Being fired and rejected were probably the best things for me, it kept me focused and hungry to do what I actually wanted to and go where I actually wanted to

Paul Ardale - Advertising Creative Guru

You’ve done the work placement, you fetched the coffees, you had the more senior people talk to you like dog shit despite the fact their brain seems to not even show a dim light let alone be switched on. You then spend hours over the grad application forms, you chop and change your answers, you get all excited when you post it off or click on that send button.

Then the headed envelope comes through the post, the buzz as you run to the door in your student flat and kick away the pizza menus to get to your golden letter. You rip it open heart pounding:

‘We are very sorry to inform you that…….’ you don’t really need to read anymore as your heart sinks and all those visions of working in advertising fly out the window like your student loan did out of your bank account.

Gutting isn’t it. Well, you could let it get you down, you could let it stop you going to lectures that day and you could let it screw up all your hopes and dreams of working in advertising. Or you could say ‘Fuck you’, get dressed go into uni or online at home and start hunting for all the other agencies you still have time to apply for.

Rejection is the name of the game ladies and gentlemen. It makes you focused and it makes you hungry. If some idiot decided to reject you based on a piece of paper then make it your God given agenda to make them regret it by getting in somewhere else and becoming the next big thing.

Also, you may have been rejected for a reason. Agencies are like countries, they have cultures and they are sometimes cool places to go until the next tourist hot spot comes about. The most important thing is not to set your heart on any particular one because you know what? - Despite you thinking you fit (and you will because you want the job) they may think you don’t.

The most important thing for you to do if you get a rejection is turn it to your advantage or you’re dead. Make it be that thing that motivates you even more, make it the thing that gives you a completely different approach to the next application form and make it that thing so you become hungry for the next opportunity more than the other people.

I was rejected by every agency I applied to when I first started out. Things are much sweeter now but that was only because someone told me these very things when I was down in the dumps. What doesn’t kill you and all that jazz.

Comment here if you’re having issues, want a rant or just have some time to kill

Xxx