DALE: One of the great opportunities for getting a job offer is after getting turned down.

JT: And let’s start that conversation by passing along a story from Steve Chandler, a terrific writer of motivational and management books. (He’s most popular book is 100 Ways to Motivate Yourself.) The story he offers us is from earlier in his career, and while me mostly pass along recent experiences, we had to include this one because the point it makes is timeless:

“When I graduated from college with a degree in English I was not overwhelmed with companies trying to hire me. Most people already speak English. So I decided to try to get a job as a sports writer at the daily evening paper in Tucson, Arizona, The Tucson Citizen. I had spent four years in the army, and I hadn’t done any sportswriting since high school.

When I applied for the job, I was told that my major problem was that I had never done any professional sportswriting before. It was the typical situation of a company not being able to hire you because you haven’t had experience-but how can you gain experience if no one will hire you?

My first impulse was to take no to be their final answer. After all, that’s what they said it was. But I finally decided to have no mean this question-”Can’t you be more creative than that?”

So I went home to think and plot my next move. The reason they wouldn’t hire me was because I had no experience. When I asked them why that was important, they smiled and said, “We have no way of knowing for sure whether you can write sports. Just being an English major isn’t enough.”

Then it hit me. Their real problem wasn’t my lack of experience, it was their lack of knowledge. They didn’t know whether I could write well enough. So I set out to solve their problem for them. I began to write them letters. I knew they were interviewing four other people for the position and that they would decide in a month. Every day I wrote a letter to the sports editor, the late Regis McAuley (an award-winning writer in his own right, who made his reputation in Cleveland before coming to Tucson).

My letters were long and expressive. I made them as creative and clever as I could, commenting on the sports news of the day, and letting them know how great a fit I thought I was for their staff.

After a month, Mr. McAuley called me and said that they had narrowed it down to two candidates, and I was one of them. Would I come in for a final interview? Would I!? I was so excited, I nearly swallowed the phone.

When my interview was coming to an end (I was the second one in), McAuley had one last question for me.

“Let me ask you something, Steve,” he said. “If we hire you, will you promise that you’ll stop sending me those endless letters?”

I said I would stop, and then he laughed and said, “Then you’re hired. You can start Monday.”

McAuley later told me that the letters did the trick.

“First of all, they showed me that you could write,” he said. “And second of all, they proved to me that you wanted the position more than the other candidates did.”

When you ask for something in professional life and it is denied to you, imagine that the no you heard is really a question: “Can’t you be more creative than that?” Never accept no at face value. Let rejection motivate you to get more creative.”

WHAT CAN WE CARRY AWAY FROM STEVE’S STORY?

JT: First, there’s the obvious moral: good old perseverance.

DALE: But this isn’t just one of stories of the guy who shows up every day, day after day and week after week, till the manager says, “OK, you can start.” This is a call for finding creative ways to overcome rejection. Steve didn’t just keep pleading for a job; he proved he could do the job.

JT: Taking that idea to other professions would mean that instead of just a thank-you letter, you would send suggestions or articles – you let the hiring manager know that you not only want the job, but that you’re already thinking of ways to be helpful. For instance, we have a story coming up where the job applicant emailed an audio discussion of what she’d bring to the job.

DALE: And I’ve seen it happen where a person was turned down for a job but said, “I’d like to be your back-up candidate.” And when the first person didn’t work out, they got the job after all. That’s perseverance, taking a no as the start of a new conversation.

We’d love to hear YOUR success story – please visit jtanddale.com and learn how you can help and inspire those looking for a great new job.

Jeanine “J.T.” Tanner O’Donnell is a career coach and workplace consultant. Her book, “CAREEREALISM: The Smart Approach to A Satisfying Career” can be found at jtodonnell.com.

Dale Dauten’s latest book is “(GREAT) EMPLOYEES ONLY: How Gifted Bosses Hire and De-Hire Their Way to Success” and can be found at dauten.com.

2008 by JT O’Donnell and Dale Dauten