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"Hi, there. Thank you for your interest in this position. Unfortunately, ..."
If you have experienced being rejected several times on your job applications, you might read that one line and immediately know what the email is going to say!
We have all been there, even the people you think is very desired in the job market has been rejected many times at some point, believe it or not.
Personally, I have been there too. I feel like I'm stuck. I am nowhere to go, I need a job but the job don't want me.
I have also seen some people posted on social media how they experience the same thing. They felt frustrated, why isn't any job offer come to them?
In this article, let's discuss on why you applied for so many job but always got rejected. I wanted to talk specifically about designers as I am in the design background, but people from other industry may take a look and maybe some of the items here fit your conditions!
Have You Track Your Job Application Progress & Outcome?
I got inspired to do this after hearing an artist spoke at a seminar long time ago that she had an excel sheet to track what she applied and what was the outcome including the timeline so she can know what she can improve based on the approval rate. It is such a great idea and I had to apply it to myself! You can make in any table format but here's mine. I tracked the job position, the date I applied, did I pass interview stages, what was the outcome, and what was the reason, if provided.
My excel file format is not very advanced, I believe there are others out there that can provide a much more advanced job tracker excel you can download from!
The reason why you should have a job tracker excel file is to know exactly how many percent of job application is rejected. Sometimes we can say "I keep being rejected all the time" when in reality, it's not that many of them.
Is Your CV or Resume and Portfolio OK?
After checking on your job tracker and realise that your approval rate is very low, it's time to check on what you submitted to the company. Try having more than one version of CV and Resume to find out which one works best. Also, keep in mind that your CV has to be related to the job description. For example, if your job description said you will need to work on B2B software, see if your CV mentioned if you have experience working for B2B software. Usually recruiters will see how matching you are with the job vacancy.
Therefore, although you are an excellent designer and have years of experience designing, some recruiters might think twice before sending you an interview invitation if your resume or portfolio doesn't demonstrate that you had experience working on a project related to the company you're applying to.
There are also some common mistakes in most people's CV, such as not describing their job experience well.
I made this mistake a lot in the past because I struggled with words. But basically, you have to describe what you worked on exactly, who is the team you are working with, and what is the purpose of your position last time.
If you are a designer and just mentioned "Designing company's mobile app" in your work experience description, that is way too vague and will not lure much interest.
Instead, try to say this: "Designing mobile app for the company's internal customer service team, which helped them to easily record and follow up on each ticket. In this project, I worked closely with developer team, project manager, QA testers, as well as the customer service department."
Aaah, much better 😁
If you're still scratching your head what's wrong with your resume/portfolio, it's good to ask your community and HR professionals about your resume and portfolio feedback and see what could be improved from there.
Are You Applying for the Wrong Job?
If you like to apply to any job you came across without reading the description and requirement, it's like taking a shot in the dark.
The job description and candidate requirement is usually written there for a reason. Sometimes, it is fine to just apply even if you don't meet all the requirements. However, if you meet none of the requirement, it is no wonder that you get rejected all the time!
In addition, it is also important to read the job description and see if it would fit you. To do this, I always ask myself before clicking apply or sending my application: "Why do I think this job fits me?"
If you are very much struggling to find the answer, I recommend to find another job vacancy that is more like what you want instead. Read the job description thoroughly, read more about the company, and decide if you want to apply.
You should remember that there are probably hundreds of other job applications the company received. So if 80% of the candidates' profile fulfil the requirement and match well with the job, they will consider them compared to the rest 20% who doesn't have anything in common with the job.
The more you have in common with the job, the more likely you will hear back from the recruiter.
Therefore, take a look again at the jobs you've applied and rejected and see if you have anything in common with them.
If you like to apply to any job you came across without reading the description and requirement, it's like taking a shot in the dark. For example, you applied to 1000 jobs that you didn't read about at all. Maybe you will get 10 interview invitation, passed 5 interviews, and then only get 1 offer. And not to mention, that 1 offer may or may not be good so you have very little offer to consider.
