Sending Rejection Letters is a Positive Thing!

I was recently working with a client whose company is struggling with a bad reputation.

At one point I asked them…

-How do you notify job candidates that they will not be moving on in your hiring process?

-Do you send them a rejection letter?

They told me they don’t interact with rejected candidates at all! 

When I asked “Why?”, they explained that…

-They don’t feel they owe anything to the applicants they are not interested in.

-They fear sending a rejection letter will create bad word of mouth about their company.

The funny thing is, that the first line of reasoning has the potential to contribute to the fulfillment of the second.

Here’s why…

It doesn't show respect towards applicants when a company neglects to let them know they haven’t been selected for a position.

This leaves a bad impression and can create bad word of mouth about your company.

However, if applicants do feel respected in the application process by receiving prompt and clear communication throughout all parts of the process, then it is more likely that they will… 

-apply again themselves

-recommend your company

-or at the very least, not have a negative thing to say about your company 

In other words, my client had it backward.

Sending a rejection letter is not more likely to potentially create a bad reputation for your company… not sending a rejection letter is. 

In conclusion, send rejection letters.

Even if an applicant does not get hired, you can provide them with a good experience of not getting hired.

Here are some tips on getting started with implementing rejection letters into your hiring process…

1. Create a couple of standard email templates that you can either save to your work email or your Applicant Tracking System.

2. Be diligent in keeping your applicants organized and tracked so you can easily sort out who was not selected and is not moving on in the process. (An Applicant Tracking System can make this easy and automated for you.)

3. If possible, use a “merge” to be able to email in mass/bulk, or again, chose an Applicant Tracking System that can do that for you.

If you have any questions about sending rejection letters or want to learn more about our Applicant Tracking System, please do not hesitate to reach out!