Celebrating Failure
This past Spring semester, I was interviewing for a few different jobs considering I am soon to graduate. When I received the news that I did not receive the position that I thought I wanted, I was upset and felt that I had failed.
I interviewed with two different local banks for a position that I was going to work until I graduated, and then I would start looking for a different job better related to the career path I wanted to take. After not receiving the positions that I had applied to, I began to feel like finding a job was going to be harder than I originally expected. I reviewed my resume, thought about my responses to many of the questions and more.
I continued to apply to positions, and ultimately landed a job interview with Cox Communications. During my interview with Cox, I was asked many of the same general interview questions from my previous interviews with the banks. At that point, I realized my interviews with the banks had prepared me for the interview with Cox.
I received a job offer with Cox Communications with much better compensation, better experience and higher-quality benefits than what I would have received with the other positions I applied to. I was told I was offered the job because of my confidence in the interview, but I had that confidence because I knew exactly how I wanted to respond to the questions because I had seen them numerous times before.
This led me to the conclusion, the bank interviews were great practice for the job I actually wanted. After taking these risks and evaluating what I thought was failure, I realized I was extremely happy with the ways things turned out. I am more likely to take risks now than I have ever been before.
Walter, thank you for sharing your story and being so open and honest. You highlight a really important aspect of failure in your post, which is the idea of perseverance. I believe that failure is part of the journey to something even better. This is evident in your case because you were able persevere through the rejection to land an even better job all because of the “failure” you experienced. On top of that you were able to learn through the process. Great work and congrats on the job offer!
ReplyDeleteHi Walter,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your vulnerability in sharing failure. It is not an easy thing to do & to describe in detail to peers. Rejection is never easy but, as you shared, often leads us to be more proactive! It seems that through your reflection on your first experience, you have been able to perform better because you knew your weak points. Great work! And Congratulations!
Hey Walter,
ReplyDeleteI think it is so important to realize that everything happens for a reason and the learning experience that you gained from the first interviews allowed you to act the way you did for your next one. Although at one point the feeling of failure might have brought you down, it led you to a better opportunity. Having the mindset to persevere and keep pushing allowed for a great turn out.
Hi Walter!
ReplyDeleteFirst off, congratulations on your job offer!! Applying for jobs is definitely a challenging process and I really appreciated you for sharing this experience with us. I am super glad you continued to persist and never lost hope following your first couple interviews. Like you said, those "failures" were like growing pains---they ultimately allowed you to be prepared for the best opportunity. I'm also really glad to hear that this experience has given you the confidence to continue taking risks in the future!