If you are hiring for some new roles, you may be wondering how to let down the candidates who are simply not a good fit or who are not qualified for your role. In this article, we will provide you with several free job rejection letter samples that you can customize for your small business.

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Two Free Job Rejection Letter Samples

Below are two job rejection or interview rejection sample letters. They are both brief (we will explain why in the next section). The main difference is that the second one mentions a specific reason why the candidate wasn’t chosen and keeps the door open for a future relationship. You can customize these samples for your needs, but first read our What to Avoid Putting in an Interview Rejection Letter section. You can also access these letters as a Word Document or PDF.

Job Rejection Letter Sample #1:

Hi Walter,

Thank you for taking the time to speak to me and to interview at our company.

Unfortunately, we will not be moving forward with your candidacy.

Best of luck,

XXX

Job Rejection Letter Sample #2:

Hi Michelle,

Thank you for taking the time to speak to me and to interview at our company.

Unfortunately, ABC Company will not be moving forward with your candidacy. The reasons were mostly around your C++ knowledge on the technical test, and specifically around connectors and their efficiency. We did enjoy talking to you though, and we would like to potentially connect should a more junior role open or in the future when you have more experience.

Best of luck,

XXX

What Needs to be Included in an Interview Rejection Letter?

The best advice when writing a job rejection letter is to keep it simple and to send it within 24-48 hours of the interview (never longer than 72 hours, which is 3 days). It’s typical to send job rejection letters via email, so candidates learn about your decision as soon as possible.

Do the following:

• Address the candidate in a friendly manner
• Tell them you will not be moving forward
• Wish them luck

Optional things you can include in an interview rejection letter are:

• The reason(s) why the candidate wasn’t selected – Include reasons only if you can be specific, as in the second sample letter above. I usually recommend including a reason only if it is a clear skill deficiency (e.g. not enough marketing or technical knowledge). Cultural or personality fits are more delicate issues. For example, saying in a rejection letter that “you just wouldn’t fit in with the team” could be construed as discriminatory if your candidate is in a protected class, like someone over age 40 or a minority. We recommend keeping the letter skill-focused or not mentioning a reason at all.
• Keep the door open – If you’d like to keep in touch or talk about future opportunities, mention that, but only if you mean it. Your business’s hiring needs could change and perhaps a candidate who wasn’t a good fit now could be in 6 months or a year’s time. This is how you build a talent pipeline, which saves time on recruiting and gets you quality hires. And, if candidates have a good experience interviewing, they may also help you to find someone for your open roles in the future and become a referral.

If the candidate contacts you asking for more details, you are under no obligation, legal or moral, to answer that email or phone call. If you can give them specific pointers, then you’re free to do so. For example, you can say, “Theresa, you did not have the client presence we were looking for since you did not shake our hands, nor were you able to make small talk with us. We also found you did not have the consultative sales skills we were looking for based on your answers to the role playing questions.” But you do not have to give the candidate these kinds of details.

If the candidate writes something rude or snarky, take the high road and do not respond. If the candidate writes that they are going to sue you, my best practice would be to not respond and to instead speak to your attorney. Your job rejection letter provides documentation on why you didn’t hire the candidate. Using structured interviews, taking notes during phone screens, and using either an applicant tracking system or recruitment software can also come in handy, since every step you took will be documented.

When Should I Call to Reject a Candidate Instead?

If your gut is telling you to call a candidate instead, it’s probably because the candidate either narrowly lost out to someone else (who has since signed the offer – never reject a top candidate until someone else has signed!) or because you built a rapport with them over several interview rounds. Calling such candidates, instead of emailing them or sending a letter, is often the better choice.

Remember to keep the call:

• Simple – Say why you are calling.
• To the Point – Say what the decision was and why as specifically as possible.
• Keep the Door Open – Only if you want to keep the candidate in your talent pool. If you know they are never going to be a fit, do not say so.

If you get a voicemail, we would recommend that you ask the candidate to call you back so that you can tell them the verdict in a real conversation.

What to Avoid Putting in an Interview Rejection Letter

Here’s what you will want to avoid putting in a job rejection letter:

• Anything personal – Avoid mentioning any personal details, such as the fact that the candidate has 3 kids and it gave you pause on his commitment to the role. Such comments walk a fine line if the candidate falls into protected classes (e.g. gender, race, ethnicity), and you are putting yourself at legal risk.
• Anything to add insult to injury – Saying that someone “was a top candidate until this round” or something similar is not necessary. Unless you have something productive and constructive that will help the candidate in their job search, don’t say anything at all other than the minimum like template #1.
• Anything that, when you read it, you wouldn’t want it written in an email to you – Go by the golden rule and treat the rejected candidate the way you’d want to be treated if you were in their shoes. You would want to know you were no longer a candidate, but you don’t need much more information than that (unless the criticism is constructive). Read the email aloud to help make sure it sounds correct and professional.

How To Document Interview Rejection Letters

If you have an applicant tracking system like Breezy HR or recruiting software, there should be a way in the software that you can send and store these letters.

If you don’t have one of these systems, we recommend tracking when you sent the email wherever you are tracking your open position’s candidates–be it in the notes of an Excel spreadsheet or a Word document. You can also track the exact text if you wish by printing the email and putting it in cloud storage (e.g. Dropbox) or a file on your computer. We recommend labeling these in a straightforward way like, “Marketing Manager, October 2016: Rejected Candidates.”

The Bottom Line

Letting a candidate know they are not a fit is not a fun thing to do, but it is necessary and important to do in a timely manner (no more than 72 hours after their interview). Remember that the person on the other side is waiting for a response, and giving them their rejection email is better than waiting. Let them move on and so can you in your recruitment process.

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