Yeah, that's something I've very recently started doing, basically only applying to jobs where I think there's at least a chance of getting it.
Though the rejections for jobs I'm wholly unqualified for don't bother me that much. A little, but when the job is paying like $500,000/year, I don't get too depressed because, like, yeah, they probably get thousands of applicants for that, at least some of them are probably more qualified than me.
The stuff that gets under my skin I'm rejected for jobs where I'm reasonably confident that I am one of the more qualified applicants that they've gotten for that position. At that point, it's hard to not start feeling a little bad about myself.
> The stuff that gets under my skin I'm rejected for jobs where I'm reasonably confident that I am one of the more qualified applicants that they've gotten for that position. At that point, it's hard to not start feeling a little bad about myself.
Gotta keep in mind though that job seekers aren't looking necessarily for the most qualified people. Sometimes they also look for people they think they'll get along with more, which could just be because the other guy put he likes rock climbing in his interests. Totally random. Or because they're trying to fill a quota, etc. Just say ** them in your mind and go onto the next.
Yeah, I know, but there's knowing this and there's "knowing" this. I've interviewed enough people to know that people get declined for the dumbest reasons, or no reason at all, so I'm aware that it's really not a slight on my character that some middle manager at a company doesn't think I'm smart enough.
But it can be easy to forget that too. I prepare for the interview, I do my best to answer a bunch of technical questions, I try and be polite and straightforward with my answers, I try and be the very best version of myself, only to get a rejection two days later. It's just exhausting.
They'd be so much easier if I were allowed to be actually be honest with these things. I wish that I were allowed to answer the "why do you want to work for Company X?" with "because I need to exchange money for goods and services to survive and I am hoping that if I provide some of my time and expertise you will provide me some money", instead of trying to explain how I think that working on a website that generates AI videos of cats dancing will somehow save the world, which is what they actually want to hear. I think I am a bit too autistic to really get it; they know I'm lying, I know I'm lying, what's the point of making me go through that song and dance?
I realize it's just the hoops that everyone has to jump through, I get it, but it's just exhausting.