rejections

A reader writes:

I have a question about replying to job applicants who I have no intention of interviewing.

Every time we post a job online, we get dozens of applications, and of course, only a few of them are people I want to call in for an interview. What’s the protocol for replying to the rest? In the past, we’ve always tended to just ignore them, but it seems like it would be more polite to send a note saying “thanks for applying….” — but then, I don’t know how to finish that sentence. We haven’t filled the position or found a better candidate yet, I just know it’s not going to be them! What’s the appropriate thing to say?

Also, what about the “applications” that are very clearly sent in without thought or effort or even recognition of what job they’re applying for? I’m talking about the ones with no cover letter (when our job post explicitly states you must include one) or the ones addressed “Dear Hiring Manager” with no customization or mention of the company name. Frankly, I delete those out of my inbox without hesitation right now — is there any value in holding on to them and sending the standard “no thanks” reply I mention above?

It’s definitely easier if you can write, “Thank you, but we’ve filled the position.” But if you haven’t yet, there’s no need to wait until you do. Here are a couple of different ways that you can word a rejection notice to people when you can’t attribute the rejection to not having an opening anymore:

1. “Thank you for your interest in working with us. We’ve had a tremendous response to our posting and are in the difficult position of having to reject many people like you who undoubtedly have much to offer. However, we very much appreciate your interest and wish you the best of luck in your search.”

2. “Thank you for applying for a position with XYZ Company. Although we won’t be able to move your application forward (or “advance you to an interview,” or however you want to word it), we really appreciate your interest in working with us and wish you the best in your search.”

As for applications that don’t display much thought or effort: I’ve certainly heard people argue that the obligation to respond to those candidates is lower, but I can’t understand why you wouldn’t do it anyway. If you’re using an automated application processing system, you can reject everyone you want to reject with one click, and if you’re doing it manually, you can do it in two seconds by pasting in a form letter and hitting “send.” In fact, it probably takes longer if you’re picking and choosing who you’ll send the notice to and who you won’t. It’s faster to put all your to-be-rejected candidates in one place and then reject them all at once. You can either copy-and-paste the form response or, if you’re especially crafty, you can make the template one of your auto-signatures and then just choose the right one — an amazingly useful misuse of the signature function.

By the way, I wouldn’t hold “dear hiring manager” against anyone, particularly if they’ve written a thoughtful, persuasive cover letter. And if they haven’t, there’s your reason for not being impressed, not the salutation they used.

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It’s hard not to take job rejection personally, especially if you’re sure that the position was perfect for you, and especially if you felt like you did a great interview. But rejection often isn’t even about you at all — often it’s about some factor that you had no control over.

Over at U.S. News & World Report today, I talk about why your job rejection might have had nothing to do with you. You can read it here.

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When you get a job rejection email, do not send a reply offering up your IQ as an argument for reconsidering the decision. This is not compelling.

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Remember the letter-writer in January who was rejected for a job and then told that the employer was compiling a whole document of feedback for him?  I asked him to update us when he finally got the document, and indeed he now has. Here’s his update:

Just wanted to follow up as I’ve finally heard back from the company! They did, in fact, compile a lengthy email with feedback. As it turns out, the principals of this firm volunteer at student portfolio review sessions, so a big portion of the email was content they already had on hand. They covered everything from different types of creative agencies, to recommendations for job searching in a tough economy. Some of this was pretty basic stuff, but there were also things that I was not at all familiar with.

They also included specific comments about my application. Honestly, as much as I appreciate their feedback, some of this was very difficult to read. I know it’s necessary to learn to accept constructive criticism, but wow, they were kind of harsh in their comments. When I first read through the comments, I was quite upset/frustrated. However, once I let things settle, I was very grateful that they were so direct with me as my job search hasn’t been going too well. No sugarcoating, just brutally honest feedback.

They mentioned that I showed a lot of potential, but felt that my qualifications were in the junior-mid level range. (I had originally applied for a position in the mid-senior level range at this company. Turns out I was way under qualified.) Now for the good news. They asked if I would be interested in freelance consulting for a few projects and have also brought up the possibility of an late spring/early summer internship. This internship could lead to something more permanent. I’m really excited about these opportunities!

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A reader writes:

I’ve been looking for a position in the creative industry. My application generally consists of a resume, cover letter, “teaser” images, and a link to my portfolio website. An agency I would love to work for informed me that they’ve decided not to move on to the interview phase with me. Their email included the typical “we’ll keep your information on file for future opportunities.” They also offered to send feedback regarding my application. I’d love to find where I can improve and expressed my interest in receiving their feedback.

It’s been about a month, and they haven’t sent me anything yet. Just a string of emails (all initiated by them) along the lines of “Sorry, we haven’t had a chance to send you our thoughts, but we’re still busy compiling all our notes for you into a document.” Honestly, I was just expecting a few sentences, not an entire document! It just seems odd that a firm that wasn’t interested in moving forward with me is going through all this trouble. Could this mean they’re reconsidering me for the position?

