Lessons from Getting Rejected by an Employer & Let's Meet for a Beer

Published over 3 years agoΒ β€’Β 4 min read

Guten abend Reader -

What a hawt weekend! πŸ”₯ Quiet Berliners spent much of it outside by a lake while the party-minded people went to a rave. In the news, German bureaucracy and the growing momentum of the far-right deter a lot of foreigners from either coming to or staying in Germany. Meanwhile, the Berlin city government is having a tough time changing a racist street name.

We cover all of this and more in our July 9, 2023 edition of The Berlin Life newsletter:

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An Embarrassing Rejection From An Employer

🀦 When I got rejected for being too honest.

I'm one of those types who tend to be way too honest and share too much information. Years back, I was working for a Berlin-based company in what can only be described as a very toxic and dysfunctional environment. As I was deeply unhappy, I started to look for a new job and went on various interviews.

I made it really far into the process with one company, to the final stage where I was doing some workshops with a team. I felt it was going pretty well and talked about some of the challenges I had at work. I described the lack of professionalism I perceived in some of my colleagues and how their normalized behavior contributed to me not being successful at my job. Like people refusing to work when they didn't get their way in a team meeting or yelling at others for doing something "wrong". I also told them about how some colleagues lacked the basic knowledge and skills to do their job and I didn't understand how they were even working in their roles.

Rest assured, I was telling the truth! Most of those colleagues were later fired and when more professional and seasoned people were brought in to replace them, the atmosphere at work changed overnight and work became fun. While that later validated that the problems in the company were real, it didn't help me land the job.

When the reviews for my interview came in, they described me as unprofessional and someone who talked poorly about her colleagues. They said I came across as extremely negative and flatly rejected me for the role. For sure, there was no way I was unable to mask my unhappiness, as I certainly don't have a poker face. At the time, I felt that I should always be honest when sharing my impressions about situations. The rejection stung, but sometimes you need a humbling experience to learn and grow.

I learned the hard way that job interviews are pretty performative and it's (almost) always best to provide generic, high-level answers. When I changed my approach, almost all interviews resulted in a job offer and when it didn't, I always got feedback that I was a positive and warm individual. I hate not being honest, but I learned you have to be selective about the times when you get real.

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Take care,

Founder - The Berlin Life​
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