One of The Wall Street Journal’s most interesting features, the Hire Education Blog, follows the progress of a number of seniors around the nation as they search for gainful employment. One of the students, Shalini Sharan—a senior at Bates College majoring in economics with a minor in Russian—recalled a recent experience in which she felt, with utmost certainty, that she had secured a job. Interviewing for a position with “an esteemed national NGO [i.e. Non-Governmental Organization],” Ms. Sharan felt confident that she had gotten the job; in fact, everything seemed to point in that direction. She recalls, the NGO “seemed like a perfect fit,” and “after a smooth and exciting second-round interview” she “couldn’t help but be hopeful.” Despite protracted discussions with the NGO about where Ms. Sharan might fit into the organization, and signs which seemed to indicate the NGO’s interest in hiring Ms. Sharan, she soon received an unexpected rejection e-mail. Or, as she recollects, “I felt positive about my chances of landing the position. The e-mail from them wishing me luck for my future job search, therefore, came as a big disappointment.” Undeterred, however, Ms. Sharan’s response to this rejection provides a textbook example of how one should react in the face of such unexpected rejection.
Ms. Sharan ultimately concluded, “For now, I am trying to be positive and give it my best shot. Winter break is here, but the job search is not taking a break.” From Ms. Sharan’s story can be drawn an important lesson: Ms. Sharan’s positivity and sticktoitiveness will eventually, no doubt, yield her desired outcome. Although professional experience and the quality of one’s resume are critically important, so is a positive outlook and the will to push through any obstacle. Although it might sound cliché, don’t allow for the wind to leave your sails—feeling defeated, and allowing that feeling to overcome you, could turn your job search into a self-fulfilling prophesy in which your pervasive negative feelings prevent you from spending the necessary time and energy searching for job vacancies
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