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How to Keep Motivated After Failing Multiple Job Interviews

Interview_candidatelOne of the most frustrating things about looking for a new job is if you are getting into interviews regularly but constantly fail to be hired. This can be incredibly frustrating due to the large investment of time and energy you have placed into each of these failed experiences.

You have taken the time to fill out application forms, sent your resume and created targeted cover letters. You may have taken a battery of job tests and passed the initial interview, but, all of a sudden, you were notified that you didn’t qualify for the next round of interviews.

When all of the time you have spent does not translate into a job offer, you may feel drained and experience the urge to quit. But, just when you’re about to give up, take time to reassess why you’re failing to get hired. After all, no one wants to keep investing time and energy on things that won’t pan out. Make a move to understand the areas that you need to improve on or what you need to do to beat other job seekers.

Here are some tips on how to stay motivated and change course when the interviews keep coming, but the employers keep saying, “No.”

 

Hire an Interview Coach

If you keep getting all of the way through to the interview over and over, thus rising above all but a handful of applicants and yet, still fail to receive a job offer, it's time to assess your interview skills.

Could it be that your interview skills are mediocre? Forbes suggests that it might be a good idea to get an interview coach or mentor. The best interview coach would be one who is in your desired industry. Unfortunately, if you are trying to get your foot in the door, you might not have access to such a mentor in your network.

Resources to find a good interview coach can include industry professional groups both online and offline. Joining these group is a good idea because you may find more people that might help you find employment through the grapevine.

Does the industry group have networking events? Do they have an online forum? These are the places to begin your search for an interview coach. If you are somehow unable to find an interview coach in the industry, you can look for people who have the skills to come up with interview questions, evaluate your responses and help you groom your answers. An English teacher or a tutor can be of great help, especially if English is not your first language.

There are also organizations like Wyzant that will help you conduct mock interviews either online or in person and provide you feedback on your interview skills. They will be able to ascertain if there is something about your general interview responses or demeanor that are missing the mark. Either way, you want to eliminate the possibility that there is something off-putting about how you are presenting yourself to potential employers.

 

Research the Firm

If you really want the job that the next interview offers, you need to do more due diligence than filling out the application packet, taking psychometric tests, and submitting your resume. Go online. Look at the Glassdoor reviews of the employer. See where the hang-ups seem to occur between the employer and the employees. Can you provide information from your background that demonstrates how you will not have that problem that other employees are having? Just don't directly state that you are aware of complaints about their firm.

Also, visit the firm’s website and read their ‘About Us’ page. This way, you will know what their culture is, and you can assess whether you’d fit in or not. Ask yourself what skills you can contribute and be ready to provide examples from other employment in which you did just that.

According to the Guardian, it will also be helpful if you research your interviewers. Look over their profiles on LinkedIn and discover the causes they support or things they like. Knowing a little about your interviewer can help you position yourself better.

 

Do You Need to Narrow Your Search?

When there is a time of high competition in an industry for jobs, employers narrow the qualifications they will accept from candidates. If you are in an industry saturated with workers, you can try narrowing your search to jobs that are an exact match to your skill set.

It does not make sense to jump through the hoops of completing application documents, resume, cover letter, job tests, and interviews if you are going to be rejected because you don’t have the required skill set. Narrow your search to where you are likely to be hired.

 


Click here for your one-stop shop guide for getting a job. Starting with the best ways to approach the search and ending with the interview.


 

Provide an Example for Everything

Many companies are now asking candidates interview questions that focus more on desired behaviors in the workplace. This helps the employer eliminate people who do not have the required personality to cope with the demands of the job. It also helps you as an applicant.

It is far easier for a job candidate, even one who is very nervous and introverted, to demonstrate the qualities they bring to a job through sharing experiences in which they did the very thing the interviewer is asking about.

You want to focus upon a challenge you faced that matches the question, explain what the challenge was, how you approached and solved it, and how this created a solution in your workplace. It is far easier to speak about what you did in the past than it is to answer questions about hypothetical situations.

It also demonstrates your experience and places you head and shoulders above candidates who come to interviews with canned responses. Be sure, though, that you are meeting the demands of each interview question.

 

Ask Some Questions of Your Own

If you don't ask questions, you risk appearing as though you are not interested in the position. You want to show that being a part of their firm is important to you. You have to be careful, though, that your questions do not become a reason for eliminating you as a candidate.

An example would be asking an employer about future advancement possibilities where there are none. Asking such a question will simply disqualify you because they will think you want more than they can offer and will not stay. Let your research on the firm help you uncover the nuggets that will help you find the right question to ask.

 

Follow Up

According to Muse, interviewees that failed to get the job should send a follow-up email. Just sending the email will place you in an exclusive group, since most will not go to the trouble.

Ask for feedback from the interviewer that is both positive and negative. Explain to them that you welcome such feedback, as it is a part of a learning experience for you. Sometimes, you will get feedback that will help you dial in your interview skills.

 

Take Care of Yourself

Ensure that you take the time to do something good for yourself each day as a means to cope up with rejection. You should be kind to yourself even though you feel as if you’re being punished because of constant failure.

The best way to pop back up and find the resolve to nail the next job interview is to take a fresh look at your efforts. Hiring an interview coach, researching the next potential employer and interviewers, narrowing your focus to match your applications to your present skill set, and providing concrete examples from your professional experiences in response to interview questions.

It truly feels depleting to go through all of the paper trail and interview sessions, only to be rejected over and over, but if you heed the advice we’ve provided above, it won’t be long before you land the job of your dreams.

 

Less-Looking-More-Finding-Yoh-Jobs

 

About the Author: Edward Mellett is the founder of Practice Reasoning Tests. After failing employer’s assessment tests many times before getting a graduate job in 2005, he created Practice Reasoning Tests to teach the lessons he learned along the way. Edward has also created numerous in-depth guides about psychometric testing and other types of job tests.

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