Former Community – We Moved
🆕 Coached community here, for posts & feedback public community here.
How to respond to rejection for promotion
Hello guys,
in my training, we spend 6 months in one sector of the hospital, a rotation. And where I live we have to compete for interesting rotations in medical specialties (neurology, cardiology, etc.). If we can access these, then we are better trained obviously. So I asked for a given specialty a couple of months ago. Finally, I got the answer: they refused. It's a small hospital and they play a lot of politics. So I know they favoured a candidate with more experience with whom they're going to work long term. The chief told me in the email. So I totally understand their choice: I was not the best candidate for them.
However, now I'm wondering how to answer to the rejection?
Shall I express my disappointment:
"Dear Sir,
thank you for your answer. That's too bad that my application was not chosen. However, I thank you for considering my application. I wish the candidate and your team lots of success.
Sincerely yours,
John Freeman"
or not:
"Dear Sir,
thank you for your answer. Thank you for considering my application. I wish the candidate and your team lots of success.
Sincerely yours,
John Freeman"
I'll explain later in more details the politics behind it and the exact message I received.
I prefer the second.
And I might take out "the candidate".
It reminds that it was you against someone else, and that someone else got it (negative thread expansion). I'd just wish them well in general, without reference to the candidate.
Maybe one could also add a sweetener:
"I had chosen your hospital because I had heard great things about you"
And:
"so I'll be happy to make your acquaintance if our paths will cross in a different way".
I wish you...
Leaving the door open for something in the future.
Thanks a lot for your answer. It's helpful for me. It is actually internal application. So I will take everything you said and slightly modify it with "your service" instead of "your hospital".
For the larger philosophical frame, I actually understood that I'm not on the same wavelength as this guy and he understood it as well. I could have learned a lot though, but it opens doors for other opportunities.
I'm finding more and more the importance of choosing who you work with instead of where you work. So I'm at peace with not getting chosen even though my ego took a slight hit. I see the bigger picture. It's actually a motivation to work on my skills. I understand that his refusal was based on my experience and potential on the long term. However, I'm using this as a fuel (dark side) to become better. I want to be one of the greatest physician of all times, so 6 months in their service looks small in comparison. I can find similar or even better opportunities. Alignment is so important.
So this refusal is actually exciting for me.
Follow up
Here is the answer I crafted:
Dear Dr. X,
thank you for your answer. Thank you for considering my application. I had chosen your team because I had excellent recommendations about it.
That being said, I am looking forward to collaborate with your consulting team around future cases necessitating your expertise. It is always a pleasure for me to consult your team for situations in [field] (previously in [field I was in previous rotation]) necessitating deepened knowledge in [their field].
Sincerely yours,
John Freeman
I got a thumbs down. Interesting. Someone is not happy.
More follow up
Anyway, here is his answer:
Hello,
Thank you very much for your message. We take the same pleasure by interacting with you.
Have a great day,
Dr. X.
Analysis
I think he interpreted my "consulting" as a power move. I recognized him as specialist and he said it was agreeable to interact with me, which does not reconize me in a professional fashion. I mean that he praised me for my warmth instead of my competence. It’s like I’m saying: your team is quite competent and he answers me: “and you’re a nice guy.”
Because being consultant means you're a specialist but also that you're not in charge of the patient. Whereas I meant that I wanted him to understand that I understood that I was not being chosen. Because "looking forward to collaborate with you" could have been interpreted as "this guy think he's going to work with us in the future. He did not understand."
Good analysis John, I think you correctly analyzed his reply -a bit of a polite brush-off-, as well as the misunderstanding.
Nothing too bad though, you can easily change all of that when and if you'll interact with him in the future again.
If you cross path again, just to make sure and to avoid losing power, I'd approach it very professional, no reference to the past interactions, and no compliments/ingratiations before he delivers some value.
Ok so now I know it was you Lucio who was not happy with the email I wrote. In what ways did you dislike it?
Looking forward to your feed-back!
Quote from John Freeman on February 19, 2021, 10:27 pmOk so now I know it was you Lucio who was not happy with the email I wrote. In what ways did you dislike it?
Looking forward to your feed-back!
Hey John,
Actually, I haven't willingly pressed the dislike button. Maybe either scrolling down on mobile, or some random clicks ended up there (leaving it there now so your question still makes sense for future readers).
There was a high likelihood that would be the case. Thanks for the clarification.
