What is Rejection? We all are aware about it because we have all faced it in some way or the other at some point in our lives. But what exactly is this fear? What is this monster that haunts us in our head all the time? Let’s explore the foundations of rejection and what initiates it. Rejection can be painful, devastating and impressionable. This is the reason why it’s often personified as a monster. For most of us, it’s hard to pick ourselves back and keep trying after being rejected.

A clear rejection is always better than a fake promise

Do you remember your first interview? I'm sure it must have been challenging! It is for most of us.  Do you remember the first time ever you got rejected in an interview? It’s a bad feeling. What happens is that even before we face the interview, inside our mind, consciously or unconsciously we face the fear of being evaluated and compared with our competitors within a few minutes. This sets the base for the after effects of the rejection. Only through understanding the foundation of what causes these ‘after rejection’ thoughts, we shall be able to conquer them.

Optimism is the Medicine
What we think vs. What we should be thinking

Find your Weakness

Even people with good experience and exposure to the domain sometimes lack a certain skill. It could be a trending skill set which might have come in demand recently or a skill which might need more practice. For example a Google Analytics expert might have ignored improving on Social Media Marketing or SPSS, etc. which may be not be of use for one job, but is critical to crack another.

Narrow down your search

One may be looking for the wrong job all along. Some jobs, requires not only a definite set of skills but also a certain personality and attitude. Companies are always very particular about finding the “Best” candidate as per the job and also fits well with their work culture. People mostly find it difficult to accept that they may not be the right fit for the job and thus face continuous rejections. It’s wiser to look upon it and narrow the search.

Learning from mistakes and not giving up

People are often afraid of rejection from the beginning itself. When one starts something and faces rejection in the very beginning, the motivation to go on is somewhere lost, failing to realize that the higher we go in our lives, the more is the probability of getting rejected. In fact, a lot of great achievers of the world have faced rejections numerous times in their lives. But every rejection just made them stronger and craved for the success even more. The greatest inventors of all time, Thomas A. Edison, said when being asked about  thousands of failed attempts “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work”.


There are so many examples of success that came out of a number of failed attempts. One such story is about C.S. Lewis, a great British novelist whose manuscript was rejected 800 times before he got his first chance to get his work published who was then an International sensation, the writer of “The Chronicles of Narnia”. The other is an Indian entrepreneur, Mohan Singh Oberoi, the founder of the world-class Oberoi chain of hotels, who was rejected by his own village and family members and was exiled from his village because he shaved off his beard, which, being a Sikh which was a great offense during the 1920s. This temporary rejection turned out to be a blessing for him and he became one of the greatest entrepreneurs of all time.

The crux is that History has been the proof of the fact that the

This is not to say that facing failures and rejections in cracking a job interview won't hurt. There is no Mantra to guarantee success as well. Its the positive attitude of acknowledging a rejection and using it critically as a life's lesson to improve on the gaps, that improves your chances of success. "Remember that Life is full of Ups and Downs; Without the Downs, the Ups would mean nothing!"