How to deal with rejection? Or something like that.

Meliegree

Meliegree

Evening The Odds.
Hello friends!

This topic is result of sadness, beer and being angry with myself. But it's always nice to talki with people who maybe know more than you do, right?

I lost my job. Nothing special, happens all the time. Problem is - I just can't find something else. My social skills are like -5 on 1 - 10 scale. I start working when I was ~16 so experience is there, mostly on management positions. I'm good with strategy, analysis and marketing tasks. SEO and brand management mostly. Now I have lost my job (budget cuts - I was working without any budget for my department for 5 months with nice results of +25% growth rate every month) and when I send CV... nothing happens. No calls, emails and I'm start to feel useless. Worst part - I heard two times that they prefer to employ some student with no experience than me.

I know that this is maybe not topic for this forum but I always thought about Maiden fans as family. :) Any ideas how to deal with this? It's 1:54PM and I already send ~ 50 CV's.
 
Sorry to hear about you losing your job. Actually scary as I will be in this position a few motns from now.

I don't know what your actual pay was or the specific job you were doing or where you applied to.
But have you considered applying for a less appealing job (e. G lower pay / less prestigious tasks than you are used to?)

Seeing you were doing management stuff maybe trying to get a lead position of a supermarket or sorts of.

If you start over low you can always work yourself up or use the "shit" job as another reference for something better.

Keep your head up, eventually something will come your way
 
I tried. They told me that I'm overqualified so I'll probably try to take higher position as soon as possible and that's not good. I was working as Brand & Marketing manager, now even when I try to get specialist job in that field (entry job to be honest) no one want to talk with me.
 
I don't know how much this helps, but have you thought back to what it was that originally got you hired?
 
Perun said:
I don't know how much this helps, but have you thought back to what it was that originally got you hired?
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Yeah, I had the chance to talk with CEO. I'm good at my job and at leading team so he hired me. Problem is that now I'm in 99% of the time talk with HR people younger by 10 years, that have "script" of ideal candidate.
 
So, first of all, take a look at your CV. The old black text centred on white paper is heading out. Many new options are available that give more pop and draw more attention.

Second, network. Get on LinkedIn and list your credentials. Start adding recruiters in the industry you want to work within.

Third, look for alternate options. Consider retraining, going to school, learning a new skill.

Let me tell you an anecdote: in 2008, a Maidenfan lost his job. He had just taken a "dream job", but both that and his old career closed to him. He went back to school, and started working in IT. Now he's the VP in charge of technology for his company.

There's always ways to change and make things work.
 
Also there is another thing that helps me when shit like that happens to me. Call a friend and go for a beer and debate. Usually quite a few ideas pop up.
 
If nothing else, you're free of your old job, you didn't have to take any agonising decision to leave, and now you have an opportunity to find something that really suits you. Is it completely out of the question to start your own business? Doing anything, anything you can think of, from selling your skills as a freelance consultant to whittling artisan spoons out of whale bone. Selling Chinese shit on Ebay. It might bring in very little money, but it's a practical thing to do and adds to your general portfolio of skills. As LC says, studying for something is seen as a very good use of your time, and if there are grants or long-term loans available for studying, that's even better.

I'm in pretty much the same position as you jobs wise, and have been for ages now. I was in a reasonably skilled and qualified job, and those jobs are few and far between now because traditional companies in that field are in decline. The 'next step up' career progression type jobs want people who were at a much higher grade than me, or people with status and connections who are social whirlwinds. Those recruiting for less skilled jobs freak out if they find out what I used to do and that I have a degree. And yes, agency recruiters in particular practically know what hairstyle and eye colour they want in their ideal candidate. What I have found is that if an employer doesn't want me, I now get the feeling of 'screw that, the job wasn't right for me anyway'. One card you could play over cheap and fresh youngsters, is maturity and general life experience. My Dad (unemployed for many years and went through a massive career change in his late 30s/40s) landed his best job purely because they needed someone older who was unlikely to get pushed around by a domineering member of staff.
 
