Hiring manager wrote an 'honest rejection' email, only for the candidate's response to leave him dumbfounded
What started as a five-minute letter had a big impact on the receiver
Most job applicants are used to receiving the same automated rejection email after days of waiting — usually saying the company has decided to move forward with other candidates whose skills align better with the role. Instead of sending that standard template, Reddit user u/fotunades6057 decided to go the unconventional route and personally write an email to an applicant they rejected.
In a post on March 20, they shared how they briefly explained why the applicant was not chosen for the job, gave her credit where it was due, and told her she would find another opportunity to learn and grow professionally. They did not put much thought into it until they received a response from the applicant.
Sent a candidate an actual rejection email explaining why. She wrote back to thank me and I didn't know what to say.
by u/fotunades6057 in InterviewsHell
The applicant thanked the hiring manager for the rejection email and said that "in three years of job hunting, she had never once gotten a rejection that actually told her anything useful." The hiring manager was dumbstruck for a moment, not knowing how to respond to the applicant because they felt the email was not a big deal. What started as a five-minute letter had a big impact on the receiver. "I wrote a few honest sentences. That's it," they confessed.
The applicant's response made the hiring manager contemplate, and they said, "That part got to me a little. Not in a bad way." Being on the other side of the job-hunting world, the applicant's mail opened the hiring manager's eyes. It made them realize what it was like for candidates to receive several rejection emails in a day, not getting any feedback that would help them improve in any way.
They concluded their post by urging other hiring managers to do a little better and make a small difference. They wrote, "At what point did a basic honest email become something people are grateful for. We can do better than this."
Ghosting is becoming quite common in today's world, not just from employers but also from job seekers. Indeed conducted a survey where 500 applicants and 500 employers were taken into consideration to understand the ghosting trend in 2020. The results revealed that 77% of job seekers were ghosted by their potential employers.
Andrew Seamon also conducted a LinkedIn poll to see how many people have been ghosted by their potential employers after being interviewed. Out of 2,502 votes, 93% voted that they had been ghosted, and the remaining 7% said the opposite.
Several people have commented on the post, appreciating the hiring manager for adding a touch of humanity to an otherwise formal and impersonal process. u/IshaB00 wrote, "In my experience, the humanity in the post‑interview process is almost nonexistent." u/Striking-Fig-5419 had two different experiences during the hiring process. They shared, "I applied for two jobs last year. One internally and one externally. I got neither. The internal job process was awfully handled with terrible feedback/processes. The external job application was run by someone who gave great feedback (which I agreed with), and I left feeling 10 feet tall. It means a lot to people. Applying for jobs is not fun."
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