Fall at the last
I’m sure we’ve all experienced it at one stage or another in our lives. You’ve have found the ideal job, you’ve gotten to the final round interview, and you are expecting the phone call at anytime. When it comes, it’s a no. What do you do?
The Positives
From a candidate point of view you should always feel that you learned something from the interview process. If you feel that you performed well, showed your technical ability and expertise for the role and still fell short, then take solace that this might be the wrong company for you.
What a lot of candidates don’t realise is that they were selected out of a group as large as thirty people. They progress through the screening process, first few rounds of interviews and are whittled down to the final three is an achievement in its own.
This situation is similar to the Munster Rugby team. They are in prime position in the top four of the RaboDirect PRO 12, not to mention having squad members on the 6 Nations winning team, but they will be disappointed they failed in their bid for the Heinken Cup. They can be proud in their achievements so far this season.
Gaining Feedback
One of the best things you can do is to hold your composure, understand that you may be very disappointed but you can turn this into a positive. This is not easy to take and no one enjoys rejection but this is crucial to your development in your career.
Make sure that you stress to the interviewer and the recruitment specialist that feedback (good or bad) is very important to you. Always receive it with an open mind. Your ultimate goal is to secure the role, but if you can get feedback that is constructive it will be invaluable to you in the future.
Looking back on Munster’s performance against Toulon, yes they will be disappointed that they lost, but they will analyse the game, see that they did well and didn’t do so well. They have back-room staff that will dissect the video and show each player were they can improve.
Tackling The Issues
Whatever the basis was for not being successful, you can always improve and transform yourself.
There may be a number of reasons why you weren’t successful. It might be lack of technical ability, the type of interview, maybe you didn’t perform at your peak. Whatever it may have been you need to be adaptable and be able to take a step back and be objective. You need to understand that no one is the perfect candidate and everyone has areas that they can develop.
With Munster they will come back stronger, they always do. They will use this as a learning curve and minimise their weaknesses. Maybe their set pieces didn’t perform or their kicking game didn’t go to plan. They will take a step back and regroup to drive on for the rest of the season which is exactly what you as a candidate needs to do.
