As the summertime approaches, many college students are beginning to search for summer internships and post-graduation jobs. While it is exciting to gain experience and knowledge through an internship or job, the other side of the story is that it is not always the easiest process to go through.
Many students apply to numerous internships without even getting the opportunity to have an interview. Others go through the interview process multiple times without being able to score a position in the end. It can be frustrating, confusing, and disappointing.
This semester I have applied to over 50 internship positions throughout the year. Out of the ones I applied to, I have only had 5 interviews in total. Most of the positions I applied to did not even reach out to me at all. As time went on and I kept receiving more rejections, I questioned the probability of getting one.
I was frustrated because I felt like I was doing everything right and everything that I could have possibility been doing to stand out to employers and be qualified for the position. It made me question all the hard work I had been putting into school and all the time I spent applying to internships.
Through all the discouragement with every rejection I received, I worked towards learning to accept the rejection and acknowledge the way I was feeling. I knew the way I was feeling was completely normal. I took the time to be sad and frustrated instead of bottling up my emotions.
I used my feelings of disappointment to work harder at applying for more positions and to do what I could to better my resume. I worked towards getting more involved on campus and improving the skills that I already had. At this point, I knew that I was making my full effort. All I could keep doing was trying.
I also shifted my view of the rejection. I thought about the experience I gained from all the interviews even though I did not end up with those internships. With every interview I did I noticed my skills improving. I found it easier to talk about myself and my accomplishments to the interviewer and ask the best questions.
This was a big learning experience for me because I struggled with putting myself out there and coming across as confident. Whether or not I felt good after each interview, I found things to take out of each one. After the most recent interview I did, I realized how drastic of a difference my interview skills were compared to the very first one I had. I felt much more confident at the end of it and more certain that I did the best I could.
Although I was focusing a lot more of my time on trying to get an internship, I realized I had to ensure I was still looking out for my health. I was putting too much of my focus on getting an internship that I began to disregard other areas of my life. I decided to plan out what I would do each day to work towards my goal of getting an internship but making sure to save time in my schedule for things that would be positive for my health.
This included things such as going on walks or making a healthy meal to eat. By not putting too much of my focus on my goal, it made it easier to handle the rejections when they did come. I had to remind myself that there are so many other aspects to my life that are important, and that life will go on whether I get an internship this summer or not.
I caught myself at times overanalyzing the reasons why I was not successful so far and realized that this was not doing me any good. It did not make sense to try to compare myself to the other candidates because I did not even know who they were.
There could have been a thousand different reasons as to why someone else was chosen over me for a certain internship, so trying to figure out that reason was not worth my time. Just because someone else may have been more qualified than me for a certain position does not take away from all the skills and hard work that I have put in. I began to learn to accept the circumstances and spend less time trying to understand why.
I still do not have a summer internship yet, but I am continuing to use all the rejections to push myself to keep trying while still maintaining a healthy balance of all the aspects of my life. I have accepted that I do not have total control over the way things work out and that all I can do is continue to try my best.
If you have found yourself disappointed over not getting the internship or job that you really wanted, feel your feelings, and then learn as much as you can from each situation. Rejection is a normal part of life that can be used to motivate yourself in a healthy way even more.