The “Right” Way to Reject A Candidate??

Y’all. Why are recruiters the way they are??

Alrighty let’s dig in – a recent LinkedIn post had my head spinning. It said (I’m paraphrasing a bit here) that recruiters should ALWAYS reject candidates over email and NEVER by phone or video call.

ALWAYS.

NEVER.

The two most dangerous words in recruiting.

But let’s get back to this idea around rejecting candidates. First of all, we have to acknowledge the very real rule that many companies have – CALL. That’s right. The last several employers I’ve personally worked for had a rule that if someone had gone through a full interview round, they got a CALL with the news (good or bad).

Now unfortunately many of those companies also have no feedback rules… so that call can be a little awkward in spite of our best intentions. Here’s how I do it:

Interview Prep
During this conversation, I let my candidates know two things: 1. I’m not able to provide specific feedback and 2. I will pre-schedule our outcome call if possible OR send them a link to schedule a call once we have a decision. If I’m able to kick off my candidate’s interview day (probably 70-80% of the time) I use those few minutes to schedule our follow up conversation. If I don’t do a kick off, I send an email include my calendar link so candidates can self schedule. It looks like this:

Hi CANDIDATE, thanks so much for taking the time to interview with us! I have an update for you. Here’s a link to my calendar (hyperlinked 15 min time slot) – feel free to schedule whatever works best for you. Otherwise, feel free to text me directly at (number) whenever you’re free for a chat.

I really want my candidates to feel empowered to tell me what works for them, and particularly WHEN works for them – no one should get a “surprise” call especially if it’s’ bad news.

The Call
This is more or less the “script” I follow when having this conversation. It should be an organic, free flowing conversation and candidates should feel comfortable asking questions or sharing any feedback / thoughts they may have about the process or anything else!

Hey Candidate, unfortunately we didn’t get the outcome we had hoped for. While we won’t be moving to an offer on this role, we definitely saw strengths in (positive areas).
(If true/appropriate) We didn’t see enough (strength / scope) in X, but would love to keep in touch for (future role, different role/level).

Obviously every recruiter needs to pick the language, style and verbiage that works best for them AND follows their company policy. This is also a good time to share if there’s a cooling off period, or if/when a candidate should follow up for future opportunities.

Great – so what’s a job seeker to do?

Clarify timing! It’s perfectly acceptable to ask the recruiter WHEN you can expect an answer. If the recruiter doesn’t offer to schedule something, request it yourself! Get confirmation on when you’ll hear back, or confirm yourself when you’ll be following up.

For more thoughts on this, check out the video HERE.