So you’ve been rejected after the interview-now what?

You might have thought it was a perfect fit, but apparently the company didn’t. Don’t respond to the recruiter’s email blasting them for making the mistake of not picking you! Instead, think of it as an opportunity to learn and to build a bridge for future opportunities.

The first thing you need to do is not beat yourself up. Frequently the reason that people don’t get jobs is not because they were not qualified, but because there was someone else who was just a little bit more qualified than them. Tough to take and hard to improve upon, but it is just the reality of having a glut of candidates out looking for jobs at the moment.

Respond to the recruiter via email asking if there is any constructive feedback they can give you about your interviews. Let them know that you really appreciate any insight they can share as you hope to learn from this experience and improve your skills for the next interview.

Let the recruiter know you are still very interested in opportunities at the company and that you hope they will consider you for future openings. This will show that there are no hard feelings, and your enthusiasm for joining the group has not wained despite not getting selected for this one role. Frequently recruiters will go back to their stack of interviewed candidates for other openings, so you may get called again about another job!