Gentle Introduction To Mathematics For Computer

PATRICK FORSYTH
HANDLING REJECTION
FOR JOB SEEKERS
WHAT TO DO IF YOU
DON’T GET THAT JOB
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Handling Rejection for Job Seekers: What to do if you don’t get that Job
1st edition
© 2018 Patrick Forsyth & bookboon.com
ISBN 978-87-403-2679-6

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HANDLING REJECTION FOR JOB SEEKERS:
WHAT TO DO IF YOU DON’T GET THAT JOB Contents
CONTENTS
About the author 5
1 Introduction: not the end, the beginning. 6
2 Check what you are aiming at 8
3 Ensuring a confident you 16
4 Presenting yourself 27
5 Checklist for success 34
Further reading 40

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WHAT TO DO IF YOU DON’T GET THAT JOB About the author
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Patrick Forsyth is a consultant, trainer and writer. He has worked with organisations large
and small and in many different parts of the world. He is the author of many successful
books on management, business and careers and prides himself on having a clear how-to style.
One reviewer (“Professional Marketing”) commented: Patrick has a lucid and elegant
style of writing which allows him to present information in a way that is organised, focused
and easy to apply.
In this series he is also the author of several titles including “Your boss: sorted!” and “How
to get a pay rise”. His writing extends beyond business. He has had published humorous
books (e.g. Empty when half full) and light-hearted travel writing: First class at last!, about a
journey through South East Asia, and Smile because it happened about Thailand. His novel,
Long Overdue, was published recently.
He can be contacted via www.patrickforsyth.com

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WHAT TO DO IF YOU DON’T GET THAT JOB Introduction: not the end, the beginning.
1 INTRODUCTION: NOT THE

END, THE BEGINNING.
Failure is an opportunity to start again more intelligently.
– Henry Ford
You feel the interview went well, you really want a particular job. But, of course, the job
seeking process does not always go to plan and rejection can follow. The letters that follow
your attempts to secure a job are normally polite: We very much appreciate your … however
their phraseology usually makes the but… visible a mile off. No one likes getting such
messages (or, as is common these days, getting no acknowledgement at all); it’s depressing
and it may happen more than once.
In this text we look at what your reaction should be and what action you should take.
The fact is…

Job seeking is a numbers game and most often you need to put sufficient bread on the waters
and recognize that not all your applications will be successful (you only want one job after
all). Recruitment is not easy either. It has been said that the ideal job advertisement brings
one reply from an ideal candidate who is promptly appointed. That may be a good maxim
for someone writing a job advertisement, but it’s rarely what happens. More usually, the
recruiter is having to cope with a perhaps considerable number of applications and narrow
them down, deciding which candidates to interview and finally which to appoint. It is a
detailed and time consuming task.
The requirements quoted – candidates must be graduates, able to speak fluent French and
write good reports or whatever – are designed to help this screening process. Sometimes the
lack of one such characteristic is used to screen out people without even looking at other
factors, so rejection may only mean that you did not meet one such criteria.
Rejection is not a testament to you being a useless, work shy idiot.
Indeed rejection may mean that you were placed second and missed being the chosen
candidate only by the tiniest whisker; essentially there is nothing wrong with your profile –
qualifications, experience and competencies – and nothing to be depressed about. Similarly
while it may mean that you were unsuitable for whatever reason for this one particular job,
it does not mean that you are unsuitable for anything.
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WHAT TO DO IF YOU DON’T GET THAT JOB Introduction: not the end, the beginning.
Another possibility is that you know what went wrong, you made an obvious error and
have already resolved to handle whatever it was differently next time. Additionally you may
recognize other hazards. For instance, with many employers routinely checking the social
media of applicants, I wonder how many applications have been screened out because of
some unsuitable photograph (or more, of course). You have been warned: and may want
to do some editing (or use a service that does it for you). This has assuredly become a
significant factor, if you are surgically attached to your phone, take note.
Amongst writers it is said that there is one word that describes a writer with no persistence
and it’s unpublished. Even J K Rowling was turned down multiple times before she went
on the make a fortune from the Harry Potter books. In job seeking, as in the world of
writing and publishing, rejection goes with the territory.
Any failure should not be a prompt to anything but renewed effort, something that works
in most activities (well, not sky diving!). What may be in order is a little reassessment.
Although not getting a particular job may say nothing about faults in your approach, it may
be that some change is needed in terms of what you are doing and how you are doing it.
Aim high
Aiming high is no bad thing, indeed it is often to be recommended. Realistically though
it may be that your chance of success is diluted. If you apply for a job that, say, demands
graduate applicants, and you are not one, it is possible that other striking factors in your
profile are irresistible and you will get the job. Equally you might be screened out at the
very first stage. Again be realistic. You may conclude that the campaign that will get you
the best possible job has to include such approaches, but that you also need apply across a
range of things and accept the ones that fall by the wayside along the way.
Rejection is always worst when it is for a job you have, for whatever reason, really set your
heart on. Indeed, if getting a job is urgent it is a mistake to set your heart on one thing
and reduce all other job seeking activities while you wait on it. If you are not successful
that can waste a lot of time.
So, forget rejection, or at least view it realistically and don’t get too upset about it. The task
is to rebuild your confidence, check that you are accurately lined up on target and see what
you might need to do to make one of your next applications successful.
Look ahead, and do so positively.

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WHAT TO DO IF YOU DON’T GET THAT JOB Check what you are aiming at
2 CHECK WHAT YOU

ARE AIMING AT
The greatest pleasure in life is achieving things that people say can’t be done.
– Scott Volkers
The job is to examine how things are going and see if you can make them go differently – or
better – on future occasions. However well you do – writing an excellent C.V., performing
well at interviews and so on, it may first be worth stepping back.
If you are applying for posts for which either you are unsuited or which do not really
appeal to you for whatever reason, then it is unlikely that your attempts to get them will
be well focused. It could be that you are clear in your intentions and right on target, in
which case detailed analysis will not be necessary (even so some of what follows in this
chapter could be useful).
Clarifying your intentions

The earliest “career plan” I can remember having in mind for myself when I was still at
school, was to be an astronomer. This was born of a passionate interest in the subject rather
than any link with my actual or likely abilities. However, once I began to check out what
might be necessary, realism soon set in and, though my interest continues, my career took
other paths. Career planning, perhaps sadly, does not mean conjuring up plans that are
no more than pie in the sky, but proceeding on a clear, accurate and honest assessment of
what might be possible.
Clarity here forms a firm foundation from which to approach the task of securing a particular
job. Becoming clear means looking inwards.
Know yourself
Though we all like to think we know ourselves, this may not be entirely true. It is easy to
make assumptions, to leave key elements out of the picture and so, as a result misjudge
how our current profile lends itself to career progress, and just what sort of progress may be
possible. Assumptions can link to past experience, fears, bad experiences or a host of things.
An example of just how much we may misjudge ourselves perhaps makes the point: With

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my training hat on, I conduct courses designed to improve peoples’ formal presentations
skills. One category of person who attends (usually told to attend by their employer) has
never done this, or done very little of it, hates the thought of it because they know they
cannot do it well and would much prefer to avoid the whole subject and the task. Yet these
same people, or certainly many of them, prove to be quick and effective at learning how
to do a good job on a presentation. They find there is a difference between not knowing
how to go about something and inherently not being able to do it. With the knowledge of
how to tackle it, and with practice, this can be added to their list of skills. Yet previously
they may have been avoiding tasks, jobs, even promotion, that was likely to put them in a
position where they would have to do this seemingly worrying task.
There may well be aspects of your nature and ability you think about in this way, so
the first step to deciding a route forward is to look at where you are at the moment.
This should be done systematically and honestly and you may find it useful to keep
some notes of what the thinking produces. The next several sections lead you through a
suitable progression of self-analysis.
Assess your skills

