Clearly Explain The Reasons Behind Your Decision
During the one on one meeting, dont just tell the internal candidate what you have decided.
You should also tell them the reasons behind the decision. With internal candidates, they are already working for your organization, therefore you already know that they are a good culture fit for the organization.
Therefore, if they have been passed over for an open position, the reason behind the decision is probably something to do with their experience.
Therefore, you should take this as a moment to provide the employee with honest feedback that not only makes sense to them, but feedback that will also help them get better.
For instance, if the employee lacked a skill that was necessary for the position they had applied for, let them know.
If another candidate was picked because they were better suited for the position, explain why this candidate was the better fit.
You want to make sure that the internal candidate clearly understands why they did not get picked for the position.
When explaining the reason behind the decision, resist the temptation to give a false or misleading reason for your decision, even if you feel doing so will cushion the employee from the impact of the news you are sharing.
Giving misleading information could even leave you vulnerable to a legal complaint of employee discrimination.
Another ting to keep in mind is that you should not turn the meeting into a performance review.
Make It Short And Sweet
No one wants to read a novel about why they arent getting a job. Keep your rejection letter short and sweet. One to two paragraphs that include all of the critical information will suffice. Let them know that they wont be moving forward, that you appreciated their time, add any additional information that you feel is necessary, and then move on. If they reach back out for more information, try to keep that quick and concise as well.
Let The Candidate Know Asap
Many hiring managers wait until the end of the hiring process before they notify unsuccessful candidates. Some even wait until their new hire has started work. This is just disrespectful.
Your candidate may be delaying applying for other roles or even turning down offers in the hope of securing the gig at your company. Once you have made your decision, let the applicant know. Put them out of their misery as quickly as possible. Respect other peoples time and they are more likely to respect yours.
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Ask Them Feedback Regarding Your Recruitment Process
Candidates, even the rejected ones, can give you a lot of feedback about your hiring process. They can tell you which areas they found difficulty in and how you can improve on those.
Asking for feedback gives the impression that you still value their opinion even if youre not hiring them. The impression he or she takes away may affect other potential candidates for your jobs. Candidates do talk and often, like birds, flock together to pursue an employer of choice.
Sample Rejection Letters How To Tell A Candidate They Were Not Selected
If youre still wondering how to tell a candidate they were not selected, then take a look at this sample rejection letter from
As you can see, it begins with thanking the candidate for applying, followed by the decision to not go forward with their application. Next, the template mentions the team being impressed with the candidates skills and background, which seems a bit too generic. Instead, personalize it by including more specifics. For instance, if you evaluated your candidate with a skills assessment test, mention that they scored 60%, with the threshold for the role at 80%. Its quite simple if the applicant doesnt know how to improve in the future, you might demotivate them or even make them feel offended.
Source: Unsplash
What about phone calls?
While you can find job rejection phone call scripts online, our advice for turning down a candidate on the phone would be to keep the conversation personal and natural. Make sure to provide them with the reasons for your decision and any feedback they can act upon to improve their skills. If you follow a script word-for-word, the candidates will be able to tell. As a result, you might make them feel insignificant an emotion you certainly dont want to evoke!
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Deliver The Bad News With An Explanation
The next step is the hard part where you want to spit out the bad news, but then again, it doesnt have to be as wrong as it feels.
Instead of saying You are not a good fit for our company, try to provide a satisfying explanation and identify your candidates strength.
According to LinkedIn research, talent is 4 times more likely to consider your company for a future opportunity when you offer them constructive feedback.
Turning Down Job Applicants The Right Way
It is one of the hardest parts of any supervisors or recruiters job having to reject a job applicant. In reality, it can be hard to let a candidate down easily, but there are a few steps you can take to soften the blow. Try keeping the following tips in mind the next time you have to reject a candidate.
Quickly Inform the Candidate
Everyone has faced the anxiety that accompanies having to find a new job, and after a good interview, most jobseekers can be found waiting by the phone. As soon as you know that you dont want to hire a candidate, notify them via email or over the phone. The longer a candidate waits, the more time they tend to spend worrying. By notifying them quickly, you can remove much of this anxiety.
Get to the Point
When informing the candidate of your decision, get directly to the point. Avoid long, drawn-out conversations, and never attempt to justify your decision in any way. Simply state you decided to go in another direction or the other candidate had more qualifications. End the conversation by informing the applicant that if any other positions that match their qualifications become available, they will be notified at once.
