And, as you know, you don’t have what they need.
Sometimes it’s really hard to understand why you didn’t get a call back after applying for and interviewing for a position you really wanted. But it shouldn’t be hard to understand why you didn’t get a call back for a job you shouldn’t have bothered to apply for, a job far removed from your skills, temperament, and competencies. A position that doesn’t require and couldn’t possibly include the things you are good at and like the most when you get to do them.
Don’t apply for, ask for, or otherwise pursue jobs that aren’t for you. It just wastes everyone’s time and energy. And, paradoxically, it will make you even sadder to fail to land a job you didn’t really want.
I think we place very high value on jobs we want, and far less value on all the others. So when you go after a job on which you have placed low value, and then you don’t even get an interview, it makes you somehow feel worse.
That makes no sense at all, you know. Organizations are looking for the right people, the ones they know belong there and will thrive and perform in the job. they are not looking for people who have half or fewer of the qualifications the organization painstakingly listed so the right folks will know who they are. Before you hit the send button, say (aloud) to yourself, “Perhaps they will overlook my shortfall in years of relevant experience, as well as the fact that my education is not in Finance and I don’t have a Series 7 license. I’ve always wanted to live in Charlotte, and this is as good as any of the other jobs I saw on Monster.”
How does that sound in real words? You see, it is possible to play head games with the screen that doesn’t say “No!” sharply when you try to upload all the wrong stuff at midnight after a few pints of Cherry Garcia and an Oreo or two. In your head, this is a numbers game and you never know. You might just get an interview and if you do, you can wow them with your personality.
Not so much. It’s a lot more likely that you will be rejected, either actively, with a nice letter, or passively, by never hearing anything at all. If you do get an interview, and you don’t meet the qualifications, you will quickly learn that you don’t really want that job. But somehow you are now engaged, and your head turns to “How do I get out of this?” Thinking you will be considered.
So when you don’t get an offer, and you are feeling bad about that, remember what my wonderful sister Amy said to me many years ago on a similar occasion of not getting a job I most certainly did not want and for which I was in no way qualified:
“Why are you so upset? They just don’t need what you have.”
The Job Whisperer ® 