Even though it's no fun being rejected, it's better to find out why you didn't get a gig than to bask in your own devastated wonderment. What exactly could you have done wrong between that first promising interview handshake and the last promising one? Liz Ryan at BusinessWeek online explores the possibilities:

I had a lovely interview with the VP of HR for an advertising agency. Then, nothing. No response of any kind -- just the dawning realization that someone else must have gotten the job.

Later, I learned that the VP had been told that I was 26. No way, he said, she's too young to be an HR director. So we had a nice chat, but I was a noncandidate from the start. I was glad to hear that from a friend who worked at the company. Otherwise, I would have beaten myself up wondering what I did wrong.