You might be surprised at how many skills you have. Remember that it is quite possible
that things you do and take for granted, you can only in fact do because of considerable,
and perhaps unusual, experience. So all the things for which you have aptitude you should
list. Some general headings under which to group your abilities could be:
• Communications: (everything from writing a report to issuing instructions)

• Influencing: (that includes persuading, negotiating and promoting ideas)
• Managing (everything to do with managing other people)
• Problem solving: (analysing and drawing conclusions and coming up with solutions)
• Creativity: (generating ideas, seeing things in the round, having an open mind)
• Social skills: (not just relating to people but having insight, helping others, facilitating)
• Numerical: (figures, statistics, accounts, etc. and, these days, computers)
• Special skills: (here such skills as speaking a foreign language, unusual technical
skills, etc. should be mentioned)
At any stage of your career, you should have the full picture in mind and therefore
documented. It would be an interesting exercise to list such things now or progressively as
this section continues, and again when you have read the whole book. You may view things
differently after a review of how important some of the skill areas are from a career point
of view; something that might lead to useful amendments in your C.V.

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Assess your work values

It is not enough to know what skills you have. These must be viewed in the light of your
work values. Do you, for instance, have a:
• Strong need to achieve

• Need for a high salary
• High interest requirements of work
• Liking for doing something “worthwhile”
• Desire to do something creative
• Or specific requirements (such as to travel, to be independent, innovative or part
of a team)?
A wide range of permutations may be involved here and they may change over time (and
what better time to check they are up to date than ahead of job seeking). For example, travel
may be attractive to the young and single but less so to people who have young children
and then become more attractive again when a family is older.
Assess your personal characteristics

Once they are old enough to be into a career, most people do not change their habits and
ways, at least not dramatically and certainly not without effort. You need to assess yourself
in this respect and do so honestly. Are you innovative, positive, optimistic, hard-working,
are you prepared to take risks? What sort of a person, in fact, are you? There may be a
clash here. In thinking through your work values you may feel that you are suited to, and
want to be involved in, something with considerable cut and thrust, innovating, creative
and generally working at the leading edge. But, an honest assessment of yourself may show
that, whatever the superficial or status attraction of this option, it is just not really you. If
risk taking is not your thing, then a different, perhaps more supportive, role is where you
are likely to excel most.
Assess your non-work characteristics

One way or another, work and social life have to coexist alongside each other. They may
do so peaceably, or there may be conflicts between them. It is not automatically necessary
to career success to be a workaholic, though a strictly 9 to 5 attitude to the job is perhaps
not recommended either. And on the positive side, work and interests or hobbies may
overlap constructively, the one teaching you something about the other. There are questions
to be asked here too:

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• What are your family circumstances?

• Where do you need to live?
• How much time can you spend away from home?
• What are your other responsibilities and interests?
Family: If you have a partner, wife or husband then priorities may need to be set, because
career-building priorities can clash (children must feature in the analysis too). It is, sadly,
perfectly possible to arrive successfully at the top of the heap - a success in business, but
with home, family and happiness in ruins. This may sound dramatic, but the issues here
are worth some serious thought. Not least, there are times when career decisions must be
made fast or opportunities will be lost. If the relationship between home, family and work
have never been discussed, then the man who comes home from the office to tell his wife:
“I have this great new opportunity with the company, but it means living in Jakarta for
two years,” is in for some heated debate, especially if he has promised to go back to the
office the next day with a decision.
Interests: Interests are an important issue. All work and no play is, for most, a bad thing.
You need to look at your interests and hobbies alongside the job and your future career
intentions. Can they move forward together? How much time do you want to put into
both hobbies and work? These are not easy questions and must be worked out over a period
of time. Even so there may come times when there are clashes. If you have thought it all
through and discussed it with other family members as appropriate then transient problems
are more likely to be just that - transient.
There are no right or wrong answers here and I would not presume to give advice. The
amount of time and energy a job needs to take up and what must be left for other things
varies between individuals and rightly so; otherwise it would be a dull old world if we were
all the same. The smooth planning of these issues certainly helps you make career decisions
more easily and more promptly than would otherwise be the case. And for most, success
in life means career and private life working reasonably compatibly together, whatever the
demands of the job at any particular moment.
All this information forms the basis for much of the subsequent thinking that is necessary
as you consider how you may take action through the way you work and what you think
and do so as to build your career successfully. Opportunities (specifically which jobs you
apply for) and your real circumstances constantly have to be compared. Some career paths
will play to your strengths, others will not and some will cause a clash of objectives that
will be problematical or will simply not be open to you because of your mix of talents
and abilities (though this latter is something you can work at correcting). The picture you
build up here is solely for your own benefit. Some of the facts and information may also
be useful at appraisals and in the documentation and discussion that may be necessary as
you go about finding a new employer.

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Obtain professional career guidance

Sometimes, the problem appears that as you try to analyse both yourself and the path
you want to take, you can come to no real conclusion as to what will suit you best in the
future. In this case, it may be worth seeking professional assistance. An example of such a
circumstance may make a point clearer.
I came from a background that had no links with the commercial or business world. My
father was in the medical profession and once he had got over the shock of my wanting to
go into “industry”, insisted that I should first go to an organisation called the Vocational
Guidance Association. This body undertook to test the aptitudes of a person and match
them to the type of job and career that seem most suited to the individual concerned. As my
father was paying, I agreed to go, and found myself subjected to a battery of psychometric
tests that lasted most of a day. A report cataloguing what little ability I had at that stage
arrived a few days later.
To cut a long story short, I did go into industry (publishing initially) and cannot now
remember what difference, if any, the report made. What I do remember is finding it
many years later when I moved house. It described the nature of the job they had felt I
would most enjoy, and I found it matched exactly those things which I was involved in at
that time. I have always had a greater respect for such services since. An objective view is
sometimes useful, and while there is no test that will magically put you into a career you
love and excel in, such analysis may be very useful.
Such services are available in most large cities and can be useful at many stages of a career.
They are by no means only designed for those moving from education to a first job. Choose
a good advisor (not everyone who offers such testing is good) and this may be for some a
useful check at a particular stage of their career.
Match your analysis of yourself with market demands

Whatever picture your various self-analysis exercises build up, it must match realistically with
the demands made by employers in the marketplace. Let me put that more specifically: it must
match up with the demands made by employers in the section of industry and commerce
in which you intend to excel. So, whilst there are perhaps generally desirable characteristics
that you might list: being adaptable to change (or able to prompt it), flexible, or thorough
or productive and so on, there will be more specific characteristics in terms of abilities and
nature which will be demanded in a particular field. Indeed, a certain characteristic may
be an asset in one area and frowned on in another, as something like creativity might be
differently regarded in an advertising agency and a more traditional business. Similarly what
for some is drive and initiative, others will regard as aggressive and self-seeking.