I have no idea what’s going on here — this is very strange. As I was reading your message, I thought you were going to complain that they hadn’t sent you the promised feedback yet, and I was going to tell you to let it go because sometimes these offers are made and then end up falling through the cracks. (Which I’m not defending, but if it happens, you’ve got to just let it go.)

But then I got to the end of your letter and discovered that that’s not your issue at all. Your issue is that they’re implying that they’re creating some sort of detailed feedback document for you, which is really unusual. And maybe incredibly kind of them too. I don’t know whether it indicates that they’re considering you for a position (either the original one or something else), or whether they think you’re really promising and could be a strong candidate for them in a year or two with some feedback now, or whether they’re for some reason in the business of giving people who they never intend to hire detailed feedback on the side. Or, hell, maybe they’re just going to send you a paragraph, and they haven’t gotten around to writing it up yet, and their choice of words inadvertently implied it would be more than that.

All you can do is wait and see what they end up sending you. Please let us know once you find out, because this is an intriguing mystery that I want an answer to.

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A reader writes:

It’s been 3 weeks since I had my first interview with a company. I’ve tried umpteen times to contact the hiring manager and HR manager (both of whom interviewed me). I’ve only left one message with the HR manager. They are still advertising for the postition. I’m 99.9999% sure I won’t get a second interview.

I’d like to close the loop. Do I…
Send an email thanking them for the interview opportunity, should something not work out… etc.?
Keep calling til I get a voice and get officially rejected?
Move on?

Don’t close the loop.

It’s certainly possible that they have indeed taken you out of the running and are just rudely not bothering to tell you (which is very, very common and very, very callous). But it’s also perfectly possible that you’re still a viable candidate. Hiring often takes a lot longer than candidates think it will. Three weeks isn’t actually that long in the world of hiring. They have lots of other things demanding their attention.

And if you are still a candidate and you send an email like the one you described, you’re going to sound like you’re prone to jumping to premature conclusions, or self-defeatist, or taking yourself out of consideration.  There’s no point in doing that.

You also shouldn’t keep calling. That’s annoying. Their behavior is annoying too, of course — they should return your damn message — but calling “umpteen times” is way too aggressive. Even if you’re not leaving messages, their phones may show that you’ve been calling. So stop that.  When you call, leave a message (“This is Joe Smith, I remain really interested in the X position I interviewed for, and I hoped to find out your timeline for getting back to candidates”) and be done with it. And do it once, twice at most. You can’t force them to get back to you, and in the process of trying, you risk kicking yourself out of the running for being overly aggressive.

Look, I understand you want closure. It’s frustrating to sit around and wonder when you’ll be contacted, or even if you’ll be contacted. It’s stressful and anxiety-producing and nerve-wracking.

So stop. Give yourself closure in your own head. Move on mentally.  You don’t need a formal rejection to do that, and if they get back in touch down the road, it’ll be a nice surprise rather something you’re waiting for and stressing over.

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A reader writes:

I recently applied for a position that I believe I should have gotten based on my past knowledge, skills, abilities, as well as experience. Is there any way one can challenge an employer to their decision?

What exactly do you have in mind?  Insisting that they withdraw their offer to someone else and re-interview you? That’s going to accomplish nothing other than making you look absurd and ensuring that you’re never considered for a job there again.

More to the point, how do you know that you were the best candidate? Why are you so sure that no one else was a stronger candidate than you, particularly in this economy, where employers are flooded with highly qualified candidates for nearly any job they post?

There could be lots of explanations here: Maybe  your qualifications aren’t as strong as you think they are, or maybe something else rubbed the employe the wrong way (sloppy writing, unprofessional demeanor, or, oh I don’t know, maybe you come across as antagonistic). Or maybe you’re an incredibly strong candidate, but so were other people.

Look, getting a job isn’t just about meeting the qualifications.  Tons of candidates are going to meet the qualifications. It’s about being the best match out of all of those people. (And even then, if there are two “best matches” and only one open slot, one of you is getting rejected.)

Sorry for the rant, but this mindset is inexplicable to me.

(Caveat:  Cases where you have evidence that you didn’t get the job due to illegal discrimination are a whole different issue. But there’s no mention of that here, so I’m assuming it’s not the case.)

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A reader writes:

When I receive resumes, I do one of three things within a week: 1) call them to set up an interview; 2) send a postcard that says we were impressed with their credentials and would contact them when a position opens up for which they are qualified (I really truly do this … I look through resumes already received before I start advertising positions), 3) send them a note or email (depending on how they sent their resume) to say that we appreciate their interest in our company, but we have decided to not offer them an interview. Considering how many resumes go out into the black hole at other companies, I feel this is a good way of providing feedback to applicants.

