There is a lot of pressure on recruiters to find the perfect candidate for their job opening. Yet not every person that applies can succeed in your company and be productive. One way to avoid wasting time interviewing candidates who will inevitably fail is by developing a list of reasons why they should not be hired, like this one. The “how to reject a job candidate via email” process many companies use. This process allows the company to reject candidates without speaking with them. Although it is an unavoidable aspect of an HR manager’s work, rejecting job applicants may be an unpleasant and confronting experience for both the recruiter and the candidate. As a result, many recruiters postpone rejection until the last possible minute, which adds to the candidate’s despair and aggravation. However, it is feasible to cushion the impact of failing applicants, and it all begins with a great candidate experience from the outset. Let’s look at how you may make the process of rejecting job applications more pleasant–or at least less unpleasant–for both sides.
The Simple Parts of Job Candidate Rejection
Although most people find rejecting job applications challenging at first, it becomes simpler after having a tremendous recruiting procedure and a clear job description. That’s because you’ve established clear rules and conveyed them to the applicants. The goal is to treat all candidates with dignity, eliminate prejudice, and maintain open communication channels. Workable, an intelligent recruitment tool can help you reach all of these goals. Workable can not only help you speed your recruiting process, but it can also help you establish a great applicant experience from the beginning. With a customized jobs page builder, you’ll attract high-level prospects, keep lines of communication open with bulk messages to candidates, and maintain their information for future chances. Workable also has a solid knowledge base with rejection templates for every level of the recruiting process, allowing you to write a courteous and balanced rejection letter to each candidate.
Rejecting Job Candidates: The Difficult Parts
When it comes to rejecting job applications, the hardest thing for most people is letting someone down, particularly when a candidate has a lot of promise but isn’t the ideal fit for the position. Another component that many recruiters overlook is informing prospects of their rejection in a timely and personalized manner. This is a time-consuming procedure, but it is necessary for maintaining a great applicant experience, regardless of whether or not they are successful in their application for the vacant position. Finally, many individuals have difficulty being respectfully honest when giving rejection news. It’s a lot simpler to sugarcoat things and make the prospect believe they have a chance in the future than telling them straight up that they aren’t a good match for your firm. These aspects of the rejection procedure don’t have to be so difficult. Today, we’ll go over some of the most important actions you may take to reject job applications gracefully.
Step 1: Inform candidates of their rejection as soon as possible.
Even if it’s to convey bad news, candidates want to hear from you as soon as possible. They may have applied for many other jobs and are waiting to hear back from you before moving on to the next one.
- Rejection of Early-Stage Applicants
Applications will begin pouring in as soon as your open employment position is posted. You’ll quickly see which applications aren’t a good match for the job as you go through them. Typically, these candidates lack crucial, non-negotiable skills or education requirements. If the candidates do not fit the employment criteria as specified in the advertisement, a polite and straightforward rejection email may be issued to them even before the application deadline.
Workable can supply you with an early-stage rejection email template to assist you in crafting the right message, which you can then send in bulk through your Workable portal to rejected applicants.
- Keep in mind the deadlines that have been communicated.
Candidates that advance through the interview process will always inquire about the following stages and when they might expect to hear from you. It’s vital to remember that candidates will be anxiously anticipating an update from you about these deadlines after you’ve conveyed these facts. To prevent wasting their time or delaying the process, it’s critical to contact rejected applicants as near the deadlines as feasible. Notifying rejected applicants as soon as possible that the application will not be continued is a terrific method to demonstrate that you appreciate and respect their time. As a general guideline, regardless of where you are in the recruiting process, you should let them know as soon as you realize you won’t be going further with a candidate.
Step 2: Make Your Communication More Personal
Nothing is more disheartening than getting a stale rejection email or cold phone call when you’re enthused about a new employment opportunity and invested time and effort into the application process. After all, some applicants may be excellent contenders for the job but have been passed over by another candidate. You should soften the rejection with a human touch rather than breaking ties with these applicants.
- Make Your Email More Personal
It’s permissible to reject applicants in writing only if they’re being eliminated early in the process or if you’ve only ever interacted through email. However, instead of “Dear Applicant,” it’s still necessary to address the individual by name. In your message, you should also offer individualized feedback. Explain why the applicant was not chosen. It’s possible that applicants were let go early because the competition was tough or had the non-negotiable experience needed to advance. If a candidate is allowed to go later in the process, it’s critical to provide more thorough yet positive comments on their interview. If you’re unsure where to begin, Workable offers a wealth of tools to assist you in finding the correct words. Workable has supplied an example of a simple post-interview rejection letter.
