We all fear this…

Rejection.

It’s not fun, and it’s something that certainly never seems to get easier.

However, when delivered correctly and embraced, you can gain some truly valuable lessons.

If you’re a recruiter reading this, you’ll agree that a huge chunk of our day to day role is ‘rejection’. It’s bloody awful picking up the phone to deliver bad news to a candidate who has worked so hard throughout a process.

Understandably, I have all sorts of reactions over the years – anger, tears, defeat and sadness to name a few.

One response that always sticks with me is…

“Well, they’re never find better than me.”

💁🏼‍♀️

It was during a call where I had to reject a candidate for a senior ‘Head of’ role.

They were (and still are) a great candidate, who had all the skills on paper, a vibrant personality and had been agile to fit my clients extremely tight availability whilst juggling a very, very full on job.

When the client called me to say that they weren’t proceeding, I’ll be honest to say that it took me a good 10 seconds to pick my jaw up off the floor.

So what fell over? 🤨

Although they were a senior operator and could have done the job with their eyes closed, they didn’t explain the “why” or the “how” to the client when answering questions. They didn’t reveal their layers of experience and stories that had accumulated their success.

When I made the call to the candidate to share this feedback, they pushed back – which I empathise with as it wasn’t the call they were expecting.

“But surely they know I can do that, I wouldn’t be in this position if I couldn’t do XYZ. It’s what I’ve been doing for 15 years.”

However, they didn’t fill the client with confidence that they had a clear structure or plan to deliver the solutions they needed.

It was a tough lesson and a poignant reminder that sometimes you have to go back to basics. You know your skills and capabilities inside out, but an interviewer is essentially a stranger.

I’ve said it a thousand times and I’ll say it again – people don’t know what you don’t tell them.

I hope that with time gone by, this feedback was embraced by the candidate to strengthen their ability to “perform” in an interview, because they’re pretty brilliant.

Rejection will always suck, but once the dust has settled, really try to pinpoint that lesson and grow from the feedback – be the person that embraces it and doesn’t fear it.

If you’re looking for your next role, or next high-performer for your business, and need some guidance on navigating the highs and lows (rejection!) of recruitment processes reach out to me…