Rejection in Recruitment: How to handle it
Rejection at any point in your life is difficult, and we’re all guilty of quickly calling ourselves a failure. Although you’ve probably seen many inspirational quotes on being kinder to yourself, we’re going to tell you to listen. Rejection is part of life and is something you will experience 90% of the time in recruitment.
When you’re starting out in recruitment, you’ll find yourself being on the receiving end of many ‘we’re not interested’ or ‘they’re in a meeting’ calls. Especially when trying to find that first client on your list but the reality is, recruitment is 90% rejection and failure. Whether you’re just starting out or are a seasoned consultant, recruitment is a lottery and you’re working towards that jackpot. You’re not going to win every week, that’s not how the game works.
Although, if you do find yourself beating yourself up for someone hanging up on you, or giving you a fake email, there are ways to handle that rejection.
Be persistent.
Recruitment pays well, and if it was easy, everyone would be doing it. You’ll find yourself struggling for a while, whether you’ve just started or hit a wall. Be persistent, keep trying with your calls, believe in yourself and they will come through. One rejection is just another move towards success.
It’s not personal.
It’s hard not to take rejection personally, but you’re not the problem. It’s easier to see rejection as part of the process, who said success is linear anyways? A lot of the time, we go into a shop and leave without buying anything. That comes down to other factors, rather than it being the shop assistant’s fault.
Use it as a lesson.
Recruitment is a performance-based role, which means you will receive a lot of feedback during your time. The feedback from others, whether it be your colleagues, clients, or candidates, is only there to benefit you. Take on that feedback and evaluate the areas you’ve been told to improve, but also evaluate the areas you personally think you need to improve on in your sales approach.
If you are based in an office, this also gives you the advantage to watch and learn. Listen to those next to you and hear what they say, even take notes of some of their key lines.
Look at your achievements.
Celebrate all the small wins. Perhaps your manager praised you, you had a good call and a potential future client. Sometimes it’s just about knowing you tried your best today and that’s enough of an achievement.
Reframe your mindset.
Take a different look at your setbacks, mistakes, and rejections. By simply changing your perspective on these things you’re on your way to fast tracking your development. If you’re reading this blog, then that means you want to reframe how you view rejection. Assess all those small instances that prompted a big reaction out of you and see how you could’ve handled it instead. Make clear goals on what you would like to achieve out of your role.