So you didn’t land a summer internship or summer job, here’s what you should do instead

With any job or internship application, there’s the chance that you may not get an offer for the position. The reasons can vary, and sometimes it can come down to not being the right person for the job. Those looking for summer internships or jobs may have even more of a chance of not getting the job than usual based on the level of practical work experience needed or how much demand there was for that particular position.

If you’ve found yourself in a situation where you didn’t get the internship or job you wanted for the summer, we’re here to tell you that it’s okay. Sure, that’s an easy thing to say from the outside looking in, but the reason that it’s okay is that rejection is an integral part of the job-hunting process.

After being turned down for a summer job or internship, what should you do? The absolute best thing you can do is to keep looking. College Recruiter is a great resource for finding your future entry-level job or internship. Apply more, do more interviews, and fine-tune your resume; it’s essential not to give up and keep looking. It’s important to stay productive after losing an opportunity and not let it slow you down. It’s easy to feel bad about what happened and give up, but you can use the process’s experience to your advantage to keep going.

In that continuing process, you should attempt to reach out to the hiring manager who turned you down and politely request an explanation for their decision. Having a sense of what areas you may have lacked will inform your application process moving forward. The response, or lack of response, might even help you determine what management style you work best with so you know what to look out for during future interviews. And it might be that the hiring manager says there really wasn’t a specific reason; that’s perfectly great as well. Knowing what prompted the decision will help you do better with future applications.

Suppose you’ve applied and applied and feel like you need a break from finding summer work. In that case, you can use the opportunity to find an online certification program or course that can help you to gain some more knowledge and skill and ultimately add to your resume. This is a great way to help build your qualifications and be productive simultaneously.

You can also throw yourself into creative projects or things that you feel will help your career or education in the long run. Take it upon yourself to invest time into something that interests you, and use up the time you were hoping to spend as an employee or intern doing something that makes your summer break worthwhile.

Ultimately, handling rejection comes down to understanding that not every opportunity will pan out in the landscape of finding a job or internship. You shouldn’t let that discourage you. Instead, find ways to continue to be productive so that when you get back to school in the fall, you’ll feel confident and ready to move forward in your education and on the pathway to a lucrative and fulfilling career.

— Article by Sean Kelly. In addition to being an analyst researching the latest industry trends for College Recruiter, Sean Kelly also co-founded a nonprofit local news publication in Savannah, GA called The Savannahian.