The Scarlet NO

A good friend of mine was no offered at their firm and I have no idea what to say to them. Although I have been positive and encouraged them to stay optimistic I can't think of any good advice to give. I can only imagine how terrible it must be to have to do OCIP all over again in a market that is even more competitive than the one we faced as 2Ls. The first time was bad enough, but how does one successfully go into a new set of interviews with the scarlet “no” anchored around their neck?

I have heard elsewhere that it might make sense to either pursue a clerkship or try to argue that the no offer had more to do with geographic preference than work product. Still, these options don’t seem very promising. Any advice on what type of advice I can give? I guess at this point all I can do is be a good listener.