To everyone who has been rejected this year…

It sucks.
You thought it’d work out and it didn’t. It’s particularly rubbish if you completed a vacation scheme. Then it feels like you fell at the last hurdle and that really…sucks.

No.

More than that.

It’s f*cking sh*t, actually. And you can be as mad and as sad as you like.

Here is my angry song:

I listened to it after Simmons & Simmons rejected me. I listened to it after Mayer Brown rejected me. And I listened to it a lot after Baker McKenzie rejected me. It’s good to have an angry song. It lets you feel how you feel and that’s good.

There’s no point pretending that you’re not bothered because you are. Each application takes a decade to write and it feels like you’ve wasted your time.

But here’s the thing.

There are two ways to take rejection:

Option A) Decide that you are simply not good enough, and allow the rejection to wear away at your self-esteem.

Option B) Figuratively put two’s up at the firm and yell ‘well f*ck you then!’ in your head.* And decide that they missed out on a great thing, and you’ll show them.

And how are you going to show them?

You’ll improve. Develop. Learn.

Being rejected has given you the opportunity and the motivation to improve. (Even if it is angry-motivation rather than happy-motivation).

You’re going to perform better at assessment days than you ever thought you could. You’re going to get so good at case studies you’ll make it look effortless. You’re going to give fabulous presentations without breaking a sweat. Every. Single. Time. You’re going to watch people make the mistakes you used to make.

And then….you’ll get offered a Training Contract by a firm that pays £10,000 more. Or has a better litigation department. Or offers more international secondments. Or all of the above.

You’re not going to be hung up on it forever. You’re not always going to be gutted about this (even if you do harbour a low-key grudge).

Build yourself up again and power-on through.

You got dis.

*I cannot overstate how important it is that you do this in your head.