It& #39;s nice to be able to share good news: I will be a @royalsociety URF with @SussexUni from Nov! https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🥳" title="Partying face" aria-label="Emoji: Partying face">

But I know many people will also be struggling with rejection https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😔" title="Nachdenkliches Gesicht" aria-label="Emoji: Nachdenkliches Gesicht">
I& #39;ve been there too, so I wanted to also share my "CV of failures" https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="📜" title="Schriftrolle" aria-label="Emoji: Schriftrolle"> to help normalise these experiences...
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🧵" title="Thread" aria-label="Emoji: Thread">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="👇" title="Rückhand Zeigefinger nach unten" aria-label="Emoji: Rückhand Zeigefinger nach unten"> https://twitter.com/royalsociety/status/1293539992963289088">https://twitter.com/royalsoci...

This success comes after 3 rejections from similar fellowship applications:
1x Royal Society University Research Fellowship
2x STFC Ernest Rutherford Fellowship
(Each of these previous rejections was really hard to take!)

In the last 2 years I have also applied for 3 other more senior positions and have only gotten to interview once and didn& #39;t get any of the jobs:
2x Lectureships at UK universities
1x CERN Staff (LD)
(All also very hard to take!)

Most people are unaware that as my current contract ends in October I was very close to leaving the field...
So close that I& #39;ve been applying for jobs outside academia. https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😰" title="Gesicht mit offenem Mund und Angstschweiß" aria-label="Emoji: Gesicht mit offenem Mund und Angstschweiß">
This is a significant extra load for day-to-day work and mental wellbeing.

I don& #39;t have any magic advice when it comes to dealing with rejections. It& #39;s just really tough mentally and is physically draining. My (very limited) advice would be:

- 1/3) Try not to take it too personally. I can& #39;t claim to have been very good at this... But it& #39;s important to remember that everyone gets a rejection at some point!

- 2/3) If you are lucky enough to get good feedback try to take it on board. In my case, my successful attempt came after a significant change of direction for my previously rejected proposal - but I know this is very hard and sometimes not possible.

- 3/3) Talk to people! Getting input from several different levels and directions, both from your niche and the wider field is really important to understand these proposals from a wider (reviewer& #39;s) perspective.

And as an endnote: I am well aware that despite the difficulties I& #39;ve had, as a cis white male I& #39;ve had it easy in the grand scheme of things... https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😔" title="Nachdenkliches Gesicht" aria-label="Emoji: Nachdenkliches Gesicht">