It was my first job interview
— Well, really my third, but since it was my first one without knowing anybody from the “inside,” it felt like my first job interview all over again.
On paper, I was applying for the position of an executive secretary for one of the top managers of an international hotel chain in Abu Dhabi.
It certainly was not my dream job, but at that point, I was beginning to think I was stuck doing secretarial work for the rest of my life.
If that was the case, then at least I was going to work in a 5-star resort and “trick” myself into thinking I was on holiday every day.
So much for consolation.
Fortunately, the HR Manager was far from impressed by my answers.
It didn’t take long for the interview to vaguely resemble a cross examination; as he made it a point to contradict my answers to his otherwise subjective questions (was there supposed to be a single right answer to “What are you passionate about?”)
Job interviews can put anybody on edge, but it’s especially true as an expat in Dubai where your residency is sponsored by your employer (unless you belong to the minority who can afford their own visa).
Here, job interviews are tantamount to life-or-death situations.
I’ve had my fair share of them, ranging from terrifying pseudo-cross examinations to intellectually stimulating conversations, and I went away from each of them wiser than when I first walked in.
Here are some of the things I learned about rejection from failing at job interviews.
#1: A sugarcoated rejection is rejection nonetheless.
The PR Agency was located on the 41st floor of one of the Dubai Media City towers.
Understandably, I was more than a little star struck, as Dubai Media City is to me as New York City is to the aspiring Broadway actress.
The interview was for a digital writing position.
I, on the other hand, identify as a technophobe, so I’d put on my hipster glasses (which I stopped needing after dropping out of law school) to give the Head of Technology the impression that I was a geek (which I am, though still somehow a technophobe).
The interview started well enough or too well to be true.
“Did you know your CV was recommended to us by Huawei?”
Seriously? The Huawei?
The position required a fluent Mandarin speaker who could bridge the language barrier between the PR Agency and Huawei, their client.
More than a translator, they needed somebody who could converse with the people over at Huawei in their native language, bring all that information back to the office table, and say, “Okay, here’s exactly what they need.”
Yes, I studied Mandarin from the first grade all the way to senior high, but no, I am not fluent.
Thanks to my 5-day trip to Hangzhou in the Christmas of 2015, I was able to assess my Chinese language skills, and at best, I could make myself understood by speaking a funny Chinese-English hybrid.
That’s not even nearly good enough for the PR Agency’s minimum qualification, so I had to be frank with the Tech Head.
All this took place within the first 10 minutes of the interview, so what followed was pure awkwardness.
“Well, right now that is the only writing position available in our company, but I don’t want you to feel like coming here today was a total waste. Why don’t you send me your portfolio, so that the next time a writing position opens up…”
Sugar bae
Look, I appreciate the intention behind sugarcoated rejections, but I prefer ripping bandages off in one go.
Which leads me to…
#2: It’s not always that you’re not good enough – sometimes they just don’t need somebody with your caliber.
I am still on the 41st floor of that Dubai Media City tower.
I had just been served fresh baked rejection with sugar on top.
Under normal circumstances, I should have been devastated (reminiscent of my junior year in college when I narrowly lost an all-expense paid trip to France)
Yes, it was my fourth failed job interview in a row, but it was not the first time I was rejected not because I sucked.
An interview call already implies that a company has recognized your potential.
There are times when your current skill set and experience are not good enough for the company, but more often than not, you just are not what they need at the moment.
That said…
#3: Rejection is never personal, so don’t take it personally.
Speaking entirely from the context of job interviews (unrequited love is, of course, a whole different story), when a company rejects you, it’s for a host of other reasons besides well, you.
Another PR Agency, this time in Dubai Internet City, invited me for an interview for an English copywriting position.
The HR Manager was a no-nonsense, aloof-looking Lebanese who asked me for my name three separate times without ever mentioning his own.
Severus Snape. Probably.
His interview questions were so mechanical, that I felt like he was just quizzing me on my own CV.
This went on for about 5 minutes tops, afterwards he pushed his laptop towards me, along with a set of guidelines for a writing exercise.
I had 1 hour to write a 2-page press release for a hypothetical Abu Dhabi real estate company which was recently awarded for a successful property development project.
Then he left on the pretext of giving me time and privacy to gather my thoughts when really, he was attending a meeting in the board room.
In the end, I got an additional 30 minutes to write and edit my press release (and even squeeze in 1 trip to the washroom).