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Two points arise from this. First, having analysed yourself and your intended field (even if
you are already in it), you must aim to cultivate – or more likely fine-tune in mid-career -
the profile for success in that field. Or, for some, react to such analysis showing that all the
signs are that you are not well suited in a way that encourages the possibility of success in
a particular area. The better the match, the better the chances that your profile will allow
you to do well, and progress along your chosen path.
But a good match is not, of itself, sufficient, as I said there is a second point here, illustrated
by an anecdote: a good friend has a son who has just left acting college and is intent on
carving out a career on the stage. I went to see a play he was in at a small London “fringe”
theatre; a production in which the cast were all young people starting out on their careers.
His performance seemed to me excellent, and I said as much to my friend later. “What else
did you notice?” He asked and, when I could not think what he meant, he commented,
“The whole of the cast was excellent.” His point was that talent was not going to be the only
factor in his son’s success if it comes, he has to get ahead of a strong field to rise to work
well and regularly. So it is in many fields. Just having the right qualifications and aptitudes
is rarely sufficient - others have them too - you have to have them in the right amount
and at the right level; and they must show, especially during the process of applying for a
job. Then, with some luck and if you work at it, you may carve out success for yourself.
But never make the mistake of thinking this happens in a vacuum - it happens with others
around you trying to do similar things. Knowing how well you matchup is, nevertheless,
a good starting point - one worth some thought.
Sum up your analysis in clear objectives

Every management guru has their own version of the maxim that every business must have a
plan or, as it is sometimes put, “if you do not know where you are going, any road will do”.
It is true, it does make a difference; as with any business, so with any career. This really is
common sense, and yet conversely it is so very easy to wake up one day and find that what
we have been wont to regard as planning is bowing to the inevitable and, if it looks good,
taking the credit for it. Having said that objectives are important, another point should be
made: they must be flexible. Life in all its aspects, certainly in business, is dynamic.
Objectives cannot be allowed to act as a straightjacket, yet we need their guidance, so their
potential for acting to fix things should not be regarded as a reason not to have them.
In business, people talk of “rolling” plans: a plan that is reasonably clear and comprehensive
for the shorter term, then sets out broad guidelines and further ahead has only main elements
clearly stated. As time rolls by, the plan can be updated and advanced into the future. With

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your career in mid, you will find a similar approach works well. In the short term, when
you can anticipate more of what may happen, the detail of how you intend to proceed is
clearer; further ahead you have notes on the outline strategy and key issues. As you talk
with a potential employer you need both time scales in mind.
Remembering to say “My objective is to become a marketing director” is not much help
without some clear actions and steps along the way. Objectives should be SMART. This
well-known mnemonic stands for specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timed, thus:
• Specific - expressed clearly and precisely

• Measurable - it must be possible to tell if you have achieved it (the difference
between saying you want to be “very successful” or “marketing director”)
• Achievable - it must not be so difficult as to be pie in the sky, otherwise the plan that
goes with it similarly becomes invalid and of no practical help in taking things forward
• Realistic - it must fit with your self-analysis and be what you want; it might be a
valid objective to aim for something possible but not ideal (promotion might be
possible within a department, but your real intention is to get out beyond that) but
this will not be helpful. Action is needed with more ambitious objectives in mind
• Timed - this is important, objectives are not to be achieved “eventually” but by a particular
moment: when do you aim to be marketing director? - This year, next year or when?
As an intern, you’re eager to put what you’ve learned

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There is no need for elaborate documentation here. Any objectives and plans are purely
for your own guidance, but a few notes on paper may be useful and there are times (such
as appraisal or when training is contemplated) when it may be useful to think of current
events alongside the notes you have made. Certainly you need the picture clearly in mind
when embarking on a job search. If you not only know which road you should be on, but
are taking steps to make sure you go purposively along it, that surely bodes well.
Note: separately from the analysis referred to above, it may be worth reviewing the sources
you use to identify new job opportunities. These will relate to your area of work and might
include specialist publications carrying job advertisements, but also of course includes
everything from websites to social media (e.g. LinkedIn), recruitment consultants and head-
hunters. Even such activities as networking might usefully be reviewed.
So, with the sort of thinking described here clear - and forming a solid basis for focused
activity - the immediate task is to consider the actual steps that lead to job hunting success.

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WHAT TO DO IF YOU DON’T GET THAT JOB Ensuring a confident you
3 ENSURING A CONFIDENT YOU

A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an
optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.
– Winston Churchill
It does not take very many set-backs in your job seeking to knock your confidence. This
can, of itself, affect your likely success. You have a bad interview, you go to another and
somehow can’t help feeling that it’s going to be a disaster. It may not be, but there is certainly
a real possibility that you will perform less well in a negative frame of mind.
So, a word about confidence:
A choice
You have a choice. Either you opt out: operating on whatever level of self-confidence
circumstances bestow upon you, recognising that human nature, the competitive workplace
and other influences – not least a bad interview - tend to exert a negative pressure to reduce
the level of self-confidence you have. Or you adopt an active approach and determine
that you will work at achieving a useful level of self-confidence despite all the job market
may throw at you. It really is a no brainer, especially as much that you need to do to take
control is straightforward.
View it the right way and take practical action to make it possible and confidence can be
increased. Perhaps the first thing to do is to make a simple, but firm, resolution to take
control, to work actively to increase your overall self-confidence and that which affects the
specific task of job seeking you want to undertake. Heightened confidence can allow you
not only to do more and do it better, it can change and improve your profile, making
you seem more competent and professional in a way that, in an increasingly competitive
workplace, can positively affect both your job and career. An applicant who appears confident
at interview has surely already taken a step in the right direction.
Okay? Resolution made, let’s focus a little on how you can put that resolution into effect.

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What is confidence anyway?

The dictionary says confidence is “a feeling of reliance or certainty, a sense of self-reliance;
boldness”. We all understand this as the feeling that we can do something. This is not
necessarily linked to perfection. With say a presentation to make you may know you are
not the best orator in the world, but know also that you can do a good, workmanlike job
of it that more than meets the needs of the occasion. Confidence is not just a feeling; it
is something that actively works to help you do things. It may not negate the need for
study, preparation or whatever but it boosts the likelihood of success in a tangible way.
Furthermore feeling confident can act to make you appear confident – professional, expert,
or whatever is appropriate - and that too can help the process, in the way that an audience
may sometimes already be thinking your presentation will be good even before you open
your mouth; similarly, those interviewing candidates for a job.
Some people despair, believing that you are either born confident or not. Certainly people
may have a natural tendency to feel confident, part inherent, part from background – the
nurture aspect their upbringing. But, without a doubt, natural tendency is only one factor
and in any case the most important message here is that your level of confidence is not fixed.
Think about it. There is almost certainly something you can think of that you originally
approached with little or no confidence and which you now view more positively having
done it, perhaps repeatedly, and survived.
Of course, there may be things we never learn to love, but which, despite that, we are able
to undertake with some equanimity, perhaps after experiment, review, training or practice;
or all these things. But usually whatever we fear doing we can actually do with less fear if
we decide to change our feelings and work at doing so.
Now we need to keep a clear perspective on confidence as we proceed here. It is not a

panacea. No amount of confidence will make up for a level of information or skill that simply
prohibits you from being judged best candidate. But the fact is there are things that you may
be perfectly well able to do and yet a lack of confidence reduces your level of performance
or, at worst, makes you fail. Furthermore a lack of confidence can have you avoiding things,
things that should not be avoided, and risk you being judged harshly for doing so.
Presenting, mentioned earlier, makes a good general example as there is certainly a level of
trauma involved and because of that many people lack confidence in standing up to speak
in public. They avoid ever having to get into a position where they must do so. This can
affect other, more pertinent things: I have certainly seen many poor C.Vs and been told
they have not been updated because “I’m not really sure how to go about it”.

