The Best Way To Reject a Candidate

Just like your hiring and onboarding processes, how you reject unsuccessful job applicants says a lot about your charity. Managing this well is important not only for the candidate, but also for your brand, reputation and future hiring success. Here are a few tips on how to reject a candidate the right way.

1. Always provide a response 

From a candidate’s perspective, there’s nothing as disheartening during a recruitment process as not hearing back from an employer. Especially if you’ve taken the time to fill out a lengthy application form or spent ages perfecting your cover letter.

Our research shows that not hearing back from employers is a pain point for 54% of candidates when job hunting. And 79% wouldn’t apply to a charity that had previously ignored their application.

That’s why you should always respond to candidates. Even if you reject a candidate during the first sifting stage, be sure to send them a quick email. Acknowledge their application and thank them for their interest. Explain that there were other applicants whose skills and experience were better suited to the role.

Our free applicant tracking system CharityJob Recruiter makes it easier to communicate to all candidates. You can create and personalise email templates for bulk communication, and email them directly from the tool.

2. Don’t keep them waiting

It’s never good practice to keep a candidate waiting too long. Always try to give them a timeframe for when you expect to get back to them and stick to it.

If they’ve reached the final round and they’re your second choice, it’s particularly important not to leave them hanging. Some recruiters like to keep their second choice waiting in the wings until they’ve secured a signed contract from their first choice. If this is your strategy, don’t let the process drag out. It’s unfair on your candidate and it might mean they lose out on another job offer. You also risk missing out on an excellent future employee.

3. Provide constructive feedback 

Feedback should be standard for candidates that have reached interview stage. One reason recruiters don’t provide feedback when rejecting candidates is concern about hurting their feelings. Others simply don’t feel that they can make the time for it.

But the benefits of a good candidate experience—which includes feedback—will help you build your reputation as an employer that values people. It’s also likely to lead to positive comments for your charity on employee review sites like Glassdoor.

A vast majority of candidates greatly appreciate constructive feedback and are more likely to consider other roles in your charity in the future. Also remember that generic and ambiguous feedback could be worse than no feedback at all. So be mindful of the impact of your comments and try to be as specific and objective as possible.

If you’ve spoken to the candidate in person, it’s courteous to offer them feedback on the phone or at least via a personalised email. Explain why they weren’t chosen and ask them if they have any questions. They might also offer you feedback about how the interview went from their perspective, so be sure to take note of this for future reference.

4. Be honest 

When it comes to rejecting candidates, honesty is the best policy. If the candidate failed to convince you that they meet a particular area of competence, tell them. If they didn’t complete a recruitment task to the expected standard, be honest about this too. Most of all, if you have any specific feedback you could give them about their interview preparation or technique, be sure to mention this.

Constructive feedback will give them areas to focus on and help them develop. It’ll stand them in good stead for the future.

Finally, if you feel this role wasn’t quite right for the candidate, but you saw a lot of promise in them, offer to keep in touch. It may be that a suitable role will arise further down the line.

5. Treat them with respect

It’s always worth considering how you would feel being in the candidate’s shoes. We all want to be treated respectfully and to be able to learn from our interview experience. Your feedback will reflect well on you as an employer. So be sure to make the time for it.

Get access to our FREE applicant tracking system, CharityJob Recruiter, when you post a job with us. View applications, shortlist candidates and send bulk replies all in one place.

This post was originally published in 2021. We’ve updated it to ensure relevance and to reflect the current recruitment landscape.