Ashley Duong: Professional Failure: Why It’s Okay (and Necessary)
When you first arrive at SCU, you’re met with countless opportunities to explore. Some of the most common college advice you might receive is to join clubs that interest you or pursue organizations that align with your career goals. However, what people often fail to mention is that the barrier to entry can be higher than expected. One organization might only accept 15 new members, with an extremely competitive recruitment process. You might run for a leadership position in a student club you’re involved in, only to lose the election. These rejections may seem small, but they can bring feelings of shame and embarrassment. It’s easy to feel like a failure for not making the cut, but these setbacks are more common than you think. If anything, they’re just a preview of the kind of failure you will continue to experience throughout your professional career.
Another major source of frustration and failure students often face in their early professional development is the internship and job search. Nowadays, you might find yourself submitting dozens of applications to companies, only to get ghosted by recruiters, compete with hundreds of other applicants, or go through multiple rounds of interviews just to get rejected. It doesn’t help when it seems like your fellow classmates have it all together. But the reality is that the job and internship search is tough for everyone. You’re going to face rejection – sometimes due to factors outside your control. None of your classmates are going to brag about how many times they’ve been turned down by a company, even though nearly all of them have experienced it. It’s okay to feel frustrated or discouraged. Failure is an unavoidable part of the job search, yet it’s also the one experience most people don’t share.
The biggest source of professional failure, however, comes once you’ve secured a job or internship. You might find yourself on a team with limited responsibilities or projects. You might accept a role thinking it aligns perfectly with your interests, only to realize it doesn’t. You might pour hours into preparing for a big work presentation, only to stumble in front of your superiors. Or maybe you make a major mistake on an assignment and have to own up to it in front of your coworkers.
Ultimately, failure is something you will encounter at every stage of your career. While it can feel embarrassing or discouraging at the moment, the biggest lesson lies in how you grow from it. Overcoming rejection and learning from mistakes are what pave the way to success. The most important takeaway? Professional failure is not just okay—it’s necessary for long-term growth and achievement.