Читать книгу Interview - Heather Salter - Страница 12

The dreaded letter has landed on the doorstep or the email has arrived in the inbox to tell you that you have not been selected for interview. That’s a real blow if you wanted the job and thought you were a good match. What you need to find out now is why, and that’s not always easy.

There are two or three things that you can do now and it really is worth doing this because you want to make sure that you have learned from the experience so that next time you get onto the shortlist.

1 Ask for feedback. You could ring the company up and ask for some feedback as to why you didn’t make it to the shortlist. They don’t have to tell you, but if they do then you have some insight. It could just be that they had so many good CVs they were overwhelmed with choice. In those circumstances they will look for the very best, those whose CVs not only tick all the boxes of what they “must have” but also have that something extra that makes them stand out from the crowd.

“I take rejection as someone blowing a bugle in my ear to wake me up”

Sylvester Stallone, American actor

2 Review yourself. Did you read through the whole of this book and do all the exercises along the way? Did you tailor your CV well to the advert or job description that you received? Did you really show them how you matched their criteria?

3 Get someone else to review your CV. Do you have a friend, colleague or relative who you know will be objective and honest with you? Do you know anyone in your network of family, friends and neighbours who employs people? Ask them to review your CV against the advert or job description and to give you some tips on what you might have missed or could do better.

Be honest with yourself: was this really a good fit for your skills and experience or were you just taking a flyer in the hope that you might be lucky? If you did, just accept that you weren’t lucky this time. Read chapter 7 in the book. Even though you didn’t get to the interview, there are some interesting points about learning, reviewing and planning which may help.

Don’t get angry and throw the letter in the bin. Use your energy to review what you did and see what you can do better next time.