An interview is a set of complicated and tactical questions that evaluates your personality, approach, mindset, and behavioral aspects. It is common for interviewers to accept and reject a candidate on the basis of his or her individual performance in an interview session. Where a joining process is initiated for a successful candidate and is concluded with a joining letter, an unsuccessful candidate is handed over a rejection letter. Though it is not that common, an employer must send rejection letters to the candidates, so as to update them about the present status. This not only enhances the reputation of the organization in the job market but also helps an organization to hire talents at a cheap rate.
Items To Include Compulsorily
A rejection letter might be critical for a candidate and depending upon one’s individual nature, a candidate might interpret it in whatever way one wants to. However, an employer must always send a rejection letter to the candidate as a good and ethical practice. A rejection letter must contain the following elements:
1) Always Mention The Rejection Reason
For an unsuccessful candidate, a rejection letter is almost like a feedback, which must mention the primary reason, that led to his or her rejection. This helps in increasing the reputation of the organization in the job market and enables a rejected candidate to improve upon his or her shortcomings. After all, improvements are the only laws, that enable you to excel and progress forward.
2) Be Humble
It is true that you have found a candidate unworthy of selection. It is also true that you are in possession of some serious talents that make a rejected candidate look second fiddle. But, you just can not mock a candidate. The language of a rejection letter must be humble, respectful, and modest so as to comfort a rejected candidate.
Common Format Of A Rejection Letter
A rejection letter can be divided into various parts, such as:
Part I: Name, Date and Address
- Mention the name, address, and pin code of the recipient of the letter
- Mention date on the most right-hand side
- Mention the salutation
Part II: Subject
This part must inform the content or body of the rejection letter to the unsuccessful candidate in a nutshell or brief. A subject line must be a single line with the usage of a few words. The various ‘subjects’ could be:
- In reference to your interview session
- Status update for your interview with (___mention the name of the company____)
- Final result/Conclusion of your interview session
Part III: Body Of The Rejection Letter
This is the most important section of a rejection letter and must be framed and crafted with due diligence. Writing a rejection letter is tricky as it needs to be serious, logical, and well structured. The body must contain a valid reason for rejecting a candidate from the position. A vague or ambiguous content mentioned in the body would only add to the agony of an unsuccessful candidate. Such an act must be avoided at all costs.
Part IV: Signing Off
A rejection letter must be closed and finished, by praising a candidate for his effort, time, and energy. A thank you note must be mentioned so as to motivate and praise a candidate for his or her genuine efforts.
Five Best Samples
Parts I, II, and IV of a rejection letter are static and do not involve any intellectual ability or intelligence. However, the Part III of a rejection letter tests the writing skills of an employer and must be written after a careful evaluation. The various varieties of Part III of a rejection letter are mentioned hereunder:
Sample Letter I
We appreciate that you took out our precious time for appearing in an interview session with us. It is unfortunate, that we will not be able to have your services at the present moment, due to your lack of experience and technical expertise. We have found suitable candidates for our vacancies and want to test them out at the present moment. We wish you good luck and hope that you will apply and even make it through the interview session, next time.
Sample Letter II
Thanks a lot for trying to becoming a part of our workforce. It was a pleasure to interview you, however, to your disappointment, we will not able to hire you for the position at the present moment, due to the availability of some better talents. The qualifications mentioned by you are far too less, in comparison to the candidates shortlisted for the available vacancies. We really value your candidature and will always consider them for future openings. We wish you the best of luck in all your future endeavors.
Sample Letter III
This is in reference to the interview session, attended by you on (__mention the date of interview____). We want to declare that this time you have not made the final round of selection. The company has got some serious talents for its positions and wishes to go ahead with them. You have an excellent academic record with some valuable work experience but you lack some common certifications, which eventually led to your rejection. I hope, you can learn and improve. We wish you all the best for your future prospects.
Sample Letter IV
We feel proud and express our pleasure, that you reached through the final stages of the interview conducted by us. However, God had different plans, and we are extremely sorry to declare that you have not made it to the merit list. We are in possession of some better and superior candidates, which in our opinion are more suitable and worthy of a job with us. However, continuous improvements and learnings are the only ways, to excel and advance your career. We wish you the best of luck in your future efforts and even encourage you to apply with us in future job openings.
Sample Letter V
We acknowledge and value the efforts undertaken by you in appearing for an interview session with our organization. However, to your dismay, you have not been selected for a position at our institution for the concerned job opening. You almost made it through, however, your interview score was inferior in comparison to the selected candidates. We hope that you will work upon your communication skills and body language with precision on your core knowledge. Looking forward to meeting you soon. Thanks and best of luck for your future career.
References
- https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0049124118799377
- https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=RwcVEAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=Interview+Rejection+Letter+-+Samples+And+Ideas+%5BUpdated+For+2021%5D+&ots=ecaJfMTg2a&sig=wft36y-4GDZXxyHERjQn7PEW21I
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Sandeep Bhandari is the founder of PrepMyCareer.com website.
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