A few weeks ago, I received a resume from a candidate who indicated she was applying for a management position that she said she’d seen advertised that past month. She also indicated her qualifications and interest in applying for another position within the company as a Radiology Technician. We haven’t had a management position posted since December of 2010 (we prefer to promote from within) and she was, to my mind, applying for whatever she might be able to get. Add that to her cover letter being a rambling mess, and I sent her a note indicating we would not be offering her an interview at this time.

Today I received the following email:

“I had sent in my resume and cover letter to apply for the xray tech position you have open about three weeks ago. I am a certified radiology tech with Connecticut license and have worked in the clinical field for over 20 years.

I also was interested in the manager position you had posted for the same location as I have a degree and management experience as well. I received notification that I would not be considered for an interview. I have the qualifications necessary, and I was wondering if you could offer an explanation as to why I am not considered as I see the need(s) is/are still open.”

Do you respond to an email like this? It baffles me. I find it be kind of rude and actually think it makes me thankful that I declined to interview her in the first place.

Sigh. This is not the way that you ask for feedback after being rejected for a job. It sounds entitled and borderline adversarial, and — as happened here — it tends to make the employer glad they didn’t bother to interview you.

In any case, sure, I’d respond. I’d explain that you don’t have a management position open, and that you aren’t considering her for the other position because ___.

Now, let’s discuss what to put in that blank. If you’re not inclined to give her real feedback (and you’re certainly not obligated to), you’d say something like:  ”Because of the large response to our posting, we’ve had to turn away a number of highly-qualified candidates.”  In other words, being qualified doesn’t automatically secure you an interview; there’s a sea of qualified candidates.

But you can also consider giving her genuine, substantive feedback — for instance, that you look to candidates’ cover letters to get a sense of their communication skills and hers didn’t strengthen her candidacy in the way you were seeking. Of course, be prepared for a defensive response, which sometimes happens when you try to give someone feedback, but that’s her problem, not yours.

And job candidates, make sure that your requests for feedback after a rejection don’t sound like this.

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A reader writes:

I work in a small office (there are really just a few of us full-time) and I recently hired someone for a general office position. I’m in an industry that’s really hard to break into so I got a lot of resumes quickly. After I reached a few hundred applicants and had found at least 15-20 that I thought would be great, I had the website take the ad offline and started getting in touch with people. I found someone amazing and she’s started and she’s doing really well, so, yay.

My question is about sending out “rejection” emails to everyone else. I did send emails to anyone I had emailed or spoken with, interviewed, or if they had a personal connection with another staff member or friend and had come to me through them. Don’t want to leave people hanging. But do I need to email everyone else? I hate sending out mass emails, but doing it individually would take forever. I know how much it sucks to be on the other end, but now that I’m thinking about it, I don’t remember getting many of those emails when I was applying for jobs that didn’t go anywhere. Whats the proper response here?

Well, first, I’m glad you’re thinking about this, and I’m glad you’re emailing any candidates you had contact with. Too many employers don’t bother to do even that, even when a candidate has invested hours in their hiring process — taken time off work, maybe bought a new suit, driven several hours to get there or even paid to fly themselves in. Silence when someone has invested time in your company like that is inexcusable; it’s callous and dismissive and lacks any appreciation for the fact that the candidate is anxiously waiting to hear an answer — any answer — and keeps waiting and waiting, long after a decision has been made.

So good for you for not doing that.

However, I’m going to quibble with your statement that contacting all the other applicants would take forever. Create a form letter, and copy and paste it into an email. This should take you literally about two seconds per applicant — hitting Ctrl-V (or whatever key combo you PC users use to paste text), clicking Send, and moving to the next email. At two seconds per applicant, with 200 applicants, that’s less than seven minutes. (And if you have an electronic applicant tracking system, it’s usually even quicker than that.)  This isn’t a theoretical claim; it’s what I do personally, so I’m speaking from experience when I tell how you fast it is. (I’m typically hiring for positions that get 300+ applicants at a time, and every single one of those people gets an email back; it’s truly not time-consuming.)

So given how very, very quick and easy it is to do this, you should do it — both because it’s a nice thing to do and because it will reflect well on your company. Sure, plenty of employers don’t bother to … but plenty of employers also schedule phone interviews with candidates and then never call, force candidates to fill out invasive and unnecessary hour-long applications, and do all sorts of other rude things that you presumably wouldn’t do. Don’t compare yourself to the rude employers; compare yourself to the great ones and strive to hit that same bar.

You may think candidates don’t care that much if they ever get a response to their application, but many of them do — especially the ones who took time to write a cover letter just for your opening and are still hoping they might hear from you. As the letters I get from readers make painfully clear, many of them are wondering what the silence means — does it mean they’re out of the running, or might they still be able to hope they’ll get a call at some point? Don’t leave them wondering.

It is a crappy, cold job market out there. In under 10 minutes, you can warm it up slightly for your 200 candidates — 200 people who offered to help your company meet its needs, and some of whom are still thinking about your job posting and hoping they’ll hear from you.

Send the emails.

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