It’s not personal and the fact that you’ve been rejected doesn’t mean you couldn’t do the job. It’s very hard not to be negative about it but there is bound to be something coming along that will fit for you and which you will also fit.

Three out of the four interviewees we turned down yesterday were perfectly nice people and will probably make pretty good pharmacists some day. Two of them were better than the others and were probably better in some ways than the two we are going with at the moment. We mostly just liked some aspect of them better and also thought they would fit in better with the culture in our pharmacy and with the group of staff we have. This is a completely subjective judgement and like I say, it doesn’t really say much negative about the others. Except for one, whose interview was appalling, and it doesn’t sound like that was the case with you.

It just wasn’t the right fit for us or them and I’m sure that’s the case with this web dev job too. Hopefully there will be another similar job for which the fit will be better. The lack of experience certainly is a drawback for those sort of jobs but as you said you need to get it somehow. That only happens because someone some time takes a chance on a newbie.

The reason for them taking that chance is because they’re impressed by your personality, work ethic, willingness to learn or something else. So, don’t worry too much about the experience issue, just concentrate on your other strengths and emphasise those. Above all don’t get discouraged and don’t give anyone an easy decision to make. Be passionate about how much you want the job and why you want to move into that area in your career and that may well outweigh some person who has done a bunch of similar jobs but doesn’t connect with the interviewer or they don’t think will want to work at it so hard.

The candidate we have that we are both leaning towards was really passionate about pharmacy, the local area and seems like a really hard worker. That is outweighing the fact that I think some of the others might have better plugged skill gaps I would like to fill and might be better at doing some of the things I would like them to accomplish. I know the two people we are looking at may not have as much experience or talent at doing the things we need but they’ll work very hard at it and will be dedicated and loyal and that counts for a lot. The guy even straight out said in the interview that he isn’t a genius but he has had to work hard for everything he has ever gotten. He said academics don’t come easy but his work ethic makes up for it. I feel like he probably knows who he was up against and it was a way to get his foot in the door but it worked so far!

Good luck and don’t get downhearted. I’m sure you will get something that’s right and the things you don’t get weren’t meant to be.