just had to match his expectation and send profiles as per their request while now the same client requests for CV’s and there are no selections.

I hear you, just like the employers, candidates have also become choosy for what they want in their career, growth, and achievement. It’s a race of ideology, competencies and various characteristics. Candidates are well educated and demand potential growth in their career. The Internet has provided a tool to research the various prospects but finding great talent is a difficult task for recruiters and employers.

Transition in Corporate Structures: -

There are more corporates structures in the world than before, mergers and acquisitions have formed bigger giants. A company that had only a few decision-makers earlier now follows rules and regulations of the corporate culture. There are a few steps in the ladders to reach the decision-maker who takes advice from his associates, but the decision remains in his hands. Earlier, there was only one HR department with a few assistants and a manager. Then the group of companies formed, the structure now changed to a few HR assistants, a Manager per property and to handle all of them, one Director of HR on Top. Bigger picture, Area HR Director to Regional HR roles in bigger corporates. Now, you can imagine as the company grew from being one property to multiple properties and then the transitions in their corporates, hence the changes in recruitment as well. Decisions took more time than usual, now since there are more companies under one umbrella. It gave them a chance to promote an employee within the same property or to transfer them to another with a promotion or even to offer a job role overseas within the same group. This was great in a way, as employees gain more trust in a company and see growth in the career within the same company, even before they join.

Why were you rejected?

Recruitment agencies worked with the employers and shortlisted candidates got the offer in a few days, depending on the urgency of the position. Then came a time, when recruitment agencies started growing like mushrooms, you would find them everywhere. Seeing the monetary growth of recruitment agencies, Job boards were born to provide a better option for a better value. They focused on the volume of clients. One candidate who knew of an agency, contacted them when they were looking for a job change, the same job was available in various Job boards and some other agencies were also handling the same position. You would wonder to see the same job openings were also posted on their own company website.

Can you imagine, the volume of CV’s the employers must have received then? Imagine, the competition, this is about the positions advertised outside the company. The company also looked at their internal candidates and checked with a few colleagues, there come REFERENCES. So, despite receiving hundreds of CV’s, the internal candidate or someone who was referred by the team was hired for the advertised position.

It wasn’t your Fault!

The thing is that you were not hired for a job, you may have already started dreaming about the place, the property and so on but it was certainly not your fault. You tried and the results were not that exciting. The world doesn’t end there, my suggestion will be to apply for other suitable jobs based on your industry, location and job role. You don’t have to keep waiting after you have applied for that one single JOB ROLE. You don’t want to stop until you have signed the offer letter and have sent a notice to your current employer. Until then, consider the SKY is the LIMIT and keep applying through different channels.

Points to notice before you apply for any Job!

I am recruiting for the hospitality industry for the past 13 years, but the basics of the job application remain the same, for any industry.

Prepare your resume- Work on a professional resume online or hire someone to do it for you. It must be explaining your credentials, skills, and experience in 1-2 pages. Try to keep it short and in bullet points.

Research about the Job Role- Make sure you do your own research, search about the company, join their social media pages, join their managers online and search about the location, the brand everything. Make sure, it suits your expectations and career growth.

Read the Job Description – As they say, “For Pete’s sake, read that Job description”. Job Description are created for a reason, the employer sits on the manning and then discusses internally to see what kind of person will suit that role, it takes time for them to create one so you should also spend some time in growing through, whether you match their qualification, skills and experience criteria or not.

CV’s matching the JD’s have higher chances of landing in that job.

Register on Job Boards- Most of the professionals can be found on the job boards these days, there may be candidates who are actively looking for jobs and those who are passive and are happy in their current jobs but if there is anything attractive, they might want to try.

Employers also access the job boards often and post new jobs to attract potential talents, this way you are increasing your chances.

How long should you wait after applying?

You have applied for a job and excited about it but how long should you wait to hear from the recruiter or from the employer. As you have noticed above, the amount of CV’s received by the company, it may take a few days for them to respond to your application. I would say, it will also depend on the luck at times if they were able to open your CV in the crowded mailbox.

The maximum time should be a maximum of 2 weeks for you to hear a positive answer through your phone or email. If it’s passed that period, you might have been rejected. It also depends upon employers; some take less time in the process and some take way longer. I have also noticed the positions being advertised and then kept on hold for an unannounced reason. Whatever it is, if that job was meant for you, it will come to you no matter how long the process takes, sometimes it is just luck. I have seen people getting a job in a few days and some suffer for months but don’t lose heart, apply for a few more, maybe there is something else kept for you.