How NOT To Take It Personally If You Failed At Interviews?

When you are interviewing for roles, not all interviews will go your way. This is inevitable and is the reality. 

Understand the reality that the interviewers may or may not find you suitable for the role after the interview in some cases. If they do not select you, do not take it personally. Their rejection is not a reflection of your quality as a person. 

The interviewers are simply trying to find the ideal person who would be best suited to help them solve their problems, and help them achieve their goals. And they have to select one candidate out of many qualified candidates they really like. 

Wouldn’t you do the same thing if you owned a company and you were interviewing people? Wouldn’t you select someone to hire among other candidates who would be best suited to solve your company’s problems and help you achieve your goals? In the process, wouldn't you have to reject others who were not as qualified as your best candidate? 

The reality is that the interviewers are under pressure to not make a mistake and hire the ideal person for the job when they are hiring. Usually salaries are the highest expense for companies, and can be detrimental to the company if they hire an unqualified person for a role. Therefore, hiring managers generally have little room to make errors in this regard.

They too are worried and do not want to hire the wrong person for the job. They understand that if they hire the wrong person, they may have to do even more work, and their jobs may be in jeopardy.

Another thing to keep in mind is that they may also decide to hire someone else because of a better technical fit for the role. Or, another candidate may have a prior relationship with an existing team member and they decide to hire them instead.

Either way, don't take it personally if they reject you. There are too many companies out there that are in need of your help for you to waste time feeling discouraged and bad about yourself because you got rejected in a few interviews. 

Most professionals have been rejected in several interviews at some point in their lives, including myself. You can't control whether they offer you the job. But you can control how much effort and practice you put into getting better at interviews.

Focus on what you can control and let go of things you can’t. Things you can control include number of jobs you applied, number of conversations you have with people who can help you or number of sessions you practice for interviews.

Improve your odds by improving your interviewing skills. It is a skill that is well worth the time invested and will pay off for a long time.

That’s it for today!

Much love!