How truthful are you in rejection letters?

As I sit here and write out a rejection to a candidate I wonder how truthful can we be or SHOULD we be to them? This particular guy has his own business and planned on keeping it but working for us full time. We got the impression he was just using us for the benefits and income until his side job got up and running. Should we be honest and tell them that? Can we tell them that they've held too many jobs in too few years? How about the ones who showed up dress inappropriately for an interview or their communication was terrible? Tell the guy who's had 5 legal convictions in the last 10 years we just can't do that? That they talked way to much and verbally threw-up over the hiring manager? That there is just no passion in his eyes or speech to convey any enthusiasm at all for this sales job? Would we be doing them a favor or hurting them? Sometimes being vague in saying "you just weren't the right fit" bothers me.

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Permalink Reply by Dorothy on December 1, 2011 at 11:09am

I totally agree with you and don't like being vague in re: to rejections letters. I get feedback from people on my blog who get generic rejection letters and want/need real feedback so they can actually try to improve on their interview presence. I've gotten in the habit of writing a semi "you just weren't the right fit" by customizing the rejection just a little to each candidate. It's time consuming but I think its worth it. I personally don't think every candidate could actually take the real reason why they weren't selected for a job but for the ones who want to know I ask them to contact me. Speaking to them works best for me because I can try to convey that they either didn't seem genuine or they lacked the communication skills that we were looking for. So far this approach has worked out pretty well but again it is time consuming and I try to make sure that I am doing them a favor rather than just hurting them and hopefully better preparing them for their next interview.

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Permalink Reply by Tim Spagnola on December 1, 2011 at 11:15am

I agree with you on this one Dorothy as well. It is a slippery slope and in some instances not the easiest thing to do, but being up front and offering the truth will hopefully better prepare candidate for next go around. On another note- besides "you just weren't the right fit" my pet peeve is "they(we) are going in a different direction'. I hear that one often and really offers no value to the candidate that was passed on.