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Consider an example, something I observed at an interview at which I was an observer, and

which demonstrates the very powerful effect confidence can have on events. The interviewer,
seeking to appoint someone to a sales job, at one point threw a pen down on the table
between him and the applicant and said tersely: “You say you can sell, sell me that”. The
applicant pushed the pen, a rather ordinary ballpoint away, reached into his jacket pocket
and drew out a classy Mont Blanc pen “Someone in your position I would sell a pen like
this” he said confidently. Quick thinking, nicely done, it drew a smile and clearly raised
the interviewer’s opinion of the candidate.
What the applicant said did not answer the question. It was a device, what might be called
a flourish, designed only to indicate that he was confident. The effect was palpebral and
it helped his progress through the interview. He clearly understood that confidence breeds
confidence. He knew if he displayed confidence then the interviewer would feel more
confidence in what he had to offer.
The point here is first to recognise the effect of such a thing, and secondly to show that it
is actually quite simply achieved. What had to be done took only a moment but it clearly
reflected a state of mind – someone determined to be confident and to show confidence.
The results of lack of confidence

Let us be clear here too about the effects of a low level of confidence. First, it is uncomfortable,
at worst even crippling, in an overall sense. It is to be avoided as it can dilute the quality
of what you do and give rise to feelings of stress (which in turn can lead to an on-going
negative cycle: low confidence makes you stressed, being stressed, or rather failing to
cope with stress, makes you less able to be analytical and actually tackle and reduce the
problem and so on). It handicaps your operating efficiency and spoils and interferes with
everything you try to do.
Secondly, it has specific effects: that is it prevents you getting to grips with a task and
executing it as well as you could if your confidence was higher. Have you ever had an
interview, for instance, that worried you, went less well than it could have done and which,
if you think about it honestly, went by default? In other words you effectively gave up on
it and did not really give it your best shot.
Lack of confidence is a tangible thing. It can be all pervasive, at worst creating feelings of:

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• Lack of enthusiasm
• Tiredness
• Shame, or even guilt or anger
• Sickness: headaches or stomach problems
• Inappropriate introspection and avoidance of people and situations
• Poor self esteem
• Inappropriate compliance
• Poor concentration and focus
• Stress and anxiety.
All such feelings can affect your performance, certainly in a sensitive area like job seeking,
confidence affects your well-being and it cannot be left to find its own level, rather it must
be seen as something requiring active attention. The question is how to address it.
The causes of a lack of confidence may be many and varied and range from childhood
influences, experiences in the past (however far back) and relationships with others (including
such extremes as bullying, harassment or rejection). Even physical personal characteristics
may play a part. I once had a participant on a presentations skills course who was convinced
their small stature prevented them from making a good job of this task, yet once they had
some instruction and some practice it quickly became apparent that this was no handicap
at all and presenting was something at which they could excel. A change of perception may
be all that is necessary in such a case.
The psychology of such past influences is certainly beyond the brief here. A solution is more
likely to be possible through practical intervention in the present than in deep analysis of
the past. There is an old maxim that “given oranges the job is to make marmalade”; the
job here is to find ways to boost confidence regardless of such long term influences. As the
presenter described above found, acquiring a sound knowledge of how to go about making
an effective presentation was far more important than a deep seated fear that shortness of
stature prevented them from doing such things well.
Routes to boosting confidence

Lack of confidence can result, in part at least, from natural human instinct and responses.
Boosting it means resisting these pressures and taking steps leading to your adopting a positive
attitude to things. There is sadly no instant magic formula; confidence does not appear in
a moment just because you punch the air and shout “Yes!”. On the other hand there is a
formula that does result in increased confidence even if it needs working at progressively
in a number of different ways. Be reassured, the effects of such working are cumulative.
Remember the old (Chinese) maxim that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single
step: each of the many things you can do to help your situation can act to boost your
confidence just a little, until you might surprise yourself by the difference you have made.
19
At this stage it is useful to identify the main areas from which help can stem. Overall there
are three:
1. Consideration, attitude and understanding: perhaps the foundation to change is to

accept that change can be made. It is a prime aim here to help you adopt an attitude
towards confidence of being able to work to increase it and for you to see that
the route to this is to think the problem through analytically, helping yourself to
understand the problem and select and take practical and specific action that will help.
2. Focus on the task: much lack of confidence occurs in relationship to specific tasks: a
fear that if you even attend an interview you will be in trouble. Understanding the
task, having sufficient knowledge about it and developing a suitable level of skill to
do it is a prime route to boosting confidence. Knowledge is power. So is proven skill
and thus there are some tasks where, realistically, confidence only truly builds with
practice. Again, I repeat, confidence may not be able to be raised instantly; some
things are best dealt with through a campaign of confidence building. Realism about
this helps the process: seeing yourself as taking useful steps rather than despairing
because confidence levels are not yet as you would wish.
3. Feedback: this also takes a number of forms. First, there is your own experience.
Probably we have all had the experience of doing something for the first time (midst
fear and trepidation) and finding it was not so bad after all, or even that it goes
well. This certainly means we approach it differently the next time; when we know
it is not as bad as we first thought. One clear moral here is to learn from the last
interview before you attend the next. Secondly there is the input of others, ranging
from detailed help and advice about how to achieve something to a simple word
of encouragement. The latter is a good example of the power of small elements
to add positively to the situation; again surely all of us can remember a word of
encouragement that helped us in some way. Encouragement let me say may be
wholly pleasant, but it may also be incorporated with some authority and insistence,
even with some power you may regard at the time as unpleasant. For example,
your boss may tell you to get on and do something in no uncertain terms, leaving
no possibility of your being able to say that you would “rather not”, yet they may
still include a strong element of encouragement, making it clear that they believe
you are well able to complete the task successfully. As you probably do not want to
talk to your boss about changing jobs (though there could be circumstances when
you do, for example going for internal promotion), it may be worth chatting about
things to a friend, colleague or mentor.
Note: A common problem can be an overall fear of failure: we focus on the bad result rather
than thinking about how to achieve a good result. Think positive.

20
It may be useful for me add an analogy intended to make it easier to appreciate how a
variety of things can help as you read on. Imagine your level of confidence represented by
a set of scales. On one side are negative factors that pull your confidence down, on the
other are positive things that act in some way to boost it. You want the plus side to weigh
heaviest. Making this so can be achieved either by adding things: imagine them represented
by plus signs of different sizes and weights, or by removing things from the minus side of
the balance. Note too that a difference can also be made by reducing the weight of minus
factors, rather than removing them, and similarly by increasing factors on the positive side;
also note that small changes my affect the overall balance significantly for good or ill. This
latter point means that small factors can be significant and must not be overlooked.
Let’s conclude this section by focusing on some practical steps to remove (or reduce) negativity.
Reversing negativity
Everyone surely has some inner self-motivation, sufficient to give them enough confidence
to get out of bed in the morning and get down to the everyday tasks that face them (if
you do not then it is unlikely you are reading this). But confidence can be stillborn. You
could be confident, but any such feeling is constantly overruled by the negative thinking
that poor results in job seeking can so easily prompt. This can take various forms, but all
can be reduced or overcome. Consider the following factors:
1. Setting, and avoiding, “impossible” tasks

This is characterised by taking an extreme view: feeling something is right or wrong,
good or bad and so on. It is thinking that gets you setting your sights too high,
believing something is only any good at the extremes, then avoiding getting started
because you think I’ll never get there.
Solution: do not fix on an unmanageable whole, target what you must do in stages
(manageable stages), make a start, work progressively through them and congratulate
yourself on successful completion stage by stage. So, here get the C.V right, use
that to make applications, then move on to interviews. Right, a reward for me
when I finish this chapter!
2. Allowing negatives to pervade thinking

This is an extreme form of the natural human tendency for negative self-talk. It can
certainly apply to a task like being interviewed for a job, where you dwell on all
the difficulties forgetting any positives (you reckon you fit the requirement well and
have much relevant experience to talk about).

