Most people think "rejection" is an ugly word. Getting rejected is a put down, an affront to one's dignity. But everybody gets rejected. Everybody. But not everybody handles rejection the same. The successful people in this world are successful not because they don't get rejected but because they recover from rejection.

I'd like to share some thoughts with you about not letting rejection keep you down. Although they're based on an article I originally wrote for salespeople, they apply equally to the men and women in the safety profession, particularly those currently in a career transition.

An Exercise in Visualization

I phoned my friend, Doris [not her real name], who was just getting started in sales. She sells furniture. Like all salespeople do, she had experienced a week full of rejections and was feeling mighty low. It was Friday night and she had scheduled an appointment with what she hoped but was far from confident would turn out to be a customer the next morning. So I decided to give her a little pep talk.

"Doris," I said, "I want you to close your eyes and visualize what will happen at your appointment tomorrow. First, picture what that customer looks like. He's just bought a couch and he's happy with the purchase. Is everything true so far?"

"Yes," she replied. "He did like the couch and now he needs a couple of matching chairs. We just so happen to have two in stock."

"Excellent. Now, I want you to imagine that he's walking over to one of the chairs and sitting down on it. He's smiling. He's happy. He likes the chair very much. So much that he's decided to buy the pair. Can you see it, Doris? He's signing the contract. You've closed the sale!"

And do you know what Doris' response was? "Gee, Art. I don't know. He'll probably want to think it over first."

"POW," I cried. "You just killed the sale!"

"But that's what people have been telling me all week and that's why I haven't sold anything!"

Poor Doris. She had become one of rejection's many victims. She had let it cloud her thinking. Now she expected people to reject her and had created a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The Poem Nobody Wanted

The other way to handle rejection is to brush it off and keep trying, confident that you will ultimately succeed. Let me tell you another story. It's about a silly poem I wrote more than 30 years ago called "Pay Attention Brother." It's a long poem but here's the gist:

Do you ever get that winded feeling,
Ever find your head a reeling,
Keepin' up with the Joneses down the street?

Now I want you to pay attention to me,
Did you ever get to feeling gloomy,
Just because they seemed a little more elite?

Well then, brother, if you're like me,
You'd like to find a place to flee,
A place where you don't have to be keepin' up.

A place where people smile a lot,
And are quite content with what they've got,
And are grateful that they've got coffee to fill their cup.

To appreciate what you got, brother,
That's the secret, there ain't no other,
Just thank God that you've got something nice.

And don't start thinkin' that it's a disaster,
When you see the other guy movin' faster,
Count your blessings, brother, that's darn good advice.

The relevance of this poem isn't just its words but my experience with trying to get it published. I sent that poem out to an editor expecting a check. What I got was a rejection note. I tried again. Another rejection note. And again. Same result.

After my sixteenth attempt, the editor of the magazine Modern Maturity sent me a nice note: "Art, we love your poem and we want to use it but we don't pay anything."

Well, by this point I was running out of postage stamps. So I told her, fine, you can use the poem for free. Just let me know when you publish it.

And then I waited. And waited. And waited some more. I waited 16 months. But I didn't hear a word.

I had every right to be discouraged and throw in the towel. But I decided to send the poem out to other publications. Finally, after attempt number 26, I found a publisher - the magazine Liguorian. I even got a check. Since then, that poem has been published three or four other times.

The Moral

I see that poem as a symbol of overcoming rejection. I still hand it out to safety professionals and encourage them to hang it on their office wall. Getting rejected 26 times isn't easy. I took each one of those rejections personally. But, I kept getting up after each one because I believed in the poem and was confident that somebody would want it. And I was right.

I know that people in the safety profession encounter rejection all the time. It can happen when we pitch our safety program to the CEO, try to gain buy-in from supervisors and workers and, of course, when we interview for jobs. My advice to you is this: Remain confident in your abilities and the merits of what you're selling and, with persistence, you are all but assured of ultimate success.

SAFETYXCHANGE CONTEST
Interview Embarrassments

Thanks to you brave SafetyXChange members who stepped forward to share your most mortifying interview experiences. I hope you will all understand and respect our decision not to list anybody's name and company. (Incidentally, the subtitles above each entry come from us, not the member.)

