MightyRecruiterAs any recruiter, hiring manager, or HR generalist will tell you, the writing and sending of applicant rejection letters is a fact of life. Luckily, they’re usually so brief that there’s not much to stress about when it comes time to assemble one.
In a nutshell, an applicant rejection letter informs an applicant that they’re not moving forward in the hiring process for the job they’ve applied for. What this translates to is that they’re not in the running—their chances of getting the job end with the delivery of the letter.
All you need are roughly two brief paragraphs to get the job done right. That’s it. The applicant rejection letter template below has all the necessary parts and can serve as the foundation for crafting your letter.
Application Rejection Letter Template [~250 words]
{Your Business}
{Street Address}
{City, State, and Zip Code}
{Date}
{Applicant’s Name}
{Applicant’s Address}
Re: Your application for {Name of Position}
Dear {Applicant Name},
Thank you so much for your interest in {Company Name} and the position of {Job Title} for which, we’ve received your application.
After a careful review of your credentials, we’ve decided to not proceed any further with your application. We greatly appreciate the time you took to submit an application for consideration, and want to thank you again for your interest in the company and the position.
We wish you the best of luck in your continuing career search!
Sincerely,
{Your Name}
{Your Title}
{Your Company Name}
Want to use this letter?
Conclusion
There’s not a lot of meat on the bones of this applicant rejection letter template, and that’s for a good reason—there doesn’t need to be. The messaging here needs to be to-the-point because the sole goal is to provide the applicant with closure and a clear signal to move on. You have no relationship (typically) with a job applicant, so the message doesn’t have to be hyper-personalized, or contain sincere apologies, or anything like that.
But you do need to be sure you write an applicant rejection letter with a gracious tone. Be tactful with your words, because you’re delivering a message that will disappoint the applicant. Disappointment goes hand-in-hand with rejection; what you don’t want to do with your rejection letter is crush the applicant, or anger them. It’s crucial that the rejected applicant move on with a good impression of your business. Just be as polite as possible with your words and deliver the letter promptly and you’ll be okay.
You’ll notice there’s no room in this applicant rejection letter template to supply information about who else applied for the job, or where they’re at in the process, or whether the company is close to making a hire, etc. This is information that doesn’t concern the applicant. At all. There’s never a place for it in a rejection letter. Remember the sole goal—swift closure.
You might be tempted to play the good Samaritan, and make mention of how you’ll hang on to the applicant’s resume for future reference, or encourage them to throw their hat in the ring for other positions at the company. Avoid doing this. You stand the chance of creating a sense of false hope for the applicant if you go this route. Reconsider this approach, though, if the rejected applicant’s resume aligns perfectly with another job in another department.
Once you generate your own applicant rejection letter template, take it to the folks in legal if you’re unsure about any of its language. It cannot contain anything that could be interpreted as discriminatory or offensive.
Applicant rejection letter templates are lifesavers when you have many applications to process—with set content in place that requires little customization, you’re practically guaranteed to make efficiency gains while accomplishing all of your many candidate acquisition goals.