I woke up, looked at my phone to check the time and there was a notification:
“We thank you for your interest in …”

Shit. Not again. Not those dreaded words again. 

I probably know this rejection email template byheart now. It’s always: ‘Your profile is impressive but..’ sigh! If my profile is impressive why you no hire me?? Companies be pulling the — “It’s not you, it’s me” trick on applicants. 

Another day, another rejection. Is this what the job search process entails? 

 The four stages of the job search process:

  1. Highly optimistic, Filter companies, jobs and roles. Thinking to yourself you are probably too good for certain roles. 

  2. Start accepting you won’t get into top companies. Self-select into other companies. Less filter on roles.

  3. Wondering if your resume is bad (you previously thought your resume was amazing and top-tier). Start commenting ‘interested’ on LinkedIn posts. No filter on company.

  4. You start questioning everything about your previous work experience and your self-worth as an individual. Apply to any and every remotely relevant role, hope for the best.

It is depressing when you get instant rejections, you weren’t even given a chance to prove your skills. Everything you’ve ever done and accomplished in your life rests on that piece of paper which is most likely not even read by a real human.

Job searching is a truly humbling experience. I was once a proud employee, working at a great product company. Looking back I probably derived a lot of my self-worth from my employment status. When I was employed, every other day, I used to get DMs from recruiters with offers, how I miss those days! Now that you are unemployed, no one wants to touch you with a ten foot pole. 

End rant. Time to apply again. Or maybe network? Yuck. A topic for another day.