There’s so much compassion around the idea that we can and should send candidate rejection emails, but it gets skipped because we’re all too busy. However, as the market evolves in response to AI, I don’t think you can ignore the “no” candidates any more. Here’s why. 

Rejection is one of those topics that makes most humans uncomfortable, myself included. It doesn’t help that I’m a Type A overachiever raised by a Type A overachiever. Failure simply wasn’t an option. At no point was I given any speeches about “you win some, you lose some” or anything like that. There was only one option: win. 

That did not set me up well for the world of work. Whether you’re interviewing for jobs, working for a company, or working for yourself - failure is inevitable. We all have to fail. However, our endurance for it is really low. Probably because we never talk about failure in the first place. Instead, that conversation is replaced with an internal monologue that just beats ourselves up about what we did wrong each time we don’t have a 100% success rate.

That translates into recruiting, too. Most recruiters aren’t comfortable with rejection or conflict with candidates and it shows up in their work. They avoid tasks like sending candidate rejection emails or making that call to let the runner up know they won’t be getting an offer in favor of ghosting. For many years, there was no consequence to that behavior. Today, I think skipping that step is going to cost you in a world where most people are contractors. 

The Future of Work Is Contractors (And You’ll Need Those Candidates You Rejected) 

There are many hypotheses about how the workforce will be structured. My bet? Automation and AI tools get better at time intensive tasks, then organizations rely on contract hiring for strategy and tools for process execution. We’ve seen some shifts in the market that hint this is already happening. The LinkedIn Future of Recruiting report showed listings for contract jobs jumping 26% in the last two years, outpacing the growth of full-time roles (which grew by 6%). If this is true, that means more contract hiring and fewer full time roles. 

Now, why does that matter if I’m talking about candidate rejection emails? If work evolves in this way, people are not picking one company for 40 hours a week. They’re picking what projects they want to do and who they want to do that work for. It also means recruiters make a lot more hires and that second runner up is now the first contractor you need to call. Do you think these folks will take a call after the recruiter ghosted them? Probably. Let’s be real, the market sucks. 

But your ghosting does create a lasting trust deficit that will cost you when it comes time to close the hire. Your company has already demonstrated that its commitments and communications cannot be fully trusted. Call me crazy, but I think they might remember you couldn’t even be bothered to send a candidate rejection email and ghosted them. Recruiting isn’t one transaction - it never has been. They’ll go elsewhere, buy elsewhere, and refer people to other companies, especially if they made it into the later rounds of the interview process. 

My Candidate Rejection Email Template

Even with that hypothesis in hand, I know why recruiters aren’t eager to send candidate rejection emails because they tell me every time I bring it up. When I ask, most people say they don’t send these for 3 reasons: 

1. They’re too busy. You already saw my data above. The trends in hiring suggest that excuse is going to cost you in the next 5 years. 
2. They are worried about candidates getting mad and firing an email back at them. Here’s the truth. I asked a few recruiter friends who send rejection emails consistently. Every one of them told me the same thing: people were so appreciative and thankful to get any feedback. 
3. They don’t know what to say. 

I can help with that. Here’s what goes into a good candidate rejection email template: 

1. A clear decision. None of that, “it’s not you, it’s me” communication. Be clear. “We are not going to work together,” clear. 
2. Appreciation for their time. 'Cause manners, y’all. 
3. Brief rationale for the decision. Be sure to give them this intel in a way that isn’t generic or too broad to be helpful. For example, it’s not “we are concerned about your work at scale” it’s “we’re specifically looking for candidates who have experience working in X environment and we did not observe that in our interview.” 
4. A closing with an invitation to connect. Build those connections and relationships now, y’all! Invite them to connect. 

It might look a little different each time, but here’s an example: 

Hi [Candidate Name],

Thank you for taking the time to meet with our team and for your interest in the role. After completing our interview process, we have decided not to move forward with your candidacy for this position.

We appreciated the opportunity to learn about your experience. Ultimately, for this role, we were looking for someone with recent experience managing enterprise software implementations across multiple business units. We did not observe enough direct experience in that environment to feel confident that this role would be the best match at this time.

Thank you for the time and effort you invested throughout the process. We enjoyed getting to know you and would welcome the opportunity to stay in touch. Don’t hesitate to send me a connection request on LinkedIn and stay in touch. If a future role aligns more closely with your experience, I would be happy to reconnect. 

Wishing you continued success in your search and career.

Best,

[Recruiter Name]

See? Writing a candidate rejection email just isn’t that hard y’all.