@Meliegree (and @FTB), sorry to hear about your employment woes. It's happened to me twice already - the first time when I was 22, the second time 42.

Firstly I would say, from personal experience, it's important to aim at the right level, or slightly above. If you're overqualified they'll think you won't stay, and no-one wants to hire someone who's going to be out the door the moment something better pops up. If you're slightly underqualified/under-experienced but they like you, you may well find they'll be prepared to give you a go because as well as experience and skills they want someone who is going to fit into their team - and showing some ambition is only going to help.

Secondly, I would suggest that 50 CVs is too many to send in one day - that's too many irons in the fire. It's better to send fewer, but target them more specifically. Unless you genuinely saw 50 jobs today that you really wanted, I'd say it's likely that most of those jobs were less than ideal. Which could be a factor in why you're getting rejections/no responses.

Regarding the feeling useless - honestly, don't fall into the trap of deriving your sense of your own worth from what you do for a living. You've not been sacked, you've been made redundant and it sounds like the reason you can't get anything else at the moment is due to an oversubscribed job market - it's not because you have suddenly become less skilled than you were. And if your social skills were in the minuses you wouldn't be good at leading a team, so please stop thinking that! Don't make apologies for who you are, treat that as an asset and eventually something will turn up that will suit you really well. It just may take a while to find it.

Also, as LC says, investigate the possibilities of retraining. You may be able to turn this into a golden opportunity to do something you've always wanted to do, but never thought you might be able to get paid for. Good luck!
 
Black Abyss Babe said:
@Meliegree (and @FTB), sorry to hear about your employment woes. It's happened to me twice already - the first time when I was 22, the second time 42.

Firstly I would say, from personal experience, it's important to aim at the right level, or slightly above. If you're overqualified they'll think you won't stay, and no-one wants to hire someone who's going to be out the door the moment something better pops up. If you're slightly underqualified/under-experienced but they like you, you may well find they'll be prepared to give you a go because as well as experience and skills they want someone who is going to fit into their team - and showing some ambition is only going to help.

Secondly, I would suggest that 50 CVs is too many to send in one day - that's too many irons in the fire. It's better to send fewer, but target them more specifically. Unless you genuinely saw 50 jobs today that you really wanted, I'd say it's likely that most of those jobs were less than ideal. Which could be a factor in why you're getting rejections/no responses.

Regarding the feeling useless - honestly, don't fall into the trap of deriving your sense of your own worth from what you do for a living. You've not been sacked, you've been made redundant and it sounds like the reason you can't get anything else at the moment is due to an oversubscribed job market - it's not because you have suddenly become less skilled than you were. And if your social skills were in the minuses you wouldn't be good at leading a team, so please stop thinking that! Don't make apologies for who you are, treat that as an asset and eventually something will turn up that will suit you really well. It just may take a while to find it.

Also, as LC says, investigate the possibilities of retraining. You may be able to turn this into a golden opportunity to do something you've always wanted to do, but never thought you might be able to get paid for. Good luck!
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To be honest - in this 50 jobs were some very great opportunities and silence from them make me angry. :) But I was right - you gues helped me. Just day after this topic was created I've got ~10 phone calls one after another. I was quite sad so when I was filling salary field I typed my old salary x 2 and told that I do not have education but I have huge experience and I can't wait for what we can achieve together. They want even relocate me to another city, which is nice I guess.

Thank you guys for nice & helpfull words, that mean a lot.
 
Thank you! I can't wait till tomorrow. I googled my maybe-next-manager. She's 11 years younger than me and have 1 year of experience if I can trust her LinkedIn account. It will be great.
 
Plenty of good advice already given, so I just want to wish @Meliegree good luck with the interviews.

And something else - in my experience, the easiest way to find a job these days is when you get referred by someone. With your extensive experience, you must have a friend, a former colleague or boss that you can ask for available positions in their companies. Also, LinkedIn is a very useful tool, as LC said. Just make sure you adjust the settings, so people viewing your profile can see you are looking for a job.
 
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