What Thomas Edison Teaches Us About Overcoming Rejection!

When a rejection letter arrives or you find out you didn’t get a job, it’s easy to assign blame. Blame the institution: They don’t know what they’re doing, it’s so political. Blame yourself: I just don’t have the experience, I’m not good enough. Blame fate: Bad timing, a lot of other good candidates.

Instead, see failure as illumination. Look at rejection as evidence for career discovery. This can be tough because employers withhold the evidence of exactly why candidates did not get the job.

At best, employers don’t have time to coach rejected candidates and, at worst, they risk getting sued for how others interpret their hiring decisions. They give neutral, non-specific reasons in standardized letters. Rejected candidates can try to find answers, but convincing even the most altruistic hiring manager to provide constructive feedback can be difficult.

Besides, you’re not trying to solve the mystery of one decision; you’re trying to build your career. Even when building, you have to embrace failure and take risks.

American inventor Thomas Edison, who went bankrupt many times, once ordered a worker at his ore mill to increase the power of a rock-crushing machine until the $25,000 piece of equipment broke down. Through its failure, Edison realized he could rebuild the machine and get 40 percent more production, all but that last notch.

Because of your rejections, you’ll know what it takes to rebuild your candidacy, push beyond that last notch, and power your way to inventing your own success. To inspire this thinking, here are eight quotes attributed to Thomas Edison that will help you bounce back from a rejection:

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

There are many ways to land the job you want. Don’t dwell on all the jobs you didn’t get because each instance has unique factors, often unknown and uncontrollable. Evaluate what works and what doesn’t work with what you control: your resumes and cover letters, the experience you obtain, and how you present yourself during interviews. Narrow it down and determine the jobs and tactics that work best for you.

“Just because something doesn’t do what you planned it to do doesn’t mean it’s useless.”

The research, the application process, the day you called off work for the interview — it was all worth it even if you didn’t get the job. You’re practicing, networking, and even interviewing for future opportunities at that institution.

“I start where the last man left off.”

Pay close attention to the career trajectories of others in your profession, either by viewing their LinkedIn profiles or conducting informational interviews and learn from their successes and failures. Anticipate retirements and colleagues who grow out of their roles and be ready to step in to add value when opportunities arise.

“Your worth consists in (who) you are and not in what you have.”

A job offer is something you obtain; it’s not who you are. It won’t validate your character or self-worth. It won’t immediately increase your skills. Focus on what you have to offer and not what you don’t have.

“Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits.”

Continue to strengthen who you are, and job offers will come eventually. But don’t stop pursuing more opportunities just because you are awaiting the results.

“Restlessness is discontent, and discontent is the first necessity of progress.”

Rejections for jobs are valuable because they indicate boundaries, but that doesn’t mean you should just surrender to fate. What you learn by pushing those boundaries will help you figure out how to expand them.

“If we all did the things, we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.”

Don’t let continual rejections diminish your confidence in doing the job. There are a lot of people with jobs who are not as qualified as you because they never had to work hard to overcome rejections.

“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”

Remember, it just takes one offer. It could happen any time. It’s never too late.

So, what are you waiting for?

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