21
Solution: Form the habit of assessing things in two columns, the plusses as well as
less good factors; ask others about things too (perhaps picking the brains of one of
your habitually more optimistic colleagues).
3. Jumping to conclusions
This reflects the term self-fulfilling prophesy: you find yourself habitually sure you
know the key thing about something and that it is negative – like knowing you will
find an interview awkward (but why should you?).
Solution: Look for evidence of your feeling. Is it a factual point or just a feeling?
Again conversation with others, asking – What’s most important about this? – may
help you to adjust your focus.
4. Underrating your achievements

Belittling your actual achievements (and yes, I bet you have many) can easily be a
habit of people with low confidence – and doing so just makes things worse.
Solution: Recognise what you do here and progressively aim to change this habit.
Write things down, tell others what you have done (and listen to what they have
done too) and mark achievements by giving yourself a metaphorical pat on the back
or an actual reward (though not too much cake!). As you review your C.V. you may
be surprised by how much you can list and how impressive it is.
5. Putting up a sign
Some people label themselves and pick labels that demonstrate their low confidence:
I’m not good at interviews (even after some practice and success in the past) say or,
worse, labels such as I’m a disaster (i.e. expressing the belief that nothing goes right,
when surely much does). Psychologically having such descriptions in mind leads to
negative thinking and thus to low confidence.
Solution: Ask yourself what you actually mean when you do this. Saying I’m an
idiot may only mean you have made one minor slip and have nothing to do
with the big picture.
6. Making mountains
… out of molehills. This form of overdramatizing is usually somewhat emotional –
distress and drama escalate so that the perceived problem seems to way outstrip
reality, and certainly prevents you from thinking logically about something.
Solution: Count to ten before you even begin this process, one you can spot as the
emotional self-talk comes to the fore. Remember that it will all be the same in a
hundred years and that even if something is going to be difficult it may not be true
to say it is an unredeemable catastrophe. Even an interview that fails to get you a
job offer may have gone well in many ways – and you can learn from that.

22
7. Making feelings facts

Here you let your feelings influence you despite the fact that they are just your feelings.
Thus being apprehensive about a coming interview does not mean you are less able to
succeed than other people, that’s a view of yourself that will make it more difficult.
Solution: This thinking must be replaced by a more factual approach – asking why
you fear doing something and then addressing the problem; it’s another habit to
establish in the right way.
8. Wrongly taking the blame

You should not take the personal blame for every problem or failure. Things can fail
for all sorts of reasons, if you miss an important appointment because you let the
car run out of fuel, then it may well be your fault. But if someone runs into you
through no fault of your own, it may still leave you with problems to sort out but
it does not help to blame yourself, feeling bad about it won’t help sort things out.
Solution: If something isn’t your fault never beat yourself up over it. If blame is really
shared (and this may need some assessment) then the responsibility for taking action
to sort things out may also need sharing; again something to look at pragmatically.
9. This, therefore all

Here you allow one thing to be generalised: you make a pig’s breakfast of one thing
then apply it to everything. Not so. Say I write an unintelligible sentence, there is no
need for me to feel the whole chapter is rubbish (though I should revise the sentence!).
Solution: In my example, as I said the sentence needs sorting, and I just need to
keep this in proportion, not lose faith in the whole text. Again, like all these points
the key thing is to recognise what is happening, resolve another way is better and
change perspective; there is in fact nothing complicated about the solutions.
If you are to think positive and boost your confidence then you need to consider how
confidence originates. This is influenced in a number of ways.
Taking an initiative
There is a saying that if we want to do something we do and if we don’t we make an excuse.
If a lack of confidence means we do nothing then, by definition, nothing happens. Allowing
fate to guide us – a kind of “something will turn up, let’s wait” attitude - is a recipe for
failure and akin to an “I’ll play it by ear” approach to an interview.
A first step is always to resolve not to dwell on something, but rather to actually tackle
things (even if in so doing you also resolve to find out the best way of approaching it first).

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Attitudes to success (or failure)

Think about something you have done: learning to ride a bike or drive a car perhaps. Almost
certainly there was a stage where it just seemed impossible, but a degree of perseverance
got you there in the end. However:
• If you continued to feel it was impossible, gave up, assumed mistakes or setbacks
meant you couldn’t ever do it, blamed something (or someone) else for the difficulty
or found endless excuses - then difficult or impossible it no doubt remained
• But if you were prepared to invest some time, to try and try again, believed you
could learn from your mistakes and get it right in the end, checked the best way
to go about it and took responsibility for your actions – then you would likely
have found it easier.
Note: Never forget that your attitude directly affects your achievement - and that a positive
attitude towards getting things done gives you the confidence to achieve.

24
Response to failure
Failure may just be finding the first stage of something uncomfortable and then backing
off, but bouncing back is a better attitude. Avoid despair – I’m useless, I’ll never do it – and
recognise that the (initial) failure) is less significant than your response to it. It is not just
a question of try, try again; remember my quoting Henry Ford at the start of this book:
he said that failure was an opportunity to start again more intelligently. The moral here is
to confront the problem, consider the best way forward and make sure you expect future
success. Viewing life as a series of opportunities to learn is an attitude that works well.
Optimist or pessimist?
It is said that some people see a glass as half empty but others, more positively, see it as half
full. Maybe a better response is to say that the glass is simply the wrong size! Optimism is
an aid to confidence, but it should not be based on unthinking faith in the future, rather it
is based on an essential pragmatism and realism. A confident approach rejects pessimism - an
irrational I know this will be difficult, I know I can’t approach – and sees success as possible,
resolving to make it happen and, if necessary, to find out just how that can be made
possible. Most often lack of confidence persists because no effort is made to change things.
Remember that if you always do what you have always done, things will tend to continue
in the same old way. Change is inherent to building confidence. If how you are and how
you think now leaves you lacking confidence, then you need to think and act differently.
Summary
The key issue here is how you think about things. Low confidence breeds greater low
confidence all too easily. If there is one thing to emphasise about this it is that many of the
things referred to in this section are habits. We do not study the situation and then ignore
all the positives, thinking this is the best way forward, rather we may act instinctively and
from habit that takes us in the wrong direction. Habits are not necessarily easy to change,
but it is easier once you have decided what to aim to stop and what to put in its place.
Then, progressively, you can find that good habits develop that are as powerful as the old
and that these will keep you on the right track.
At the outset it was said that the most important two things were how you think about
things and what you do about them. Some of the soul searching you are aimed at in this
chapter is important. Certainly just knowing that there is an inherent artificiality to your
low confidence – it’s only how I think about it – helps. Above all confidence is boosted by
knowledge and experience. So:

25
• Think through how things have gone in the past

• Resolve to repeat those things that went well (and maybe strengthen them)
• Correct and handle differently things that went less well; another resolution.
No great time is necessary here, but a systematic approach and resolve is.

