“Do not let your fear of rejection restrict your range of opportunity.”
I decided to revisit a LinkedIn article I wrote and published as a rising senior in college. I received a lot of positive feedback from the advice in that article and wanted to share a refined version of it using everything I have learned in the past two years or so since writing it. Like then, I am in another confident moment in my life: no matter what happens to me professionally or personally, I believe I have the ability to find success within a company. The journey to this mindset was not easy; but I hope this article can give those uncertain to shoot their shots professionally the confidence to go into the job search process and apply for jobs they aren’t sure they are qualified for.
First off, I am a huge believer and proponent of self-improvement. We all are born and raised with certain talents and have developed certain skills that let us solve certain problems and understand certain concepts quicker than others. At any point in your life, there will be people who are objectively more skilled and objectively less skilled than you. Being self-aware of your own strengths and weaknesses, especially in regard to the professional path you want to follow, is a mandatory step to meaningful self-improvement.
A great way to identify job-specific skills to develop is to simply look through job listings you are interested in. All job listings should list qualifications, sometimes even traits, they are looking for in a qualified applicant. If you see a qualification or trait that you don’t possess, think about how you can obtain that qualification or develop that trait. (If you are doubtful of your ability to develop a trait, brain plasticity is a great topic to check out that will *fingers crossed* diminish that doubt.) The best thing about self-improvement is that as long as you don’t neglect your skills, they will stick with you throughout your life. You will likely even find them useful in aspects of your life beyond being a more qualified applicant.
While making yourself an ideal applicant is great for your personal development, you need to take the next step and apply. The first step to any application process is by far the easiest and requires little to no preparation if you have a master resume ready. To apply to most jobs, you only need to give basic information that come straight from your resume. This step takes only 10–20 minutes to complete, which is well worth your time as a job-seeker. My suggestion for this step is to apply to ANY job in which you meet or nearly meet the very basic qualifications for, and it looks like an interesting position. Personally, I have a wide range of interests and many jobs intrigue me at some level. Here are some little mantras to help guide you in this step in the process:
- If you are never rejected from a job, you were not ambitious enough in the jobs you applied for.
- Let the recruiters/hiring managers decide if you aren’t qualified.
- Not all applicants will be “perfectly” qualified, and not all “perfectly”-qualified applicants will get interviews or offers.
- It is FREE to apply for a job. The only cost is time and energy spent, not money.
The next step is typically a phone interview or some type of screening interview. If you are surprised you made it to this far, congrats! You have followed the advice that you should apply to jobs you may not be fully qualified for, and it has worked toward your advantage. At this point, the employer thinks you could be right for the job. They don’t give this more informal interview to everyone that submits an application. This shorter interview is geared toward finding out why you applied to the job and how you are qualified. If you applied to this job without a solid reason, look through the job listing and find key phrases you connect with. Look through the company’s website and other sources of company information to find even more reasons you would like this position and company. By the time this preliminary interview happens, you should be the most excited you’ve been about getting the opportunity to talk to someone from this company about this role. Again, here is some advice to help guide your mindset going in this screening process:
- If you believe that you can perform the necessary duties, so will your interviewer.
- Ask questions about culture and day-to-day responsibilities that show a genuine interest in fitting in and filling the role.
- Use short stories or narratives interlaced with your qualifications to answer almost any question from why did you apply to where do you see yourself in five years.
If you are moved forward from this point, the company really wants you. They have narrowed it down to applicants they think can fulfill the role, and now just have to find one (or however many they are accepting) they personally think would work well within the company. For the longer interviews and interview days, there are too many considerations to cover in this article. The most succinct advice I can give is that if you made it this far the company sincerely wants you, so just be you. Don’t try to act smarter than you are, don’t put down or look down on other applicants that made it this far. Just really focus on presenting the best version of yourself and let them decide if that’s what they want. While rejection is intrinsically personal, why would you want to work at a company that doesn’t want you? Plus, rejection opens more doors than it closes as you can continue applying for jobs and finding companies that want you as much as you want them.
The main takeaway I hoped to share with this article is to not be afraid of what lies ahead of you professionally. If you’re feeling rejected, see if you can find any weaknesses in your application or qualifications that can be worked on. No one can predict where they will go in life professionally or otherwise, so I think it’s best to live in the moment and trust that your gut and determination will take you where you’re meant to be. You are more valuable than what any company or HR person thinks.
Develop confidence within yourself and I guarantee that eventually others will recognize your worth as well.