And when he finally returned, he told me to save the file under my name, wait for an email from their side, and that I was free to go – all this with his back towards me.
I refused to take the hint and stood my ground and asked for his name. I even initiated a handshake (not a custom between men and women in Arab countries) before saying goodbye, because I was unfazed.
True, the rejection had stung while it lasted, but as long as I kept my personal feelings out of the picture, there was no reason to hold a grudge against the man.
He was just doing his job.
#4: Retrospectively, it will all turn out for the best.
Their Business Bay office had an almost panoramic view of Dubai Creek, and it was the first thing you saw when you stepped inside the foyer.
It was a staggering sight for somebody like me who had long since resigned to being boxed in 4 walls on an 8 to 6 schedule.
I shook hands with two ladies who led me to the office of the CEO.
He, in turn, broke the ice when he announced that I deserved a golden plaque for arriving 35 minutes early for my job interview (45 actually had I not stopped by a Zoom to buy a bottle of water to calm my pre-interview jitters).
It was like auditioning for American Idol with a panel of 3 judges, except instead of asking me to sing, they asked me about my blog – this very same blog which I had shamelessly peddled to over 50 different PR agencies across Dubai and Abu Dhabi in my quest to become a professional writer.
Maybe if I sent my CV via owl…
Unsurprisingly, the CEO told me that they currently did not have a position available (that’s what you get for emailing your CV unsolicited, I suppose), but that they might need a PR Assistant as early as December (see “sugarcoated rejection”).
To stretch the last 50 dirhams in my wallet, I decided to wait for the bus instead of hailing a cab home.
It came 20 minutes later when I was toasted nice and brown, and it took me on a grand tour around Business Bay.
It had 10 or so stops along the way taking a whopping half an hour to reach the nearest metro station, and the whole time I thought to myself, “There’s no way I’ll be making this commute every day even if I got the job.”
Not that it was my decision to make, because shortly after that, I had a successful interview!
— But that’s for a whole different blog. I am writing this one especially for cringe-worthy job interview stories only.
#5: You’ll be much less of a marshmallow. I pinky promise you.
Nothing pulled back my grade average lower than Math.
From elementary to high school, I was always outshone by far more brilliant students who weren’t just good at Math but in all the other subjects.
It didn’t matter if I got an A+ in English and History, a B- in Math was all it took to dash my dreams of glory to the ground.
On my freshman year in college, I had a terrifying math professor who had a reputation for failing half of the students in his classes.
The man posed a serious danger to my precious general weighted average, so I worked twice as hard in his class, even though his was a minor subject only.
One fine day, he barked my last name, handed me back my homework the previous day, and told me to write my solution on the white board.
When I was through, he told the class that that was how he wanted mathematical solutions to look like – organized, following the steps I learned since first grade: Given, Asked, Solution, and Final Answer.
And that was the story of how I became good at math.
Kidding, I still think math is the bane of my existence, but I did end up much better at it with a grade of A- at the end of the term.
(He stilled failed half of the class, further cementing his reputation for future generations of college students.)
The point is, failures and rejections at school or at work or at neither — as in the case of failed job interviews — are the perfect catalyst for a deeper and more profound self-improvement.
Of the 500 job applications I’d submitted in over half a year’s time, I only received 5 interview callbacks.
I do not know what happened to the 495 (chucked down the bins, most like) but as for the 5, you have a general idea by now.
The rejections I have received from the hands (or back) of job interviewers have taught me more valuable lessons than any other form of rejection I have received in my life.
Why? Because I actively sought them myself.
I could have just sat the rest of my life out, content with a roof over my head and a decent and comfortable office job…
But I was determined to make it in the creative industry no matter the cost — and pride was the least of my concerns.
If I deserve a pat on the back, it’s not for the new job offer letter I received 2 weeks ago, but for the 499 odd rejections I received along the way.
Experience has taught me that offer letters can be handed to you on a silver platter without you ever lifting a finger.
Job interview rejections, on the other hand, result from the clichéic trio of blood, sweat, and tears.
They are the result of action.
The first law of motion states that an object will remain at rest unless an external force is applied to it.
Otherwise known as the law of inertia.
As in inert — something or someone that lacks the ability to move.
Precisely the kind of person who cannot even get a job interview rejection.
And whether or not you received your first or your hundredth rejection already, there’s no reason to stop now.
Keep moving forward.
