How I Scored My Dream Job After Being Rejected
by: Alison Taplin
Everyone has different experiences and luckily mine have been pretty seamless. But, I recently started a new job that totally changed my perspective. My job was starting to feel stagnant and I was ready to leave so I started casually searching for something new. And then I saw it: “Social Media Editor - E! News,” my dream job! The only hiccup? It was a position I had been rejected from almost exactly two years earlier. I texted a friend of mine (who I know through Her Campus!) who is on the E! Editorial team. I told her I was applying and asked who I should address my cover letter to. When she replied, my heart rate spiked. The contact was the same person who interviewed me back in 2020. My mind raced. Would she remember me from before? Was applying for this again going to be embarrassing? After you get rejected from a job (or worse, never hear anything back), you don’t know how the other side really feels about you. So, . I worried that they’d immediately discard my resume.The uncertainty was lifted when my friend shared that they did in fact remember me…and were impressed! A few nerve-wracking weeks later, I am now the TK role. Here are some tips I’ve learned about the job search process:
Be confident
The main thing that changed for me between the first time I interviewed with E! was my confidence. The manager I interviewed with both times noticed that too. I was so nervous initially and worried I would say the wrong thing. Ultimately, I just wasn’t the right fit. My confidence has grown a lot since then, and I credit a good portion of that to my team at my last job. We would set team and personal goals every year and one of mine was–you guessed it– to become more confident, so they encouraged me to speak up in meetings, share my ideas, and take the lead whenever possible.
Put in the work
If you’re applying for a job and get to the stage where they give you some kind of project or assignment to test your abilities, make sure you are giving it your full effort. Make it visually appealing, proofread your work, then have a friend or mentor look over it. Those may seem like obvious things, but if you aren’t excited to do the project, you probably won’t enjoy the job itself, and should consider looking for other opportunities. This assignment is your chance to show them you can not only do the job, but you can excel at it. Go above and beyond, they will appreciate it–and if it doesn’t work out, they’ll at least remember the quality of your work. Who knows, they might be able to recommend you to someone else in their network one day.
Don’t be afraid to try again
Now that I have the job, I have thought about what would have happened if I had never applied, or if I’d never texted my friend. I remember when I was an intern with Her Campus, Stephanie Kaplan-Lewis was giving a presentation about how she and her co-founders started the company. She said “If you don’t ask, the answer is ‘no’”. I’ve kept that as a mantra when I need an extra boost of confidence or a little nudge out of my comfort zone because it’s true, if I had not applied, the answer would have been ‘no.’ And even if I had been rejected again, at least I would have known that I put my best foot forward.
Going after what you want comes in all shapes and forms. Sometimes its the same job that you missed out on and sometimes its a different role at the company where you get to show off how much you learned. No matter where you find yourself, Generation Hired has your back. Check out the rest of our resources to get what you need at any step of your career journey.
