Career Advice Career Guidance and Counselling

Learn from failure

We all know that feeling after being told we're "not right for the position", the one of simply wanting to avoid ever speaking to that company again. However, pursuing and embracing feedback is a really important part of the interview process and helps you to hone your skills and job search.

Knowing why you weren't chosen is vital for future interviews - was it a question poorly answered or was it a more fundamental mismatch of skills for the role?

The former you can work on. Poorly answered questions point to a lack of preparation, which can be addressed for your next interview. The latter isn't necessarily your fault and should help you, and your recruiter, to target more appropriate jobs in future.

The way a company delivers feedback to you helps you to work out if you want to work with them again in the future. If a company interviews you, gives no feedback and ignores your attempts to clarify the circumstances, is this really a company you want to be working with? You can save time in the future by simply discounting this company.

How a company treats you in the hiring process is very telling to how they will treat you as an employee. Everyone interviews in a slightly different way and dealing with different styles should be something that you learn and evolve through your career.

Taking on board feedback will improve you. And once you know the importance of feedback, it should be something that, later on in your career, you strive to give to all of those candidates who have used their time to come and try their best to get a job working for you.

Nick Wheatley, manager for IT and corporate functions – Hong Kong, ConnectedGroup