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FIRST PRIZE

With My Back Against the Wall. . .

Went for an interview and traveled by plane for a one day trip. While on the plane I got up to deplane and felt a tug on my pants around my crotch area. I didn't know it until I went to the bathroom that the tug I felt was a rough place on the seat arm ripping my pants.

I had no choice but to keep my rear to the wall and go through with the interview. I felt it went well but I never heard from them one way or the other on employment. (Pretty typical of companies now) Probably just as well because I don't think I could have showed my "face" there again.

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SECOND PRIZE

The Yoke's on Me

I was once running late for an interview and grabbed an egg sandwich at a drive thru. I made it to the interview on time, but while my interview was in progress, I noticed that my interviewer would not look at me. After the interview was over, he said he would get back in touch with me (he never did). As I left his office, I stopped by the men's room. As I was washing my hands, I looked in the mirror and understood why the interviewer would not look at me. I had dried egg yolk all over my mustache and beard! Just goes to show that a final inspection in a mirror is well worth the time.

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THIRD PRIZE

Sorry, Wrong Script

As my previous employer suddenly went Chapter 7, I was spreading my job search net far & wide. Thus in addition to safety positions, I was also considering general plant management. Somehow on a day with a couple of interviews scheduled, I got mixed up as to which position I was interviewing for. Thinking it was a safety position, I turned every question (theirs & mine) to safety. Thus I was puzzled when I made what I thought were good replies and comments, that the body language of the interviewers told me otherwise. It was only after I left the building that I realized I was actually interviewing for a plant manager position. Needless to say that despite this firm's commitment to safety, they were underwhelmed by my constant barrage of safety remarks to the exclusion of production, JIT, worker motivation, etc. The only silver lining was that another interview a few days later did lead to a safety position. Moral of the story - don't get so caught up in the details of an interview that you miss the big picture!

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HONORABLE MENTIONS

A Man Who Knows His Place

My interviewer stated that in this position I would be answering directly to a woman and asked if I would have any trouble taking orders from a woman. I knew that this woman was rather tough to work with and after a moment of hesitation I came up with this response: "I will have no trouble taking orders from a woman. You see, I've been married for three years and have been taking orders from my wife since we got married." The whole room broke up laughing. Even the interviewer cracked a smile.

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Business a Tire

Interviewing for a job at a chiropractor's office, I apparently failed a "personality test." At an office job I showed up in a nice business suit only to find out that they wanted the office gal to unload trucks with the forklift as well and I didn't look the part.

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On a Roll

I was about to sit in front of 5-6 interviewers on a chair and that darned chair had wheels on them I almost fell on the floor trying to hold that chair steady!!! I did get the job in the next try, but not that one, I was too embarrassed to compose myself during the interview!

Big lesson... make sure the chair does not roll away before you sit on it, hold it tight till it hurts!!

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Sight Assessment

When I came to interview for my current position, I walked in the door, approached the receptionist, stated my name and the fact I had a meeting for a job interview. At that moment one of the screws popped out of my glasses. The lens fell to the floor, shattering. I had to excuse myself and go out to the car and get my sunglasses, as I am very blind without glasses. I continued through the interview, but my composure was shattered. I certainly could not indicate direct eye contact. He could not see my eyes.

The owner must have understood, as within a week I was hired for my current position and have been here almost 5 years now.

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Room with a Loo

I was sent to be interviewed with the plant manager at my current job for a possible promotion. He decided that we should talk in his adjoining conference room. He stood up and motioned with his hand towards a door. I went into the door on the left, right into his private bathroom! He was very gracious and said that the other room was bigger with more seats! Good news is that I did get the job.

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Bobby Knight Take Notice

Several years ago I was in a "second" interview, with higher echelon staff members. During the interview, I was asked "how do you handle stress?" For some unknown reason, at that moment, I couldn't mentally grasp "stress" as an intangible. Pictured in my mind were cardboard cartons, and I certainly couldn't think of an appropriate answer that would incorporate them. Then I remembered a movie I had recently seen, where an obviously upset executive threw his chair through his office window. After what seemed like an interminably long time and not able to think of an appropriate answer, I said... "Well, I don't throw chairs through windows."

Apparently the executives decided their office furniture would be safe with me. They hired me!

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