Is There Life After Rejection?

I’ve been looking for work lately and it’s bleak out there and because I’m a “glass half-empty” kind of gal, it started me thinking about rejection. I haven’t had the chance to be rejected (or accepted) since I’ve not been asked to interview for any positions to which I’ve applied. Rejection stirs up all kinds of bad feelings. No matter how confident you are, your self-esteem takes a hit.

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal, “Before They were Titans, Moguls and Newsmakers, These People were…Rejected,” by Sue Shellenbarger examined how successful people, including Ted Turner, Tom Brokaw and Warren Buffet, responded to being rejected by their first college of choice. Often, after receiving that rejection, going to a different school led them to their eventual career path. In fact, some of their most impressive achievements can be traced back to that early rejection. Shellenbarger quotes Buffet, who was rejected by Harvard Business School at 19, “The truth is, everything that has happened in my life…that I thought was a crushing event at the time, has turned out for the better. You learn that a temporary defeat is not a permanent one. In the end, it can be an opportunity.”

Personally, I didn’t have the experience of being rejected from a prestigious university. I never applied to any since my parents had a “state-school” budget. But I did experience a major career-changing event as the result of a rejection. When I was not picked to take over an advertising department when my boss left, I pouted for awhile, then found volunteer work on a suicide hotline. That led to going back to school to get my Masters in social work and I’ve been in the field for twenty years.

So if you or your kids are starting to receive rejection letters from colleges, remember that it might just be the start of taking a new path.

So, how has rejection shaped your career or life’s direction?

This is a post by Nancy LaFever. This post is liked by business degree ontario.

Comments

[Amy]

Although I am a champion-class pouter, a job layoff led to a chance to spend two years at home with my kids at a crucial time in their lives. After that, I returned to work part-time at a job I've held for nine years. My oldest son is 21 now (yikes), but still talks about the days I joined him for lunch at school with a big bag of Arby's curly fries.

[Sherry]

Because I did not get into any other schools, I went to BC for graduate work. Because I went to BC, I earned a masters in Special Education. Because I had a masters in Special Education, when I had a son with Down Syndrome, it was not so frightening. Failure often makes us take stock and assess and regroup. Success, we don't like to mess with or alter. So it makes sense, that for most, rejection would be pivotal in our discovering a path we need to take, and that winning or succeeding, would not.

[Online Colleges]

well yes.. its pretty ok to get rejected by colleges. Almost every one experiences this in their life. But thats when planning comes to place. Most of the people do not plan ahead and prepare from the beginning. But there are a lot of ways too.. changing the field is also fine.. but not always.. There are a lot of <a href="http://www.bestonlinecollegesdegrees.com">Online Colleges</a> which are a great option for students.. like Phoenix and Kaplan are among the top ones..