I talked with a friend who relayed her experiences in job hunting last year. She had several unpleasant encounters before “the door was slammed in her face”—interviewers profiling her psyche and wondering if she had ADD, expecting quotes from a favorite theorist in her discipline, and commenting that she didn’t have enough experience at one of the Big Five consulting firms.

Knowing this friend, my hunch is it was not about being capable of doing the work. It was about fit. As I said to my friend, “You were looking in the wrong places.”

It struck a chord with her. I added, “These places weren’t ready for you.”

It made me think of another friend—one who had applied for a faculty position at a small liberal arts college. She is a professor of computer science at another university, with a passion for changing the way technology is taught in K-12 schools. Not your typical geek. She pushes the envelope. She’s great at getting funding and doing research. And she wanted to go to a liberal arts college to cross boundaries, and work on both technology and social policy.

When one of the interviewers asked her about the details of a programming class that she had taught at her current university, she knew something was wrong. They later turned her down.

It can happen a lot to renegades—doors slammed shut. It can make renegades question themselves, their abilities. Until they figure out that they are looking in the wrong places.

I remember at my last workplace, attending a leadership class. One of the exercises was about uncovering whether you were in alignment or out of alignment with your organization. I was shocked to find out how out of alignment I was. One month later, I was laid off.

For those renegades who are still smarting from a closed door (or in my case, being shown the door), here’s my advice:

Create allies by hanging out with other renegades. Finding your people, your organization, takes looking in unexpected places. In those unexpected places, you’ll find people who are ready for you, for your ideas and your spirit.