I own a small, fast growing company and recently interviewed several qualified people to fill an opening in our marketing group. We recently made a decision on hiring one of the candidates, but now I need to write a very polite, encouraging “Rejection Letter” to the other candidates --in part to spare their feelings, but also b/c we will very likely have other openings in the immediate future. Any ideas on finding a good source (web site, book, etc.) for this type of letter? I will personalize it for each candidate, but would love to start with a form of some sort.
University of Missouri-Columbia has a rejection letter form linked on this page:
http://www.missouri.edu/~hrswww/resources/forms.htm
The letter comes in Word format and seems pretty humane (as humane as a rejection letter can be).
And welcome to the StraightDope!
I am looking for a marketing person in the NYC area commission only though, If any is interested they can email me.
Dave,
What type of marketing? We received over 300 resumes, so I can send you through the ones we interviewed, but it was for a very specific internet marketing job. I also have no idea if any would work for commission-only, as our position was salary + commission.
Let me know - I’ll be happy to try to help. The depressed job market is unfortunate, but makes for some very eager job-seekers!
How To Say It / Choice Words, Phrases, sentences, and paragraphs for every situation. Rosalie Maggio
I have used this book many many times. It is a good book to have in your personal library.
Dear Applicant:
We have read your resume with boundless delight. It is evident that if we were to offer you the position it would be impossible for us to hire any other employees to work with you that would meet your extremely high standard of excellence, and as it is unthinkable that in the next thousand years we shall see your equal we are, to our regret, compelled to forego this opportunity to employ you and beg you a thousand times to overlook our short sightedness and timidity.
Sincerely,
Human Resources
Y’all are just great - I’ve had the most diverse, humorous, expedient & comprehensive answers to all my silly posts --from getting wax out of my favorite rug to movie trivia to this rejection letter. This list is the best on the web by far!
Sorry if glowing complements are breakin’ the rules, but I couldn’t resist.
Dear Mr./Ms. (Applicant’s Name):
Thank you for interviewing with (company name) on (insert interview date). We regret to inform you that the position for which you interviewed is currently filled, but we will keep your resume on file. Please let us know if we can help you in any way.
Thank you again for your time and good luck in your job search.
Sincerely,
(you)
I dunno, throatshot. I don’t like that short-n-sweet rejection letter for this particular application. Since it’s so standard, it implies (to me at least) that the company has no real interest in the applicant. If the company really will have openings in the near future (as per the OP), and really would like to consider applicants for these positions, it seems better to state that in the rejection letter. IMHO only, though, not being an HR type of guy.
Along the lines of jacksen9’s post, there was a book in my old officed called “A Lifetime Encyclopedia of Letters.” It was useful for lots of occasions. For example, when a colleague’s family member dies, you want to send them a letter saying the exact right thing. I imagine this sort of book would have rejection letters.
Dear [candidate],
Thank you very much for your application and giving us your time to be interviewed. I am very sorry to inform you that we have appointed someone else for the position.
We received an unprecedented response to our job advert and the calibre of all candidates was exceptionally high. The few that we selected for interview were all outstanding and it made choosing between them a very difficult task.
We were very impressed with your skills and experience [here you can personalise it, eg “especially in corporate communication/xml programming” etc] and would like to keep your CV on file in case of future job opportunities with our company. We will let you know as and when these occur.
Once again thank you very much for your interest in our company, and we wish you the very best luck in your future career.
Yours sincerely,
[interviewer]
(and for god’s sake don’t spoil it by getting some secretary to “pp” it - have the interviewer/recruiter to sign personally!)
On the other hand, it would be unfair to imply that an opening could happen any day now (unless it could), and give the applicants the hope that they could just wait it out.
Be that as it may, Rejection Letter: Part Two:
Dear Mr./Ms. (Applicant’s Name):
Thank you for interviewing with (company name) on (insert interview date). We regret to inform you that the position for which you interviewed is currently filled, but we will keep your resume on file as we would like to reconsider you for one of the many positions we expect to have soon. Please let us know if we can help you in any way.
Good luck in your job search, and we hope to speak with you again in the near future.
Sincerely,
(you)
P.S. As one who has received over fifty rejection letters in her life, I prefer short and sweet, even if they are personal rejections (as opposed to the usual “Dear Author” rejections I usually get).
istara, excellent rejection letter, but were I a job candidate to receive your letter, two things would make me roll my eyes:
and
The first because it sounds like they’re trying to butter me up. “Here’s a bunch of vague compliments. Don’t hate us.” The second because it’s saying, “Don’t call us, we’ll call you.”
But then again, I’m cynical. 
You actually notify candidates who don’t get the job? How rare and professional! Most employers just ignore all attempts at follow-up from job-seekers who don’t get hired. It’s nice to know that somebody out there gives a damn about being polite.
Dear <looser>,
Man, who would have thought that there are so many <jobtitle> candidates out there looking for a job? And so many highly qualified ones, too! I will give it to you straight, we found one who seems just a bit more closely qualified (as opposed to being necessarily better qualified) to the specific needs of <the company> at this time. We cannot offer you that job.
If you are at all interested, I would like to keep you in mind, on the off chance that we will expand enough to be looking for another <jobtitle> soon enough that you might still be interested. I am filing your application and will call you then, if you wish. Let me know in <how long> if you want to update any information you have already given me.
Sorry that we weren’t at the right place, in time to gain your valuable services!
Still interested,
<Name>
<Jobtitle>
Tris
You may want to get permission from the applicants before forwarding on their resumes. I know I’d be a little pissed if my resume started floating around to companies to whom I did not authorize its release.
Some of those applicants may have jobs already and are looking to improve or get out. Perhaps they even have jobs with the very company which is soliciting the resumes from you. Could create some awkward/unfortunate situations.
il topo - Good point. I would’ve contacted the people before sending them on as a courtesy, but I didn’t think of this potential conflict of interest.
Anyway, I contacted Dave off the msg boards and we determined his objectives for mktg people are significantly different from mine, so we won’t be pursuing this…
Thanks!
** il Topo **
Good point, We are emailing back and forth and I have realized that concern.