First rejection

I went to a school that had a placement workshop / fund. Didn’t get it and now I’m at a BB doing front office work.

It’s not the end of any world. Reflect on why you might’ve not gotten in? My reason was mostly lack of strong technical knowledge at the time. I could present myself well, and I knew the purpose of the workshop / what front office jobs entailed. So I spent the following few months focused solely on technical knowledge - started to network hardEr. A few alumn asked me why I wasn’t in the club and I just owned up to it and how I improved since, some respected the transparency alone, and some grilled me on technicals to make sure I knew the deal, and people from other schools I networked didn’t even know about it.

Aside from that it doesn’t ever matter what undergrad fund you’re apart of, or not apart of, if you don’t have the work ethic and humility to network and hustle through GPA / landing tangible work experiences. I saw smart kids think these type of “exclusive” workshops be the end all to getting a job on the street and get humbled real quickly / even hindered some of our relations with shops.

Long story short...reflect on your rejection - research how to improve - resolve your weakness.

I went to community college, was rejected by 20+ banks for SA / FT roles. I'm currently at a lower BB in TMT. Keep grinding - get feedback and figure out why you were rejected. Implement that feedback and iterate on your review process until you land an offer.

Take that rejection letter and hang it up in your room. Everyday you’ll see that fucker and be reminded to improve yourself. Maybe it seems weird but I do it and somehow it inspires me to be better.

Non-core school guy here. It may sound cliche but you need to do this one step which helped me a lot; ask for critical feedback man to man from your interviewer(s) as to what was the tick which made you lose the role. You'll be able to tell pretty easily if it's something to do with not you directly (ie being from the wrong school / background whatever) vs something you did which made the interviewer go from being positive on you to negative. Use people to your advantage in this situation and collect what you can from them in terms of fungible criticism.

It's rough the first time for sure but it becomes a reflex after a while - as you will go through several rejections - and you'll be able to absorb and implement feedback like a pro once you get through a couple rep. Have written about similar stuff before in other threads but things like polish or how you enunciate yourself really comes into play here so pay close attention to both your performance but also your interviewers. Happy to conduct a mock interview btw so PM if that's something you'd need.

EDIT: Mock interviews were some of the biggest tools i had whether it was friends or family asking me stuff out of interview guides so please do not hesitate. I never practiced in front of a mirror as I felt it wasn't as useful as being able explain behaviorals / technicals to other people in a clean succinct manner without them crinkling their brow in confusion

OP - I have been there. We all have. Everyone has a different way of coping. As so many others have pointed out, this will be something to get used to. So often it will have nothing to do with you, like so much in life. Sometimes it will be about something you said or did. Other times it will be the interviewer's mood or the weather, what they ate for breakfast etc etc etc. In other words stuff that you can't control.

Short term plan - get out. Get some beers, moan to some friends, work out, whatever it is that floats your boat.

Longer term plan - in addition to applying for a ton of other things (plenty of rejections will come and you'll soon be numb to them as another poster said), see below.

Another idea is to pick up a new activity or hobby or join something NEW. Like something you have never ever done or something that you know you truly suck at. You are in college so there will be tons of opportunities. Why? It will be a reminder that you can't succeed in everything and will give you an appreciation that life is multi-dimensional and that there is so much out there.

For example, I did Ikebana (The Japanese art of flower arrangement) once when in Japan. I was awful at it. Zero sense of the geometry or what flowers to pick or any aesthetic sense. But I loved it and would happily do it again. Like regularly. Why? Because I suck at it and that's totally ok. It's humbling and lets me appreciate different talents and skills that I neither have nor have put any time or effort into developing.

Hang in there.

Good Luck

Its hard at first, but getting over the fear of rejection and not caring about rejection itself is a huge component of success in not just your career, but all aspects of life. I'm not in IB, but here's a quick list below of what has happened to me in terms of rejection.

1. Applied to over 200 jobs, landed one internship and another job from it.
2. Offer rescinded due to a start date error by HR (Job needed someone in January, I was still in school until May).
3. Offer rescinded after "failing a psych test" (it was given to show if you were depressed, bipolar, etc. The trends were easy to identify, no way I failed it).
4. Interviews extended and then cancelled before I could have them.
5. Received rejection from a phone interview 5 mins after it ended.
6. Received rejection from an in person interview 20 mins after it ended.
7. Ghosted for second round phone and final round Skype interviews during the times they were supposed to take place.
8. Cancelled on for person interview (didn't happen until I showed up).

Rejection is a part of life. The sooner you come to terms with it, the better off and more successful you will be in the long run.

I got laughed off the phone by a recruiter at a mid-level firm. I'm now at a top tier firm (I'd argue the best).

I got told I have no business applying to a firm I was gunning for (even after having the interview set up by my father who was friends with the CEO)

I got rejected from business school 3 times (some undergrad, some grad)

I made it to final rounds of a lucrative AM opportunity and had every referral open the doors to me. it was to the point where I was looking at apartments and asked my current place the fees for breaking the lease, they stopped returning my calls and I found out I was passed over after being told I had the job.

I got told by a superior that I'd never make it in this business, I now make double what she makes.

rejections are just potholes on the road to victory. keep your chin up kid