The concept of a “Failure Resume” originated from Stanford Professor Johannes Haushofer, who shared his “CV of Failures” to highlight the often overlooked setbacks and rejections in a successful career. This template allows you to record your own failures and learnings.
Job Rejections
- Job Title, Company, Date: Brief description of the job and the reason for rejection.
- Job Title, Company, Date: Brief description of the job and the reason for rejection.
Unsuccessful Projects
- Project Title, Date: Brief description of the project and why it was unsuccessful.
- Project Title, Date: Brief description of the project and why it was unsuccessful.
Rejected Proposals or Applications
- Proposal/Application Title, Date: Brief description of the proposal/application and why it was rejected.
- Proposal/Application Title, Date: Brief description of the proposal/application and why it was rejected.
Academic Failures
- Entry to Hills Road Sixth Form College, 26th March 2021: Applied to my dream sixth form and got completely rejected here. No idea why, maybe I simply lived too far away or maybe I wasn’t academic enough. Either way, this was my first taste of failure/rejection (even though it actually ended up in my favour, as I went to Abbeygate Sixth Form College instead).
- Entry to University of Oxford, 2nd December 2022: Applied to my dream university and, again, got completely rejected here. This time I at least new it was because of my MAT score (which was an outstanding 100) .
Other Failures
- Driving Test, 21st March 2023: Tried, failed. Although I disagree with the result, it still stands.
Remember, every failure brings with it a lesson to learn and an opportunity for growth.