A group of students, including Namibians, recently held a career rejection webinar to enlighten viewers, especially fellow students and those working about ways of navigating through rejection phases, whether perpetrated by a job or university application.

The entire career rejection webinar was tailor-made to those who have found themselves stuck in their careers. 
“For example, those who have found themselves in a place where they ultimately feel a bit stuck in their career, whether it be that they are straight out of high school and have got nothing useful to do or whether you find yourself in a university and you are still searching for job opportunities, internships or whichever or even the person who is a professional currently in, this is for you,” explained host Mavis Elias.
She said sometimes people find themselves in places they are not sure of and feel they need to move elsewhere as they have more to offer.
“Sometimes you go about finding these opportunities, and when you do find them, you find that you find more rejections than you do with actual opportunities,” shared Elias.

Guest speaker Presidential youth advisor Daisry Mathias said it is the human experience to go through rejection, discouragement and to experience the fear and the anxiety that comes from it.
“In government, I am in the space of policy development for young people and we find ourselves in an environment full of constraints at the moment, not only in our country but also on the world stage,” she echoed.

Mathias added there are inherent limitations, because of the agent capacity. 
“We are confronted with a lot of scarcity, but I also think that it’s translated into opportunities,” said Mathias. 
She mentioned that there are principles she would like individuals to remember and walk away with from the session, which includes success.
“Personal success is intentional and it has to be driven by the personal dialogue that you’re having with yourself. Despite the processes and experiences that you have been through and the disappointments, that you have been subjected to, you still have to come to a point where you challenge yourself every single day to try again,” she stated.

Mathias believes the conversations people have with themselves are important and the hope and optimism are equally vital.
“But when you feel that you have done everything that you can and you still not been given an opportunity, your hope starts to wane and when that happens you need to ask yourself what is the motivation and remember why you started,” she pointed out.

She added: “And usually you start because you are working towards a vision. That must be the inner voice that speaks to you, time and time again, and that must be the conversation you are having with yourself every day. Despite the setbacks that you are experiencing, the personal dialogue is so important because it can dislocate your authority and power and that can make you feel dependent.”

Seno Namwandi highlighted the importance of vision boards. “You can make a vision board about the type of achievements that you would like to have so that’s something that I have. I think that is the sequence, you should first have a written plan in a life plan in a skills matrix before you have this vision board otherwise a vision board just becomes something nice to look at,” she advised.

Namwandi said: “You have to balance between being visually motivated and implementing this life plan and get yourself an accountability partner, get a friend or a person who you trust, who will be objective with you and tell them some of the plans that you have in three to five years. Ask them to check in with you.”
- psiririka@nepc.com.na