Follow the Rejection Up With a Nice Gesture
Rejection can be hard to take, and there is very little you can do to ease this pain for a candidate. However, you can follow up a rejection with a nice gesture. Consider doing the following for a rejected candidate:
Provide the number of another recruiter.
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Rejecting A Candidate Over The Phone
Many recruiters use phone calls to inform their candidates that were not selected for the specific job position. However, such phone calls have their pros and cons.
One of the biggest advantages is definitely that the recruiter can use his voice to soften the negative outcome this conversation is going to have. Make sure your candidates hear that you are considerate and thoughtful as much as you can.
Be sure they will appreciate you taking the time to explain them all the reasons why they didnt get that job, but keep in mind that the absence of visual presentation is still creating a distance between you and your candidate.
How Long Does It Take To Know If You Got The Job After An Interview
IT MAY TAKE SEVERAL WEEKS TO GET AN OFFER The average amount of time from interview to offer for new college grads is 24.5 days. FOLLOW UP THE RIGHT WAY Send a thank-you note within 24 hours and a polite follow-up 10 to 14 days later. DONT PUT ALL YOUR EGGS IN ONE BASKET: Continue interviewing and job searching.
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Dont Leave Them Hanging
If you think about it, youve probably dealt with situations where you felt your communication was going into a black hole in the center of the earth. Like a request to a Help Desk that goes unanswered. Like a callback from your doctor about results on your series of tests. Like entering a contest and never hearing the winners announced.
If an applicant has spent time interviewing for an open position, they deserve to know your decision. You dont have to defend your decision. You dont even have to reveal it. But at least close the door on the applicants wait. Leaving them in limbo for three months to learn that youve decided not to fill the position comes across as cruel.
Ask For Insights On Your Process
Just like theyre curious about what could have gone better, you should be too. Ask people that run through your process what they liked and didnt like. Ask them what felt awkward or if there was anything that you could have improved. By asking for insights, you show them that you value their experience, but you also get the opportunity to hear different perspectives on how you could improve your interview process.
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When Employers Notify Applicants
Employers dont always provide applicants with the courtesy of letting them know where they stand in the hiring process:
- Some employers let every candidate know the status of their application.
- Some companies notify applicants who havent been accepted for an interview, while others only contact candidates they wish to discuss the job with.
- Some employers dont even notify applicants who interview that they werent selected for a second interview or the job.
- Other companies may send rejection letters to applicants who are not selected for a position after the interview process is complete.
You may not receive a letter directly after your interview, if the organization notifies applicants.
Many employers wait until they have hired someone for the job before notifying the other candidates.
Thats because they may want to give the applicant pool another look if their leading candidate rejects their job offer.
Rejecting Applicants Over The Phone
The way a business rejects job applicants can affect its reputation and ability to recruit the best candidates in future. Handling rejected applicants correctly also minimizes liability and the likelihood of being sued. Whereas large companies might be tempted to send standard rejection letters simply because of the high volume of applicants they receive, small businesses — with a smaller applicant pool — can provide a more personal touch by delivering the bad news over the phone.
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Rejecting A Candidate Using A Video
When you first think about it, recording videos can seem complicated. But with the right video emailing software, you can actually save time, add a personal touch and have better control over your recipients feedback.
Video brings thoughtfulness, simplicity and creativity into the recruitment process and this is exactly what recruiters need, especially in the last phase of the recruitment process and in cases when you need to tell candidates that they didn’t get the job.
Sending a video email to your candidates that didnt get the job will make this situation a little bit easier for them as he will get the feeling that you truly appreciate their effort.
Second Sample Rejection Letter After Application
Note that, at this phase of your hiring process, applicants want to hear anything that you have to say. If they are not going to receive further consideration or an interview, they deserve to know.
Your communication with your candidates is crucial in maintaining your reputation as an employer of choice. You do not want prospective employees bad-mouthing you all over the social media sphere to their friends and relatives.
You want them to perceive you as an employer that holds gracious, kind, and professional conversations with your applicants at every stage of your hiring process. This will help you compete for the best talent in the years to come.
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How To Reject Candidates Gracefully
Its not news to most recruiters that theres merit in rejecting a candidate in a graceful manner so they leave the interaction with no hard feelings. However, even though they know this, this crucial interaction gets bungled more times than not. I gave it some thought and realized that its often because of these two reasons: They either think theyre doing the best they can or they believe theres no gracious way of doing it.
This blog is a practical attempt to rethink and make subtle changes to areas in the recruitment process that can have a positive influence on a rejected candidates experience.
