Some things in life are bad

I will not feel sorry for myself. An old friend sent me a lovely photo of himself, his wife, and their young baby this week. Along with his CV and the news that he had been made redundant and did I know any companies looking for his skills? And another friend told me her husband was about to be made redundant. So the fact that I have two rejections to report will not get me down.

Mr Workaholic chose the "other" candidate (if the job actually existed). Phoned me at 9.30 on a Friday evening to let me know. Great start to the weekend. After staring at a blank desk for ten minutes in stunned silence, I pulled myself together, went online and was exciting to find a role with a local college – closer to home than the job I’d just been turned down for, and a similar number of hours. Perhaps this was the job for me. Perhaps this was meant to be. I applied immediately.

I suppose the good news is that at least this was a short, sharp rejection. Not even an interview. Just a letter, with my name misspelled, telling me I had not been short listed. No reason. You never get a reason. It would be so useful to have a reason, but why should employers waste their time giving you a reason?

I read with interest the results of the Table talk: consultancy discussion. Some of the advice would work for job seekers too – they confirm my view that you should get more respect if you admit your limitations rather than try to bluff it. The discussion also dealt with how clients can get the best out of consultants. I understand the point they were making, but ultimately the client has the upper hand and I wondered how some clients would respond to being told what they needed to do. Imagine a bunch of job seekers telling potential employers how to treat us? Please acknowledge our applications, especially electronic ones which are so easy to respond to; please don’t keep us hanging around for weeks for a result; please don’t make us put lots of work in preparing a presentation or a proposal when the job doesn’t really exist or you already know who you're going to give the job to. Oh yes, and please spell our names correctly on rejection letters.