"After enough time on the job hunt, you develop a sixth sense for HR language. The preview text—'Thank you for taking the time...'—said it all. It's the standard soft intro to bad news: Your application was amazing . . . but not amazing enough. The blow softens once you've received a few of these."
"The emotions that follow resemble the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and eventually, acceptance. I ran the gamut of these feels when I got my latest rejection for a role that seemed promising all the way through the final interview."
"Nah, this can't be right. I refresh my inbox three times, as if the letters in the message will magically rearrange themselves into a sequence that reveals a start date. Could it be a system glitch? Maybe they sent this to the wrong candidate?"
After receiving a job rejection email, candidates experience emotional responses mirroring the five stages of grief. Denial involves questioning the rejection's validity and seeking explanations for the outcome. Anger follows as candidates investigate who received the position, often experiencing frustration and resentment. The rejection process becomes more manageable with repeated experience, as candidates develop familiarity with HR rejection language patterns. Understanding these emotional stages helps normalize the job search experience and provides a framework for processing disappointment. Eventually, acceptance emerges as candidates move forward in their search.
#job-rejection #emotional-stages-of-grief #job-search-psychology #career-disappointment #hr-communication
Read at Fast Company
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