Give An Honest Feedback On Why They Were Not Hired
It would be helpful for candidates to know the reasons behind their rejection. Let them know if they lack the technical knowledge needed, so that they have a chance to improve on their deficiencies.
Giving them a generic rejection email is very impersonal and may even put candidates off from applying to your company ever again.
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Job Applicants Make Decisions About Your Company Based On How You Treat Them While It May Be Easiest To End Communication With All Applicants Once Youve Made Your Selection Its Certainly Not The Wisest Choice Ending Contact After The Interview Translates To: We Dont Care About You And Who Wants To Work For A Company That Doesnt Care
Its hard enough being rejected, but receiving a standard form letter meant for the masses just adds insult to injury.
Starting with one of these rejection letter templates makes personalization easier. During the interview, take notes on all of your applicants. Write down successes or strengths that catch your attention. If you dont end up hiring them, at least youll have personalized content to include in this part of the process.
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Who Exactly Is An Internal Candidate
Before we start discussing the best approach to communicate rejection to internal candidates, lets take a minute to understand who exactly internal candidates are.
An internal candidate is basically a job seeker who applies for an open position within the organization they are already working for.
The open position could be in another office, another department, or another branch, but provided that the open position is within the same organization where a candidate is already employed, then they are an internal candidate.
For instance, lets assume that one of the guys in the marketing department has been undertaking an IT course and therefore applies for an open position in the IT department.
Such a person is an internal candidate.
Similarly, if someone from the accounting department wants to try their hand at marketing and therefore applies for an open position in the marketing department, they are considered an internal candidate.
Its good to note, however, that an internal candidate does not only refer to someone who is only interested in switching to a different department.
Sometimes, an employee might be interested in taking up greater responsibilities within the company.
For instance, if an employee has been working as a procurement assistant with the organization, and then an opening comes up for a senior procurement executive within the same company, such an employee might decide to apply for this position.
Connect On Social Media
Consider connecting with interviewees on professional networking sites if other roles become available. Because you’ve already interviewed the person, you have valuable insight into their strengths and skills as opposed to candidates you’ve never met before. This makes it easy for you to send out a friendly message, letting them know of the new position. By maintaining a positive relationship with interviewees after you turned them down, you’re showing your level of professionalism.
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Candidate Rejection Emails For Every Stage Of The Application Process
Want to professionally, thoughtfully, and empathetically reject job applicants? The following are different types of rejection email templates for each stage of the interview process. These will assist you to turn down job applicants at various stages in the process, whether when they are not called to interview or rejected following an interview.
Itâs crucial you donât skip or delay this step or fall into the busyness trap and use it as an excuse to fail to treat your job candidates with respect. You owe your job candidates graceful and timely communicated rejections, no matter at what stage they are screened out.
Use these sample rejection templates as a guide, but they should come with a safety precaution: âHandle with care.â Thereâs always the risk of sounding hollow and like a bot when you use âone-size-fits-allâ templates. Opt for messages that mirror your companyâs employer brand tone and style, and are similar to human face-to-face conversations.
Additionally, candidates that progress interviews and commit a significant amount of time to the process, priority should always be given to rejection by a courtesy phone call first. But if time and competing schedules are not on your side, we have also included an email template you can use.
Sending rejection emails to candidates is an integral part of the hiring process. Signup for free to Occupopâs all-in-one recruiting software for better candidate experience.
Prepare But Dont Procrastinate
Having said that you need to hold an in-person meeting with the employee to let them know about your decision, there is one thing you should keep in mind.
Never wing it!
Before the meeting, take some time to plan for it.
Heres the thing about the human brain. Whenever you are in a situation where you have to pass a negative message to someone, your brain usually enters fight or flight mode.
It wants you to get done with it as soon as possible, because it is an uncomfortable situation.
In such a state, it is very easy to forget about the emotions of the other person and end up passing the message in a manner that does nothing to help the other person cope with your message.
To avoid this, take some time before the meeting and think critically about what you want to say to the employee, and how exactly you are going to say it.
If possible, write down what you are going to say and run it by the HR department or a colleague of yours to make sure that you dont end up saying something inappropriate.
You should also spend some time practicing how you will say it during the meeting with the employee. This will make you feel more confident when its time to break the news to the employee.
That said, dont procrastinate calling the employee for the one on one meeting.
The more you wait before delivering the news, the more the likelihood that the news might leak before you get the chance to inform the employee.
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