How to Handle Rejection After a Medical Sales Interview

Being turned down for a role is disappointing, particularly when you've invested time in several interviews and could genuinely see yourself joining the company.

It's also very easy to come away from a rejection assuming you did something wrong.

Sometimes there will be something useful to learn from the experience. Sometimes another candidate was simply a closer fit. The important thing is knowing the difference.

1. Don't Automatically Assume You Interviewed Badly

There are plenty of reasons why an employer might choose another candidate, and not all of them mean there was something wrong with your interview.

Another candidate might have had more directly relevant experience, stronger knowledge of a particular therapy area or existing relationships with the customers on the territory.

There may have been an internal candidate. The requirements of the role might have changed during the recruitment process. Or two candidates may simply have been very closely matched and the employer had to make a decision.

If you've reached the later stages of a recruitment process, that's worth remembering too. You wouldn't normally have got that far if the employer couldn't see you doing the job.

2. Ask for Feedback

Good feedback can help you understand whether there is anything you could do differently next time.

Rather than simply asking, "Why didn't I get the job?", it can be useful to ask more specific questions.

• Was there anything I could have demonstrated more clearly at interview?
• Was there a particular area of experience the successful candidate had that I didn't?
• Were there any concerns about my suitability for the role?
• Is there anything you would recommend I work on for similar opportunities in future?

You won't always receive detailed feedback. Some employers provide much more than others.

If you've been introduced by a recruiter, speak to them too. They may be able to get more detailed feedback from the employer and help put it into context.

3. Decide Whether the Feedback Actually Requires Action

Not every piece of interview feedback means you need to change something.

If an employer chose somebody because they had five years' experience selling into the exact customer group and you didn't, that doesn't necessarily mean there is something missing from your career.

They may simply have been a closer match for that particular vacancy.

However, if the same issue keeps appearing, it's worth paying attention.

Perhaps you're repeatedly reaching interview stage for roles that require more new-business experience, stronger NHS knowledge, people-management experience, exposure to capital equipment or experience managing more complex accounts.

If the same gap is limiting you across several opportunities, you can then think about how you might gain that experience in your current role or through your next career move.

The same applies to interview technique. If several employers tell you that your answers lacked detail, for example, that's useful information. You may have the right experience but need to get better at demonstrating it.

4. Leave the Door Open

However disappointed you are, try to finish the recruitment process professionally.

Thank the employer for their time and, if you were genuinely interested in the company, let them know you would be happy to hear about suitable opportunities in the future.

MedTech can be a relatively small world. Hiring managers move companies, recruiters work on different vacancies and businesses recruit again.

The candidate who was offered the job might also turn it down, or another vacancy could become available.

You don't need to keep chasing the company afterwards. Just leave the relationship in a good place.

5. Look for Patterns, Not Individual Setbacks

One rejection doesn't tell you very much about your overall chances in the market.

Patterns do.

If you're applying for lots of suitable roles but rarely getting an interview, it may be worth looking again at your CV, the roles you're targeting or how clearly you're demonstrating your relevant experience.

If you're regularly getting first interviews but not progressing, think about what's happening at that stage.

If you're consistently reaching final interviews, that's a different picture. Employers are clearly seeing you as a credible candidate, even if you haven't secured the right role yet.

Looking at the pattern gives you something much more useful to work with than dissecting every answer you gave in one unsuccessful interview.

Use the Experience, Then Move On

There is no need to pretend that every rejection is a positive experience or that every unsuccessful interview contains an important lesson.

Sometimes you wanted the job and somebody else got it. That's disappointing.

But where there is useful feedback, use it. Where you can see a recurring pattern, address it. And where another candidate was simply a better fit for one particular role, don't turn that into a judgement on your whole career.

The aim isn't to avoid rejection altogether. That's unrealistic in any job search. It's to recognise when there is something worth learning from it and when it's simply time to move on to the next opportunity.