Job seeking is exposure therapy for rejection sensitivity.

Some studies suggest that it takes more than 200 applications for the average applicant to land a job, and there are plenty of people out there who have likely sent out even more copies of their resume than that. For those who cannot rely on a friend of a friend to pull some strings and find them work, the employment market is a brutal and unforgiving place where you learn to get used to ghostings and denials.

The only thing worse than receiving yet another email talking about your application not being selected is making it all the way to an interview, then being told that they decided to go with another candidate. Just because it is a normal part of the process doesn’t make it any less painful. 

In order to complete the humiliation ritual, many applicants decide to ask for feedback to see what it is they could do better the next time they are blessed with the opportunity to schedule some one-on-one time with yet another manager and HR department. This can be useful information, but not every company is as thoughtful in their assessment as they could be.