How to deal with rejects
Job application is a very long process that lasts for months and years. Unlike a school course, the result of an application is far more than a recognition of your effort during those few months you worked on applications, written tests and interviews. It also determines how your life is going to be after the start of your career. It is natural that students could sometimes be emotionally affected by unfavorable outcome given its significance. Let's put ourselves in Jasmine's shoes, a penultimate year students who had been looking for internship in investment banks for months. At the first few interviews, she performed well and walked out the room confidently, fantasizing the prospect of getting an offer and worry-free months that follow. The first time she was told that she was rejected, she said to herself, "Nevermind. I should try harder next time. I should believe in myself and I will get it eventually." The second time she got a reject, she started to have doubt in herself. It's now late January, and she just got her third reject. She felt so tired and frustrated and annoyed by the fact that classmates of hers are getting offers already. After all the hours she put in job hunting, she got nothing. She's getting nervous and started to lost the passion of interview preparation that she had few months ago. But she couldn't quit. What should she do to change the game? Remember, no one told you that it is going to be easy. In fact, everyone told you this is hard and intense because of the pressure, expectation, disappointment and uncertainty. You are going to get a lot of rejects, more than you can handle. You will have moments of doubt and confidence crisis. But then, you will start realize getting rejects is just part of the game. The major difference between a winner and a loser is the way they handle failure. This is a long marathon that you need to keep yourself motivated, because, once you get there, it's the beginning of another marathon.
Today, Jasmine got an offer from a major US investment bank and finally can enjoy few stressless weeks before she gets prepared for the internship coming up in few months' time.
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