Something that never happens to me happened to me a little over a month ago. I was approached about a job on LinkedIn. I actually thought it might have been a scam at first as it sounded too good to be true, but after doing some checks I found out it was in fact very real. It was for the position of Marketing Manager in the Home Office. I received this message in my LinkedIn inbox from a HR representative in the Home Office:
“I came across your profile and was impressed by your extensive experience. Your work in content and marketing activities is truly noteworthy. I wanted to share a full-time role I’m hiring for at the UK Home Office. We are looking for a Marketing Manager to join our team in London. This on-site position emphasises marketing strategy, which seems to align well with your expertise. Given your background in web content management and your knack for simplifying complex information, I think you’d be a great fit! If you’re interested and would like to explore this opportunity, and have a chance to bring your expertise to a new environment and make a real impact, I’d love to hear from you.”
Up until this point, I had applied for dozens of jobs in marketing, communications, website and content. For each job application, I had put time and effort into tailoring my CV and covering letters so that they demonstrated how my skills and experience matched the essential criteria listed in the job description. But days or weeks after submitting each application, I was met with the boilerplate rejection email saying “we will not be proceeding with your application” or “we are moving forward with other candidates”. To say that job hunting has been an exhausting process is an understatement. So it was a breath of fresh air to be actively approached about a job that looked to be a really great opportunity for me and for which I stood a good chance of progressing to an in-person interview given that they had contacted me about it. Working in the public sector, let alone the Civil Service, has always been very appealing to me, so I messaged her back to let her know that I would review the position in more detail and then apply.
The application process was quite arduous, as it is for all Civil Service positions. I had to complete a verbal test first, which I passed, then I had to provide my employment history, qualifications, skills and experience, a personal statement and finally a behavioural statement (making effective decisions). Before submitting my application, I even got my dad to check all of it to make sure I gave myself the best chance of landing an interview! I submitted my application the day before the deadline.
Nearly three weeks had passed. On a random Tuesday at 11:40am whilst slaving away at my laptop, a push notification came up on my phone that I had received an email from Civil Service Jobs. The subject field was “Application Outcome – Marketing Manager”. This was it! I opened the email and my heart immediately sank. I had been rejected yet again. “We will not be proceeding with your application”. I opened up the Civil Service portal to view the feedback for my application, and to my dismay my CV was scored a 3 out of 7. To put that into context, a score of 4 means that the required skills and experience were demonstrated at an acceptable level. A score of 3 is a moderate level.
I was a combination of sad, angry and bitter. 10 years as a Marketing Manager, with all the skills and experience that comes along with it which more than satisfied the essential criterial for the position, all reduced down to a 3, a score that doesn’t even surpass “acceptable”. In my sad, angry and bitter state, I sent the HR representative a long message on LinkedIn essentially asking “what gives?” and she responded very kindly saying that she understands my disappointment but she was not a part of the panel that was responsible for the sifting process. So I decided to email the recruitment team for the Home Office, again asking “what gives?”, and they told me that my application was scored under a fair and open process and that I did not meet the required standard.
I think the reason this job rejection hurt the most is because unlike other rejections that were just that, this one had a score of 3 attached to it, which made me feel like my whole career in marketing was less than adequate, and by extension, I was less than adequate. On top of that, the following day, I received a rejection email for another marketing job that I had applied for a week earlier, making the total number of rejections without interview for the year something close to 30.
Why am I writing this? Well, I guess the main takeaway from my experience is to let go of feelings of anger and bitterness which, as well as being emotionally draining, almost always lead to actions which are counterproductive. I completely get the frustration with wave after wave of rejections, but it’s important to recognise that these rejections are not always a reflection of you and what you bring to the table. It’s an extremely tough environment out there at the moment. But you know what? Your education means something. Your work means something. The person you are today means something. I am not a 3 and neither are you.