It might not be you
Sometimes the reason you didn't get the call has nothing to do with your talent.
Before landing my previous job (at Concacaf), I applied to hundreds of positions. Hundreds.
Those were still the good years of big networks in sports in the USA. Most of the time, I did not get a single answer. In the few times I got interviews, I was not selected because I needed a visa. In others, I was simply more expensive because they needed to pay a relocation.
Months later, I got to know some of the people who got "my positions" and compared myself with them. Good professionals, but not different than me. They just had an edge I did not have.
The Question That Eats You
How many times have you seen someone get the call you wanted, and you could not understand why?
You are left with the feeling of not being enough. Or in the worst case, you direct your ire to the person who got the game and question how fair the process was.
I have been there. More than once.
But here is what I have learned after watching this pattern repeat itself for over 20 years. In our business, the call often goes to whoever is better placed, not better skilled.
They have the visa you don't have. They are local and cheaper for the production than flying you in. They know the sport better than you. They know somebody that you don't know.
None of that is about your talent. All of it is about positioning.
Find Your Edge
In all these cases, the focus should not be on the other person. The focus should be on finding the edge that gets you hired next time.
If you want to work in a big tournament, you might have more chances if you live closer to where it will happen. If the Rugby World Cup is your target, you will have a better shot if you become the best graphics operator in that sport. If you want to work in golf, you will have more opportunities if you build your network with people who are already in those productions.
This is not about changing who you are. It is about understanding the game and playing it smarter.
It might not be that you lack the skills. It might be that you have not identified the edge that will get you to the stadiums you want to be in.
Keep the Door Open
The other thing I have seen through my career is the importance of how you react when the answer is no.
If you read Edition 143 about not burning your bridges, this is where it connects.
Your reaction to a negative counts. I have seen talented people lose future opportunities not because of their skills, but because of the way they handled rejection. A frustrated message. A public complaint. A passive-aggressive comment to the wrong person.
The ones who keep getting calls are not always the most talented. They are the ones who make it easy for people to call them again.
Keep the door open. It might not have been you this time. It might have been the person crewing the big game who simply preferred somebody else, even without a strong reason. But the way you respond will determine whether you stay on their list or disappear from it.
Your talent gets you considered. Your positioning gets you hired. And your attitude keeps the phone ringing.
If you have ever been passed over for a gig and later understood the real reason, I want to hear that story. Hit reply.
The more honest we are about how this business actually works, the better we all get at navigating it.
Talk soon,
Oscar S.
This is so true and great to be reminded. Often when we get rejected from jobs we take it so personally. But positioning is becoming so important as budgets shrink and the need to be greener as a production and reduce our carbon footprint.