You’re well into the heart of your job search. You have a great résumé, letter, LinkedIn profile and other career communications. You’re a busy-bee networker. You just finished interviewing for a job you really, really wanted. You’re a finalist, having been through a round of hoops. You think the interview went really well.
Then you get that “thanks-but-no-thanks” email or snail mail letter – you didn’t get the job offer you were hoping for. You might receive a personal phone call from the recruiter, HR person or someone else in the hiring chain.
If you didn’t get the job offer you were hoping for, you are no doubt disappointed. But it’s not necessarily the end of the line.
My client, Jill got the call; it was not the feedback she wanted. What did Jill not do? She did not slink off or admit defeat. Here’s what she did do:
- Emailed the hiring manager (whom she’d had several conversations with) and asked to set up a brief phone call—no more than 15 minutes. Done.
- Called that hiring manager at the appointed time, and pressed for leads and referrals. She asked powerful “Who do you know” questions. Remembering that this hiring manager thought well enough of her to make her one of the finalists in the first place, Jill leveraged this.
- Wrote a brief email and snail mail letter stating how delighted she was to have been considered by ABC, a company she had always admired and respected. She let them know that, should any need arise in the future for her talents, she would be more than happy to meet with them again.
- Afterward, she sent some helpful information in links via email, Twitter and LinkedIn on issues that had been discussed in the interview.
And this is cool. I also had a client, Jim, who did the same things. But he did get the job offer . He declined it.
Jim took the same steps as Jill, because it boiled down to his not finding the right fit at this time. Who knows what position might materialize with the same company that would be a perfect match!? Jim let them know that he would be more than happy to be considered for it.
So it’s a mindset. “They saw something in me, and I saw something in them.” It’s all about keeping the lines of communication open; staying connected.
Oh, and three months after Jill talked to the hiring manager and wrote her correspondence, the company created a new role that was an even better match for Jill. This time she was hired. And Jim? Yup. Hired later by the same company he turned down. This time it aligned with his expectations and dreams.
Obstacles and detours are not no-can-dos. It’s people connecting with other people. An ever-evolving dynamic. One thing leads to another—a domino effect. You can snatch victory from the jaws of defeat!
