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The Job I Did Not Get

I got further in that recruitment process than almost any other, and failed at the last stage. I am genuinely grateful now, because the road it led to was not mine.

September 12, 20262 min read

A year or two after moving to the UK, I applied to a large audit firm.

It was one of the recruitment processes I got furthest in. I reached the assessment centre stage, albeit online.

What that stage involved

Something like a video call. They give you an exercise. Complete it well enough and you go through to the next room; fall short and that is the end.

I fell short.

Looking back now

I feel genuinely fortunate not to have got it.

Because had I succeeded, I would have gone down a very different road. And that road, thinking about it properly, might not have suited me at all.

The point

At the time it stung. But a rejection sometimes only means that particular door did not lead anywhere you belonged.

If you are disappointed about an opportunity that just slipped away, there is a reasonable chance you will see it the same way in a few years.