🍋 5-Step Framework To Turn Rejections Into Offers

Hello, Connectors 😎

Today in 5 minutes or less, you’ll learn my 5-step process to turn rejection into your next role.

Plus, the best links and resources on remote work. You'll learn:

• 🏠 Who is still working from home?  

• 👟 How remote work ruined Nike 

• 🔨 The best way to get things done

…and more.

🍋 5-Step Framework To Turn Rejections Into Offers

There's nothing more wounding than getting to final interviews... then getting rejected.

Here are some of the recent messages in my inbox: 

You want so badly for this uncertain chapter of your life to conclude, so you can go back to building your career and your life. Despite everything you know about "getting your hopes up," you can't help it.

Then that hope gets dashed away.

The problem? Most people take the rejection personally. They see the rejection as a reflection of their skills. Or worse, they see it as a reflection of their self-worth. There can be a dozen reasons behind a rejection…

There was someone else who was a better fit. They could have lost the budget for the role. They realized they needed a different hire. They hired internally. The interviewer did a poor job evaluating candidates. 

Instead of taking the rejection personally, here’s the 5-step playbook I run (and teach my clients) to stay motivated, improve your job search process, and land the next role.

1. Ask for feedback

2. Record and review your interviews

3. Surround yourself with a "board of advisors"

4. Focus on the constraint

5. Get small wins

1/ Ask for feedback

Always ask. If you don't hear back, follow up, nicely.

Here’s a script you can use: 

This is 100% true. Getting feedback is rare, and depends on the companies and roles you target. Personally, I expect a 20% response rate and only expect 50% of responses to be useful. 

But here’s the secret: 

You do not need a 50%+ response rate. 

Here’s a piece of feedback one of my clients received when interviewing for a senior engineering role at an email service provider: 

This is tough feedback to hear… but it’s invaluable to receive. 

From here, he knew possible paths he could take to improve:  

• Review the problem sets he answered (more on that below)

• Improve his system design skills 

• Target more junior roles

In a later interview with a streaming service, here’s the feedback he received: 

Still no joy, but it’s huge progress! 🚀 

He’s moving in the right direction. And it’s just a matter of time before he lands his next role. 

2/ Record and review your interviews

Always record your side of the interview. This can be done with simple tech (e.g. everyone has a Voice Memo app on your phone).

Then, listen back to the interview and do the following: 

1. Write down the questions you were asked

2. Transcribe your answers (use https://otter.ai/ - it’s free) 

3. Study your answers. Where were you strong? Where can you improve? 

4. Edit your answers. What would you have ideally said? What would you change? 

5. Practice your edited answers (my preferred way to practice is with https://www.loom.com/ - also free). 

Listening to yourself can be excruciating at first. 

But it’s the best way to get better at interviewing.

I'll write down the questions I struggled with. I'll improve them.

3/ Surround yourself with a "board of advisors"

Keep an informal "board of advisors" while you’re running your job search, 

These are professionals at the same career “level" as you or higher. They should be positive, ambitious individuals who want to see you succeed. 

This is critical. The job search journey is littered with the highest of highs and lowest of lows. Having unsupportive people in your ear can be poison to your career. 

Keep your board of advisors updated throughout the search. If you have questions about:

• A role

• Your resume

• An interview question

These people are on “speed dial” to ping with quick questions.

4/ Focus on the constraint

Here’s the question I’m always asking my clients: 

Solve that first.

For example, let’s say in the last 30 days you had four interviews. But you didn’t close any of them. 

Then it’s reasonable to say your constraint is your ability to interview. Focus all your time on improving your interview skills.

But if it's been 2-3 months and you haven’t landed an interview, then the constraint is further “up funnel.” You don’t need to practice interviewing because that’s not what’s blocking you. 

Instead, you should analyze the roles you’re applying to, or what you can do to improve your application. 

Focus on the constraint. Identify what’s blocking you, then divert all your attention there, until you’ve removed the blocker.

5/ Get small wins

Small wins drive motivation.

This is why focus is critical. Focus helps achieve those small wins in quick succession, like: 

• Finishing your resume

• Landing a recruiter screen

• Cold messaging someone and getting a referral

And a succession of small wins builds the momentum you need to blast through rejections until you land your next role. 

Conclusion 

That’s it for this week - my 5-step playbook to turn rejection into landing your next role. Give this a try and let me know how it goes. 

That’s a wrap. See you next week 👋

🤝 3 ways I can help you with remote work: