If you’ve been out job-hunting in the past year, you’ve surely become familiar with denial. Like hand-in-hand, best buddies, Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer familiar.

We’ve been gathering some stats from our unemployed friends (we’ll roll those out in a new post soon), and so far, the ratio of interviews to job offers is simply astounding… in a bad way. We’ve got a ton of talented people running around in their interview suits and getting nothing but sweaty. If business is good anywhere in America right now, it’s in a psychiatrist’s office.

It begs the question: what do you do when you get denied for the job? Can you salvage any part of the opportunity? Should you bang your head against a wall, and if so, does COBRA cover the hospital bill? We’d love to get some input from our readers, but here are 4 tips to get your noggins cooking, because we at UberEmployable believe it ain’t over ’til you get hauled away in cuffs:

  1. Re-submit your resume with different keywords. As you probably know, many companies utilize HR software to narrow down their resume piles. As these software tools often implement keyword searches in order to figure out which resumes to keep and which to chuck, it’s possible that your first application didn’t even make it to a pair of human eyeballs. If you’ve gone several weeks without getting any action on the first submission, try tweaking your resume using different keywords that apply to the job, and perhaps even removing ones that may identify you as over or underqualified.
  2. Request an interview anyway. If you get a call or email stating that your resume was considered and denied, why not ask for an interview anyway? You’re already being told you have zero chance, so your chances won’t get any worse by requesting a short interview or phone call in lieu of a 45-minute sit-down. Granted, you’ll need to spin a pretty marvelous pitch to rekindle a company’s interest in you, but a little self-promotion sometimes goes a long way.
  3. Come back with a lower salary. In any other job market, we would scoff at this notion. But, sad as it is, any job will do for a lot of folks right now. That said, we’re not suggesting you get on your knees and start crossing zeroes off your salary demands. Instead, ask employers to consider a lower base salary paired with an end-of-year bonus, an agreement to a salary review after 90 days, a week extra of vacation, etc. Don’t lay down for them, but get creative enough where you stand out as a candidate who is willing to compromise for the right position at the right company.
  4. Offer to work one day for free. This is a favorite of the UberEmployable crew, as there’s nothing more indicative of employees’ competence than having them actually grind out eight hours with their prospective co-workers. Unfortunately, it’s rare for a company to allow for this scenario. Even though you’re only there for a day (and working pro bono, at that), most businesses would still need to ensure that you’ve signed all the disclaimers, gone through the HR training, passed the requisite employment tests… in other words, several days of work for current employees just to let you work there for one. But… you never know. And perhaps the mere mention of that offer could prove to an interviewer that you’ve got cojones, and you’re not afraid to use them.

Got any other bright ideas? And no, crying into a bag of Cheetos is not a bright idea.