26
WHAT TO DO IF YOU DON’T GET THAT JOB Presenting yourself
4 PRESENTING YOURSELF
Success is not the result of spontaneous combustion.
You must first set yourself on fire.
– Fred Shera
Whatever your role and wherever you fit into the corporate environment, one thing is
certain – success in job seeking demands that someone who does not know you forms a
positive view of you – about everything from your qualifications to competencies, experiences
and more - and it is you who gets that information and impression over.
Personal image
Take no heed of “never judge a book by its cover”, - people do just that; and you forget
it at your peril. How people perceive you inevitably colours their image of you; and fairly
obviously if you sit down in an interview looking like a disheveled incompetent who has
had a charisma bypass operation, it may not assist your chances of walking out with a job
offer very much. Now even if that is not you, every detail about how you come over signals
something not just about what sort of person you are, but what you are capable of too.
And perhaps about where you are likely to go next. How people judge you has a direct
bearing on all of this, and it is that judgement that you are seeking to influence - whether
in terms of a first impression or taking in your detailed profile.
So, you need to take note of the potential effect of how people see you. After all, we all have
a stereotyped image of extremes such as the absent-minded boffin, the computer geek, or
the office Romeo. Almost the same sometimes applies to images such as the grey accountant
or the flamboyant advertising man, so you should consider just exactly how others see you.
You may feel that what you look like should not influence things; it is surely your competence
that counts. Not so. Realistically the moral is to use the fact that judgements are made on
appearances (snap decisions too) and act accordingly.
Essentials first, you should:
Accept the importance of appearance

Be conscious of both the positive and negative sides
Actively respond to the ways people see others.

27
The starting point to action here again involves some self-analysis. If you know how you
want people to see you, then it may be easier to actively seek to achieve the effect you
want. This may seem easy. You may want to look powerful, persuasive or professional. But
many such fine sounding words are in fact just umbrella terms – you must ask what does
being professional, say, really involve?
To be seen as professional you may need to be seen as:
Expert
Well-organised
Well prepared
Confident
Knowledgeable
Experienced
Trustworthy
Honest
Approachable
A good listener
Powerful
Diplomatic
Having good communications skills
Loyal.
The above is by no means a definitive list, though some of the qualities listed are certainly
important for most people. You can probably add more, including some factors that are more
specific to your own particular area of work. Maybe you need to come over as financially
aware, as a good negotiator or a whiz with information technology.
Appearing professional
In any case, several points are clear. First, however you look at it, such a list contains a
significant number of factors: perhaps a considerable number. Secondly, for the most part the
factors represent options: that is you can choose to project a feeling of, say, being approachable
even if this is not your natural inclination. Most people actively boost the way they are
seen in some respects. You may reckon you are well organised, for instance, but still want
to give an impression of just that to someone – an interviewer - who does not know you.

28
These two factors go together. You should have clear objectives as to how you want to
come over, and work at projecting just that. The number of factors that you may want
to actively include indicates some complexity, and you need to see the process as one of
orchestrating everything together to create the impression you want. This may well include
recognising weaknesses. If you are naturally a disaster of self-organisation, then you may
need to actually get organised, and develop this as a revised part of the way you operate,
rather than just seek to appear to be well organised. At the same time it is not suggested
that your overall image becomes too contrived, especially not obviously contrived, which
would quickly become self-defeating. For the most part all that is necessary is some slight
exaggeration of characteristics to ensure they are visible when this is what you want.
Perhaps the obvious and significant element with regard to personal image is literally
appearance: your dress and the other elements of personal “show”.
Personal appearance
I once attended an evening talk of a professional institute and heard someone give a review
of what are sometimes called “beauty parades” or competitive customer presentations. He
made a number of interesting points including the simple advice: look the part. He then
gave a number of detailed examples, one of which was the advice to men to wear what he
called “big-boy shoes” (ones with shoelaces rather than slip-on style). Now for me this is
going a bit far perhaps (besides I do not own any shoes with laces!), but the general point
is well made - first impressions are largely visual and they are important. Inferences are
made about what kind of person you are (unfair perhaps, but it happens).
Now this is a difficult area about which to offer precise guidance. I am not promoting
designer fashion or any specific style of dress, and you have to be reasonably natural (and
relate to the culture of a particular organisation), but you also want to be seen to take
work – and potentially work for this organisation - seriously.
You can be smart without spending a fortune, you must always be clean and tidy and the
details certainly matter. The concept of “power dressing” is too contrived for many; indeed
there is a real likelihood that going too far in this way becomes self-defeating, and is just
seen as pretentious. It may be important in some jobs to meet the standards and style
of those with whom the organisation does business rather than internally; for example
customers. Once having met with a major bank to discuss possible training work, a colleague
of mine, one who took a real pride in his appearance, was dismayed that a message came
back requesting the work to be done by someone “shorter in the hair and longer in the
tooth”! An older and more traditional substitute was found and the work went well; that
is the client’s right – at least they said what they wanted and allowed the work to proceed.
So, what specifically is certain? The following are often mentioned as important:
29
• Clean fingernails and neat hair

• Smart (rather than over fashionable) clothes
• Clean shoes.
Another factor, though it is more difficult to judge, is the indication of an appropriate

spend (I once had an enquiry from someone who said: “One of your competitors has just
been to see me and arrived in a Porsche: I think I would like another quote.”). Something
to think about perhaps.
Finally, styles and norms differ internationally - a suit was once universally normal business
dress in England, a jacket and trousers (not a matching suit) is mostly seen as just as acceptable
now and was for much longer in, say, in Holland. Shirts and ties are more important in
countries where the hot weather precludes jackets - and everything differs in different kinds
of business - generally a bank, say, being more formal than an advertising agency. Similarly
men and women have different styles to consider, with the greater choice facing the women
frankly making their choices much more difficult. As a mere male I would not presume
to offer specific advice! Prevailing practice is moving ever less formal, but it is wise not to
misjudge and pick too low a level of formality for an interview.
Enough. This is important and may have a bearing on your success, but a personal judgement
needs to be made. Next, beyond appearance and image how do you project the (salient)
facts about yourself?
Curriculum vitae
Here it is beyond the current brief to set out chapter and verse about compiling a C.V.
(as it is for being interviewed to which we turn next), but some points are worth making.
Most job hunting necessitates having an up-to-date statement of your background, qualifications
and experience, even someone approaching you may want this, so will recruitment agencies
and consultants. These quickly get out of date.
Note: It is not sufficient for them to say who you worked with and your job title, certainly
for more recent jobs you should use some of their limited space describing what you achieved
and explaining what that means in terms of what you can do for someone else and how.
You need to go beyond facts: perhaps remembering what Albert Einstein said: Imagination
is more important than knowledge. Realistically, many employers want both.
You will do best if you always keep a C.V. file. Over time make notes, file items such as
details of work done, course attendance and maybe even things like articles published or
conferences at which you have spoken. Then review the document regularly and update
your C.V. as necessary (just editing a master copy in your computer).
30
First consider your circumstances: if you stay too long with one organisation, you may be
regarded as having limited experience (though what recruiters regard as “too long” varies a
good deal). Conversely, if you have a C.V. that shows a career record of ceaseless change
you may come to be regarded as “job-hopper” and less attractive because of that. Your C.V.
should be worded in a way that relates to such situations and uses them to create the best
possible description of you.
Now, I want to make an obvious statement: you need a well-constructed and well-written
C.V. - it is a selling document and there can be no half measures. It is either good enough
to play its part in getting you a new job or it is useless, just so much waste paper. Check
it and check it again. If it has spelling mistakes or if something is referred to twice and
dates do not match it will do you no favours. Beware of gaps: if your career record shows
a nine month gap, that needs explaining. It maybe was for something positive and worth
mentioning, but do not let a prospective employer think suspicious thoughts. Prison?
Incidentally, the covering letter that very often goes with a C.V. is also vital. In both cases,
despite all the detailed published advice about them, the prevailing standards are not so
high that you cannot score points and differentiate yourself by producing really good ones.
Remember too that, while you may keep standard documents on file, you will need to tailor
it to each particular job application (more on this anon).
Note: there is a certain form to C.V.s, the format of starting with your current job and
working back. It may be dangerous to stray too far from convention (recruiters say that
doing so makes it more difficult to compare one candidate with another). But equally there
is merit in doing something that differentiates you, especially if it can be done in a way
that is pertinent to the appointment rather than being just a gimmick.
This is an area where you may usefully review the C.V. you are using to make sure it is
correct, up to date and well written and also perhaps take a moment to see what recruiters
like best (see reading list at the end of this book).
Job interviews
Generally you cannot know in advance everything you will be asked, but experience, and just
thinking constructively about it, can provide a good few clues. The following are important:

