Cope With 'No,' and You'll Be Closer to 'Yes'

"I save this only for a deal where I put my blood, sweat and tears into it. I allow myself two minutes to be bummed out, whine, slam my fists down, to get my frustration out of my system. And once I get it out, it is in the past because it is not going to help me to dwell on it at all. It is not going to help me get a job to whine for an hour why I didn't get the last one. That negativity, if I hold on to it, would only prevent me from doing well the next time I present myself," she said.

Attitude is key, said Bill Truax, a nationally recognized Cleveland-based sales consultant. "Tell me how valuable worrying is going to be for you. What is it going to do? It's going to interrupt your process of looking for a new job, of networking."

Rather than investing time and emotional capital in dwelling on rejections, he said, job seekers and salespeople should focus on goal setting and goal achievement, as well as prospecting and making cold calls.

"Have everything that you can control working for you. Don't waste a minute of your time on things you can't," he said.

Among the steps that are under your control, he said: seeing enough people and attending networking events.

Debra Benton, a Denver consultant who has been giving sales seminars for executives since 1976, said dwelling on rejection can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

"If you worry and dread about what might happen, it will show all over your face, in your voice and manner. People will see it and give you what you seem to expect," Benton said.

She suggests reviewing the following checklist. If you're guilty of any of these, you will increase your chances of receiving negative reactions, so try to eliminate them from your operating style: procrastination; lack of organization or goals; self-criticism or low self-esteem; perfectionism; blaming other people; difficulty in making decisions.

Finally, she said, being a little thick-skinned on a job hunt can help you cope with the worst.

"Rejection is inevitable in life if you're making an effort and putting yourself out there. Get callused to the fact that not everyone will like you or what you do. Think about it. You don't like everyone and everything others do, either. Take heart in the fact some people don't like the Pope, the U.S. president, Miss America or Big Bird either," Benton said.