How the Rejected Became the Rejector: My Job Search Victory

In the past 18 or so years, I have sent out enough résumés to wipe out a small forest. I have received enough rejection letters to wallpaper a room, if I ever wanted to wallow in my own self-pity for extended periods.

Now, thanks to the Internet, I can send an electronic résumé, receive my automated rejection email 2 minutes later (that actually happened once, no kidding), and delete it, thus reducing my self-pity wallowing by a good 67%. This then saves me enough time to send out more résumés, which in turn allows me to wallow in more self-pity.

Still, I actually enjoyed receiving my latest job application email, because I actually got to do something I've never done before: come back with a witty response.

Thank you for submitting your information to xxxxxxx. We are dedicated to acquiring the best talent and certainly take each candidate seriously. We have reviewed your information and feel that you are not the right candidate for us at this time. Many times these issues are a manner of timing as well as talent.


I've had more rejections in my life than I care to remember, enough that my soul is calloused like the skin of a rhinoceros. (Warning: if you have a fragile ego, do NOT go into sales or become a published writer. Or look for a job. Or date. Or meet new people.)

So I was more than a little happy to write my response:

Thanks for your response. I actually now have a job as a blog manager and social media specialist for another company here in town. I appreciate your reviewing my application, and I guess things have worked out for the best for me. Good luck in your search as well.


(For the record, last week I was hired as a blog manager with Professional Blog Service. We create, maintain, and promote blogs for corporations. And we do it through. . . wait for it. . . social media!

So while I may not have had the qualifications the one employer wanted (I'm young and cheap), I had the ones PBS did (I'm good at what I do).

Ahhh...

It's good to be recognized for the skills another company didn't. Maybe this is what Kurt Warner -- former grocery stocker and arena football player -- felt like after winning the NFL MVP and Super Bowl MVP, after leading his St. Louis Rams to victory in Super Bowl XXXIV.


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