31
1) Preparation
Do think about an interview before you attend. You should:
• Read the details about the job carefully

• Check out the background and current status of the employing organization
• Try to anticipate what you may be asked and have comments ready (while
recognizing that you will get questions that you have not anticipated)
• Make notes: and do not think you cannot take details of you, the job and
so on into the meeting; you can.
Note: The totality of the job interview is beyond our scope here but one thing is
worth noting: never be rushed into saying something you may then feel was unwise or
which did not allow you to make as good a point as you wanted (and could).
There is nothing wrong in responding to a question with something to buy you a little
time. Something that starts: That’s clearly important, let me think about that for a second
or: Fair point, can you explain further exactly what you are asking? Or even just: Why
do you ask? All allow you to have a moment to compose a more considered response,
surely something the interviewer would commend. This is easy to miss – many people
come out of interviews kicking themselves over something they did or did not say –
and the difference even a short pause can make to a response can truly differentiate.
Certainly if you are asked a question that proves awkward, it is worth noting
this and making sure that you do not find it awkward the next time you
are asked it or something similar.
2) Get your facts straight
The longer your career the more you will have done, perhaps both in terms of jobs
you have had and with regard to what you did in the work. Other characteristics
are important too from character to qualifications.
It is therefore prudent to have the facts at your fingertips. And this is something
else that needs tailoring: some things are likely to be more important than
others to one individual employer, try to work out what and arrange your notes
accordingly (this need not be complicated and might take the form of an annotated
copy of your tailored C.V.).

32
The trick here is to do everything you can, recognize that you cannot anticipate
everything and not regard an interview as so unpredictable that you do little or no
prior thinking of this sort.
3) Beyond answering questions
Another point I would like to make here concerns things you may be asked to do.
If a job requires you to speak fluent French, then expect to be asked to demonstrate
that you can. If a job demands that you make good presentations then expect to be
asked to spend part of your interview on your feet showing how you do it. With a
presentation, often this is arranged ahead of time to give you a moment to prepare.
If so then a) make absolutely sure that you do what is asked (for example preparing
slides and bringing them on the right memory stick or whatever) – it is really off-
putting to find your slides don’t work, especially if you find it’s your fault.
Note: there is nothing like a really good presentation to project confidence and
competence. The use of PowerPoint, such a great system in so many ways, seems also
to have bred a generation of presenters inflicting what has become known as “death by
PowerPoint”, reading out very long sentences while looking firmly over their shoulder
at a screen rather than at those they are addressing. It is worth moving Heaven and
Earth to avoid such annoying errors; I have written on this subject too – see references.
It is quite possible that whatever your circumstance the time you spend with one
employer lets your job hunting skills atrophy; you do not go to an interview every
five minutes and practice may be in short supply. However, you do need to be sure
that your interview skills are up-to-date and that you can confidently cope with
what goes on. Thus it is wise to take all aspects of preparation seriously and once
you are into a series of interviews, as may well happen, to conduct a mental autopsy
on one before taking any lessons learned to the next. In doing that you should not
only deal with things that may have gone less well than you wanted, but build on
the strengths of what went well.
Let’s end with a final section highlighting key factors. Read on.

33
WHAT TO DO IF YOU DON’T GET THAT JOB Checklist for success
5 CHECKLIST FOR SUCCESS

There is no failure except in no longer trying.
– Elbert Hubbard
Perhaps the greatest likelihood is that readers of this text are in the midst of the process of
job seeking and my intention has been to stress the merits of pausing and taking stock to
allow you to fine-tune various matters within your approach.
You will be well aware of the complexity of the process and the necessity to get every
aspect right and it may therefore be useful to link your reading of this text to a little more
study on the ins and outs of specific areas: such as the compilation of C.Vs and making
an interview go well (the complete run down on this is beyond the brief here; a reading
lists appears after this final section).
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34
Here I will end with ten key reminders to help focus the mind as you continue the process;
these are key because if ignored that can certainly lead to a dilution of your effectiveness.
Recruiters never expect incidentally that people will turn out to be better than they appear
during the recruitment process so there is a need to maximize the way you come over.
Ten factors demanding attention

1. Don’t despair
As has been explained applying for jobs is a numbers game: rejection of some
applications is bound to occur, it need not mean anything is wrong (though it might)
and simply means that you need to put an adequate amount of bread on the waters
and make everything you do during the process count and count positively.
If you let a rejection, and there may be more than one, get you down, that is not just
depressing but can lead to your failing to take sufficient action (perhaps in a sub-
conscious attempt to avoid further rejection) or, with your concentration distracted,
failing to put in the quality that a successful approach demands.
Always remember that (some) rejection goes with the territory and what Henry
Ford said (quoted in the introduction): Failure is an opportunity to start again more
intelligently. Don’t despair and take steps to boost your confidence: it will not only
make you feel better it will also enable you to operate more effectively.
2. Target your approaches

Aim for what you want and aim high, but aim accurately too. The better the “fit”
between what you are able to offer and what an employer is looking for the better;
and the more chance you have of success.
By all means you can treat yourself to a few “just maybe” approaches but if, as was
explored earlier, you are clear about what you want to do (which includes being
realistic about it too) then the more accurate your targeting and the greater your
chances of success will be.
A final part of this may include the matching of what I will call “minority” factors,
for example if something is key to a job and unusual or desirable then having, and
stressing, that may ensure you are seen as amongst a smaller number of potentially
suitable candidates. Examples of this might include speaking a relatively obscure
language or being prepared to relocate to somewhere many would see as unattractive.
Targeting should come early in your thinking; ready, aim, fire really is the best
sequence along which to proceed.

35
3. Don’t pause and hold on for a “favorite”

I know I have mentioned this before, but it stands repeating. It is probably the greatest
cause of the time taken to find a next appointment being longer than necessary;
something that could be important in its own right. And it is easy to do.
When all has gone well – brilliant interview – and when the goal is particularly
attractive, it is easy to slow other things, particularly new applications or initiatives,
and perhaps miss an opportunity that could have been really good. Of course, you
may say – I’ll never know – but the potential to slow or hinder your search is a proven
factor. Keep your campaign going.
4. Do your research
It has never been easier to find out about organisations. No more grubbing around
in business libraries, you just get on line. You may be surprised by how much –
and what – you find out. Is an organization secure and doing well? Is it innovative
or lagging in its market? How well does it treat its people? What is the extent of its
activities (way beyond a main product perhaps) and where geographically does it operate?
There is much you need to know, and if you find out before the interview then you
might save yourself a lot of time (and perhaps not go to interview or pursue an
application with an organization you now rate as a less attractive potential employer).
Equally, perhaps more important, you may be able to make an interview go better,
and demonstrate your focus on the organization, by referring to facts about it –
either asking questions or bringing up areas to mention. People like talking about
successes, so comment about a topical success both shows you are taking the matter
seriously, have done some research and maybe gives you a comfortable section of an
interview while the matter is discussed.
5. Tailor your C.V.