- Take the phone
It’s critical to contact the applicant if you’ve already spoken with them on the phone or if they made it to the final round of interviews to inform them that they were unsuccessful. This will also allow you to express your gratitude to the applicant for their time and work during the interview. If another job becomes available, you may also ask the applicant whether they’d want to stay in contact through social media or be invited to future events. It’s also a good idea to send an email after this phone contact to hide your tracks in writing. Adding a human touch to your communications with rejected prospects, regardless of how far they advanced in the process, is a critical step toward building a great candidate experience. They are more inclined to apply with your firm again if they had a positive experience.
Step 3: Give your feedback.
Some recruiters will not automatically send feedback to applicants who have been rejected. While it takes time, respectfully assisting applicants in understanding why they were denied is another approach to guarantee they have a pleasant experience with your organization.
- Use criteria that are relevant to the job
It’s critical to keep feedback positive and relevant to the particular post they’ve applied for when giving it. This will assist you in adequately communicating the criticism, but it will also help you avoid legal dangers and prejudice. You may also utilize interview scorecards to transmit particular details about the candidate’s performance during the interview. Make sure to point out some of the positive aspects of the candidate’s application so that the feedback isn’t entirely negative.
- Be concise and clear.
Candidates do not want a hazy explanation for why they were not selected. They want constructive criticism and clear guidance on how to improve in the future. It’s a good idea to condense your comments for each applicant into a single line or paragraph to eliminate any ambiguity. Also, be truthful with the candidate. Don’t offer them false optimism if there’s no possibility they’ll ever work with you again. Let’s just wish them all the best and call it a day.
Workable features loads of built-in tools and templates to help you discover the right words if you’re unsure how to generate concise and compelling feedback.
- Recommend Developmental Skills
Tell top prospects if there are any skills or education options they might pursue to boost their chances of earning a job with you in the future. You’ll win the candidate’s respect and trust by sharing this information with them, and you’ll be able to assist them in improving their job search in the future. When it comes to delivering feedback, prospects will appreciate your assistance and remember your effort to help them better their application to other positions as long as your advice is genuine and helpful. The more positive the candidate’s experience with the application process, the more likely they will contact you for future chances.
Step 4: Request feedback from the candidates
You should accept input from your applicants on the recruiting process in the same way that candidates seek constructive criticism to enhance their professional growth. It’s crucial how you communicate with applicants throughout the hiring process. Regardless of whether the prospect is hired, they should have a positive candidate experience and be eager to apply for future possibilities.
- Make a questionnaire for the candidates.
Put yourself in the applicant’s shoes to better understand and enhance the candidate’s experience. The ideal approach to achieve this is to construct a candidate survey that covers every phase of the application process, from application submission through rejection letter receipt. For example, you may use Workable to generate and distribute a personalized survey to all of your prospects. You may also make additional questionnaires for applicants who have advanced to various levels.
Candidates may complete the survey at their leisure, while Workable collects and reports the data so you can evaluate it and make any required changes to the candidate experience.
- Directly question the candidates.
If you’re on the phone with a rejected applicant and believe you’ve established a good connection with them, you could try to ask for feedback explicitly. Creating a list of questions to ask the applicant ahead of time is an excellent method to guarantee you get input on essential elements of the recruiting process. Remember that the prospect may opt to submit feedback anonymously to avoid jeopardizing their chances of landing a job at your organization in the future. Whether you gather feedback via a survey or directly from applicants, asking for input demonstrates that you care about their thoughts and value what they have to say.
Step 5: Maintain Contact with Unsuccessful Applicants
Maintaining a healthy professional connection with rejected applicants requires concluding in a positive tone. If you want to keep in contact with some of the top prospects for future job vacancies or partnership possibilities, this stage is very critical. You create a pool of talented, passive applicants for future reference by maintaining contact with these people. It doesn’t imply they won’t be the right match in the future just because they weren’t the ideal fit today.
- Workable allows you to send monthly communications.
Workable’s automatic mass email communication isn’t only for the employment process. You may also utilize it to remain in contact with rejected applicants by giving them updates on a monthly or bimonthly basis.
It’s a great approach to keep applicants interested in working with you by keeping them up to speed on business news or inviting them to industry events. The more professional relationships you develop with outstanding applicants, the simpler it will be to attract them in the future.
- Make use of social media.
Another great approach to remain in contact with prior prospects is to use social media sites like LinkedIn or Facebook. It enables a more intimate and practical touch. For example, instead of getting generic corporate news regularly, you may communicate with purpose when they get a new job or remark on work they post. These encounters will help you gain greater trust and rapport with failed prospects, which will make it easier for you to hire them in the future.
Related Tags
- how to tell a candidate they were not selected
- how to reject a job applicant politely
- how to leave a job applicant the phone script
- how to say to an applicant they are not hired examples
- how to go a job application examples