However, if you apply to 50 jobs that you feel like you are the most suitable with, you might get 25 interview invitations, passed 10 of them, and maybe gets 5 offers! At this point, you are not doing too much but you get a fruitful result. You can pick the best offer, too. So applying for lesser jobs that are much more suitable for you is actually much better!
Are You Doing Well In Your Interview(s)?
I used to struggle so much with speaking, especially to recruiters! I also noticed there was one point in my time where I scored so many interview invitations but did not pass the interview at all. This is clear to me that I suck at interviews! I always found myself to be so anxious and ended up saying the wrong things or came across as something else that I did not intend to. I get it, interviews can be nerve wrecking and makes you say/do something wrong.
There are many ways to solve this, but one of the ways is to record your interview. It could be voice recording using your phone or screen recording when you are doing an online interview (just make sure do not share this around, as interviews are confidential!)
It might also be helpful to understand, what makes you nervous? Is it because you have low confidence? Do you feel very pressured/stressed? Or are you socially anxious? Understanding the source of the problem might help because that's how I find the right way to solve it!
I have social anxiety and I struggle not only in interviews but also in any conversations. Some people might see me as weird and arrogant because I am just THAT shy! Then, I got to watch videos and read articles about social anxiety and how I can improve my conditions. Social anxiety is not a death sentence, you can do some efforts to help get rid of it.
*side fact: do you know that social anxiety is more prevalent in youth nowadays due to technology advancement?
Do You Have Bad Behaviour?
There are other designers better skilled than you but what can make companies choose you is probably your attitude.
And I say this with respect, that some employees do not have the right attitude for work.
Again, this is not a death sentence, you can still improve it.
If you take a look at your job tracker and found that you never pass the interviews, but you have impeccable interview skill, you should check as well if your behaviour is up to the standard.
I feel bad for saying this, but I think some people do have bad attitude and it needs to be highlighted to them before they done much further damage to themselves. So me saying this is not meant as an insult, but because I care for you and wanted the best for you.
There are some cases on LinkedIn where some people wanted to get the LinkedIn fame and they didn't realise they showed their really bad behaviour that they ended up getting fired, such disclosing private information and verbally harass people. I saw them and I do not want to show the posts here, but I do wish someone close to them would tell them they should stop that behaviour before they got in too deep. And to the people who have those bad behaviour, I also wish they would listen to those advice.
Maybe your behaviour is not as bad as the ones mentioned above, but it is still enough to make hiring managers to say "Nope" to your application! Some of them include:
Very defensive
Not open to criticism/feedback
Not willing to improve, grow, or learn
Lazy
Not working well with other team members
Arrogant
Hiring managers, do you have other behaviours that make you reject a candidate? Comment down below!
*side fact: did you know that some companies have tests/assignments to not only measure your skills but also your attitude?
But, how would you know if you have a bad behaviour?
Well, that's a tricky one. Like people said, you wouldn't know yourself if you're not smart so it's the same as having bad behaviour. We tend to have distorted view of ourselves, and that's why you should have some good friends around you who will tell you honestly if you don't have good behaviour or did anything wrong. If you surround yourself with people who kiss ass and just lie to you to make you feel better, stop hanging out with them for your own sake.
And if your friends have told you what's your bad behaviour is, do not be defensive and just accept it. I noticed that some people act defensive and would dismiss criticism by combatting it with some reasons. That won't be good for you in the long run. Not only this affecting your personal life, but also your career. I've seen people who are great at interviews, good skills, but have a terrible attitude and difficult to work with.
That's all, folks!
I hope if you feel lost and unsure why you keep being rejected, you have some sense of clarity now.
Remember that none of the things mentioned above is death sentence. You can still spot it and improve.
And to anyone feeling offended, I don't mean any harm. I just mentioned these to let you know what can be improved and it's out of good intentions. This article is not meant for any form of attack to anyone.
Good luck on your job-hunting!
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