This cannot be said too strongly: you should not regard your C.V as standard. Of
course it should be a good one, listing your strengths in the right way and making
the best of all your qualifications, experience and qualifications. But the emphasis
may need changing depending on what is likely to be most important to a particular
employer. Thus, for example, on one you may need to put more about your
brilliance as a presenter, on another there may be things to play down (and you
must watch overall length).
If you hold your C.V on computer (and surely you do) then a little editing can
be done simply and need not take too long – and it can pay dividends, making
your application just that bit more interesting to a recruiter than would be the case
otherwise. Sometimes all that is necessary is a little tweaking, sometimes something
more radical is appropriate by way of alteration.
Tailoring is time well spent and a trick missed if you do not do it.

36
6. Prepare to be interviewed
The process of job seeking is progressive – cumulative – by which I mean that one
success leads to another. An application (typically a covering note and a C.V.) is
not designed to get you a job, it should be designed to get you an interview. If it is
successful you are called for interview, if that goes well there may be a second one
and so on. Each stage and each element of it must be got right.
That said the interview itself is key.
As was said earlier all interviews should be planned (as far as possible) and tackled
in a way that both puts over “the best case” for you being hired (bearing in mind
that that “best case” will differ employer by employer) and helps you deal with the
less predictable aspects of the process without panicking and in a way with which
you can remain comfortable as well as projecting confidence and competence.
7. Be accurate and honest

In part the process of applying for a job must fit with a system: the employer’s
system. There may be application forms to fill in (on paper or online), C.V.s and
other support documentation to complete in a particular way.
Always follow the instructions. Imagine the impression given if, perhaps, before
they have even met you, someone finds you are ignoring their carefully worked out
procedures – are they interested in the job or not?
Yes, it can be a chore: you fill in your name and address or whatever when it
is there clear as day on your C.V. It seems a waste of time. It’s not. Make what
you do fit, it’s worth it.
There is another factor here that links. Research (primarily by media who host
recruitment advertisements) shows that many people lie in their applications; I have
seen figures as high as 25%. I am not sure why people do this, but they do, and
sometimes the lies are about significant things – saying they were at Oxford, implying
the university, when they only went to visit for a day, or claiming to have qualifications
that they do not. Do they think employers never check? Most do and they are unlikely
to pursue an applicant who has told them lies. If something is discovered late in
the process it can waste time for both parties and I am aware of numbers of cases
where the discovery of a lie after appointment has resulted in summary dismissal.
Take note. By all means put the best light on things and empathise your strengths,
but rule a line that you do not step over with regard to honesty.
8. Make a good first impression

There is a saying that first impressions last. Surely true. And by “first” in this context
is meant the first minute or two with the first part of that being the most important.
Sometimes, you will be aware of this yourself, you take an immediate dislike to
someone (it is said to save time!), and the reverse is true also. What happens, say

37
at the commencement of an interview is disproportionately important – and thus

worth bearing in mind and preparing for especially clearly. This applies to what you
say and also to how you seem: confident? Comfortable? Overbearing? Nervous?
Always bear the fact that first impressions count in mind as you prepare
and go through the process.
9. Be creative
Of course it is true to say that for your application to be successful it has to stand out.
That may simply mean that your “package” of strengths exactly suits the requirement
and you stand out on a purely factual basis. But there are other ways of standing
out (this links to number 5 earlier).
I must make it clear here that I am not necessarily advocating something gimmicky;
this could easily be judged as over the top and become self-defeating. Care is certainly
necessary. So how can you add enhanced distinction? Consider the recruitment process
for a moment; what has been said about tailoring approaches is relevant here, but
you may need to go further. As an example think about interviews. Simplistically
they ask questions and you answer. Experience helps: you may find that they ask a
question – can you make a good presentation? say – and, if you answer in general terms
they then ask more – perhaps requesting examples. Maybe you would make more of an
impression to reverse this, giving an immediate (and impressive) example of something
done in the likelihood that this will more dramatically give them what they want.
It is a fine line, but some thought and some approaches like this can help.
10. Look to the future

Never fall out with a potential employer. Sometimes you know in an interview – or
they tell you – that you are not matching the spec. It can be tempting to flounce
out – what a waste of time you say to yourself, or to them. Not a good idea.
Be polite. Look to the future. This is presumably an organization you were keen to
meet and potentially to work with. Maybe they will have other vacancies in future,
maybe the person interviewing you will turn up at some later time, either recruiting
for another company or you cross paths in some other way (for example, they could
go to work for a customer of your employer). In a variety of ways it is possible that
you might cross paths again and that they could be useful to you.
It can be truly upsetting to find that, rather than making a good impression despite
not getting a particular job, you have burnt your boats as it were and acted in a
way that the person will not even give you the time of day should you meet again.
Courtesy costs nothing and should always run through what you contribute to the process.

38
What next?
If you are reading this after a bad experience I hope I have helped you to put it in context.
Rejection can be upsetting, but life goes on and other opportunities are out there. All you
can do is restore your confidence, be persistent and address the next job opportunity as
effectively as possible. It is a process that can well be more successful if you undertake a
little analysis and fine-tuning of approach before your do so.
I wish you well with it.
Winners never quit and quitters never win.
– Vince Lombardi

39
WHAT TO DO IF YOU DON’T GET THAT JOB Further reading
FURTHER READING
Because this text addresses a particular circumstance – taking considered action after some job
seeking lack of success – it does not intend to be a comprehensive guide to the techniques
of compiling a C.V. or being interviewed. Therefore it may be helpful to look at further
Bookboon publications should you feel that you need to take more information on board.
I touched on presentations earlier in the piece and warned of the dangers of misusing
PowerPoint; the last title on the following list – unashamedly recommended – is my take
on that in more detail. Click on the links below to read the books.
Authentic Networking by Benjamin Ball

Mastering LinkedIn by Karen Brown
Maintaining Career Fitness by Patrick Forsyth
Assertiveness by Eric Garner
Creating your CV as a self-marketing tool by Paul Brisk
Résumé Secrets Exposed by RedStarResume
Avoiding Death by PowerPoint by Patrick Forsyth

40

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1 Introduction: not the end, the beginning. 6

2 Check what you are aiming at 8

3 Ensuring a confident you 16

5 Checklist for success 34

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

He can be contacted via www.patrickforsyth.com

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1 INTRODUCTION: NOT THE

The fact is…

Rejection is not a testament to you being a useless, work shy idiot.

Look ahead, and do so positively.

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2 CHECK WHAT YOU

Clarifying your intentions

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Assess your skills

• Communications: (everything from writing a report to issuing instructions)

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Assess your work values

• Strong need to achieve

Assess your personal characteristics

Assess your non-work characteristics

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• What are your family circumstances?

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Obtain professional career guidance

Match your analysis of yourself with market demands

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Sum up your analysis in clear objectives

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• Specific - expressed clearly and precisely

As an intern, you’re eager to put what you’ve learned

See More | Opportunities

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3 ENSURING A CONFIDENT YOU

So, a word about confidence:

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What is confidence anyway?

Now we need to keep a clear perspective on confidence as we proceed here. It is not a

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Consider an example, something I observed at an interview at which I was an observer, and

The results of lack of confidence

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Routes to boosting confidence

1. Consideration, attitude and understanding: perhaps the foundation to change is to

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1. Setting, and avoiding, “impossible” tasks

2. Allowing negatives to pervade thinking

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4. Underrating your achievements

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7. Making feelings facts

8. Wrongly taking the blame

1 Introduction: not the end, the beginning. 6

2 Check what you are aiming at 8

1 INTRODUCTION: NOT THE

2 CHECK WHAT YOU

Accept the importance of appearance