You will be turned down, probably many times, and often by people who never reply at all. This lesson is about what that does and does not mean, and how to keep going without it costing you your confidence.
South Africa has one of the highest youth unemployment rates in the world. That is a structural problem, not a personal failing, and no amount of effort by any one person changes the number of jobs that exist.
We will not tell you that trying hard enough guarantees a job. It does not. What preparation does is improve your odds on the jobs that do exist, and that is worth a great deal, but it is not the same as a promise, and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something.
Most rejections are never explained. When a role gets 200 applications and one job, 199 capable people are turned down. Silence usually means volume, not a judgement about you.
Ask for feedback once, politely, and only if you reached the interview stage. Some employers give it and it is genuinely useful. Most will not reply, and that is not a second rejection.
You reach the final two and do not get the job.
What happens: Reaching the final two means you were assessed as capable of doing the job. Stopping now discards the evidence that you are close.
What happens: Employers do sometimes come back to the runner up when the first choice declines or leaves. It happens more often than people think, and it costs one short message.
How do I keep going when nothing is working?
Make the effort measurable so it does not feel invisible: a set number of good applications a week rather than an endless open task, and a note of what you did. Keep learning something, including here, because it is progress you control and it is real even when the search is not moving. And take actual days off, because job hunting without rest ends in giving up entirely rather than in more applications.
This is affecting how I feel about myself
That is a very common response to a long search, and it says nothing about your worth. Talk to someone you trust about it rather than carrying it alone. If it is weighing on you heavily or lasting a long time, speaking to a clinic, a counsellor or the South African Depression and Anxiety Group is a reasonable thing to do, and it is not an admission of anything.
Before you move on
- Set a weekly number of good applications, not an endless list
- Ask for feedback once after an interview
- Take real days off from searching
Check what you know
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