Stage 4 · Lesson 5 of 7

Asking why, and what to do with silence

After a later-stage rejection, it is fine to ask once for feedback: "Thank you for letting me know. If you can share one thing I could improve, I would really value it." Many companies will not reply because of policy or time, so do not take silence personally.

When you do get feedback, it is often short or general, such as "we went with a stronger candidate". Look for anything specific you can act on and ignore the rest. If you can, get practice feedback before the real thing from seniors, mentors or peers.

Common traparguing with feedback or asking the recruiter to reconsider; it rarely changes the outcome and can close the door for future roles.

A question to check yourself come when you add the roadmap to your account. Add it

Resources for this stage

Start with· follow one of these

RoadmapFree
Sefism Job Search Roadmap
Sefism
The full job search as stages, for fixing whichever one is losing you applications
VideoFree
What I Learned from 100 Days of Rejection (Jia Jiang, TEDxMtHood)
Jia Jiang (TEDxMtHood)
What 100 days of asking for things taught one founder about the fear of no

Practise

Sefism Your First Tech Job Roadmap
A plan for your first tech job, if you are still waiting for a first yes

Keep handy

LinkedIn Jobs
Set alerts so new roles keep arriving while you wait on others
ADPList
Free mentors who can look at your approach and tell you what they see

Struggling right now? If you are in danger or thinking about harming yourself, contact local emergency services or a crisis line: Find a helpline (any country), Umang (Pakistan), Tele-MANAS, 14416 (India).