Tesco didn’t want me, and I’m devastated.

The background to this is that I have been looking for a job. This is partly because retirement just isn’t for me and I’m bored at home, and partly because my small pension doesn’t go nearly as far as my income from my business did. So, I want the work and need the money.

I’d applied for a number of jobs, only one of which I thought was a good fit – and was surprised not to get even an interview. Still, I shrugged it off, thinking that maybe I was overqualified, or they hadn’t been able to find me on Linked In (I deleted my account when I sold the business), or perhaps they already had a suitable candidate in mind. I wasn’t invested in that job. The other ones I applied for I really didn’t care one way or another and wasn’t upset at all to hear nothing back.

But the Tesco job I really wanted.

Week after week, I do my shopping there and see all the people picking and packing for the deliveries and think, “I could do that. In fact, I’d love to do that.” When I applied and got an interview, I was confident. I thought they would only have to see me to know I would do an excellent job for them. Apparently, they disagreed.

It's hard not to take it personally. They have lots of other retired people of my age working for them, so it’s not that. I had all the answers to their questions, so it’s not that. I put down that I had availability to work at the times they wanted, so it’s not that. I don’t know what I could have done differently to make them want me, rather than one of the school leavers applying to work in their gap year.

There are other supermarkets, of course, but they’re not my local one. I can walk to Tesco in half an hour. They’re not the one at which I have shopped for twenty-five years. They’re not my supermarket.

It’s important however, I know, to pick myself up, brush myself off and look for something else. I must also believe that the something else will be right, whereas the Tesco job would have been wrong in some way, even though I thought it would be perfect. Those beliefs may have nothing to do with reality, but they are helpful beliefs, so I’ll keep them. It’s important not to give up.

So, I won’t give up. Everyone suffers rejection at some time, whether in work or in relationships; I am not alone.

I’m sure each one of you has suffered rejection. How did it affect you, how did you deal with it and did something better turn up in due time?

Mary

A Moodscope member