If you are turned down for a job, the way you handle the rejection could affect the rest of your job search. If the interviewer tells you that you had been one of the top choices but they picked another candidate, there are things you can do that can encourage them to call you as soon as another similar job opens.

        Whatever you do, don’t get angry if you are turned down for a job.

        “We have had people that when we sent them an e-mail saying, Thank you but we chose someone else, they came back with an e-mail with profanities,” says Kristin Carpenter, director of human resources for San Diego-based Garden Fresh Restaurants. “Or they write, ‘You guys are a bunch of losers, and you made the wrong choice and you should have hired me.”

        Garden Fresh owns 111 Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes restaurants.

        The way you respond is important.

        “If you come across in a hostile way, how are you going to react to a guest who did not like their food, or you’re in a rush and you’ve got people out the door?” Carpenter says.

        Follow up their rejection with a polite, professional sounding thank-you note.

        “I don’t think it would be inappropriate to say, ‘Thank you so much for your consideration, please keep me in mind when another similar position becomes available,’” she says. “They’ll say, Oh, you are still interested.”

        Remind them you are still interested, but don’t be a pest.

        “There is a fine line for that,” Carpenter says. “I think it’s good to keep your name there, especially if it’s an organization you love and you tell them, This is a great company, I’ve wanted to work for you for some time. It keeps your name in the recruiter’s inbox.”

        But don’t contact them too often.

        “You do not e-mail them every five minutes,” says Jennifer Shaw, partner at the law firm Shaw Valenza LLP. “Wait 60 days, and then try to send them something of interest, like a great article you read about them.”

        Don’t expect the interviewer to tell you they will keep your résumé on file or that they will contact you if something comes up. The law firm, which has offices in Sacramento, Calif., and San Francisco, advises employer clients not to say that, because it sounds like an agreement.

        “There are some legal issues with doing that,” she says. “They don’t want to be seen as creating expectations.”

        Instead, touch base every few months. Research the employer’s website again, and see if a similar job opens. Contact the recruiter you spoke with last time.

        “Tell them, ‘I saw you posted a similar position, and I wonder if you could reactivate my résumé,’” Carpenter says. “Or just ask that recruiter, ‘Would you like me to resubmit?’”

        Otherwise, she says, your résumé could get lost in a huge applicant tracking system.

        If you did send a profanity-laced letter or behaved badly when you didn’t get the job, forget about applying at the same place again.

                      “We have had circumstances where they reapply several years later,” she says. “They think the recruiter won’t remember, but those stand out.”

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