I’ll never forget the first time I got the rejection call from my first “big girl” job interview. It must have been the summer of 2007, right after I received my elementary teaching certificate. I had an interview at a school in the area, and it went pretty well, but it was my first one so I had nothing to compare it to. A few days later I was driving to work- a part time job at the movie theatre- when the principal himself called me. I thought this had to be good news, so I allowed myself to get excited. Big mistake. The principal somehow recognized that I was driving, and asked me to pull over, and then told me that I didn’t get the job, and explained why. I immediately called my parents hysterically crying.
Since then, rejections have gotten a lot colder- usually in the form of a letter, or not hearing at all. The job climate has definitely changed since 2007- I could never imagine a principal calling an applicant personally now. The fact of the matter is, whether it’s your first interview, or your 101st, there is always that little hope there, and when you find out you didn’t get the job, there is always that part of you that wants to run crying to your mom and dad, or the nearest bottle of wine.
