How do I properly answer a rejection email?

Question

I have recently applied for a job and I have received an email telling me that they had found someone already (so the problem was not my application, but the timing). Things like this happen, you have to expect it, but now I am wondering: how should I respond? I have written something but what is a no-no in this case? In other words, what can I say and what should I not say?

I'm obviously already excluding things like profanity or things like "it's your loss!", I am not talking about such things. In my case the answer is going to be absolutely positive and I have neither reason nor intention to express negative feelings.

For example, could I write that I might be available for similar positions in the same company or only for that specific one? If the second might be too restrictive (in general), the other one might make me look like "anything will do" which won't give a good impression.

Answer 1

As they rejected your application (no matter the reason), it will not be very productive to ask for another position within the company, but you still can keep the open door for future opportunities. You just have to formally allow them to contact you again in the future, and to state that you are interested in the company, not only in the specific position in the specific time. I would write something like this:

Dear ...,

Thank you for letting me know. Feel free to keep my resume and contact me in the future, in case your company is looking for the skills I have, and I'll keep an eye on your openings too. Let's keep in touch.

Kind regards,
name

Answer 2

As someone who has done hiring (and started with a pile of over 500 resumes), hiring managers and HR do not want you to send them any emails after you have been turned down for a position. This kind of email is basically wasting their time and shows you in a negative light. This type of thing is more likely to get you put on a list of annoying people we never want to hire than it is to help you in the future.

Answer 3

I'm not sure that replying at all would be constructive unless you are trying to elicit more information about why you were rejected (missing skills, too expensive, etc.).

A lot of companies will have a policy on whether they consider failed candidates for future roles and usually stick to these quite rigidly.

Also for a large company the HR department will be busy and probably won't really read your e-mail.

Answer 4

Not so fast, Booba! If HR rejected you, then that means nothing. HR is basically a speedbump. (Also note that the reason they told you they aren't hiring you isn't always the reason. I've been fed the same line and noticed the position was still posted on the company's website weeks later.)

What you can do is what Nick Corcodilos ("Ask the Headhunter") suggests: find the hiring manager and contact him or her directly:

Be brief. Have something compelling to offer in terms of your abilities. But don't just ask for an interview or suggest that you should be interviewed. Prove that you are worth meeting. How? That's up to you, my friend. If you can't figure it out, you should not make the call. Your presentation must be compelling, because I don't believe in wasting any manager's time. If you're not compelling, then our buddies in HR were right to reject you.

Read the whole thing.

Answer 5

The only instance I see as worthy of responding to a rejection email is if you have a prior relationship with the company representative outside of the interviewing process.

I have to disagree with the selected answer's example email as it comes off aggressive, and forcing the relationship to continue when the company has already made a decision against hiring you. As said already, if they see a potential with you, they'll hold onto your resume. You can usually re-apply to the same position at a later date in the future, usually 6 months or a year.

Answer 6

For anyone who stumbles across this post in the future as I have.

Coming from a recruitment background it has been my experience that any candidate or agency who attempts to bypass recruitment and go straight to the hiring manager will be looked upon in a negative light (with many agencies being basically being put on a do not use list for continuously doing this).

Hiring Managers often bring recruiters candidates who they would like to hire because they're a friend of a friend or an old work colleague and unfortunately it is rare that these people are the right fit for the role or company. Due to this, recruiters are often very sceptical of any candidate who has not bothered to come through the correct channels.

You may have been rejected in the earlier stages of the recruitment process by HR / Recruitment because the role requires a specific amount of experience in years etc. Perhaps there have been other candidates who have the skills and experience to match yours but can also offer other skills or expertise that would complement the role and the team.

Or perhaps in the case of BryanH you may have spoken to the company in a similar style to his second response and come off as rude, condescending and even slightly up yourself. It’s never nice to refer to someone as a ‘drone’ simply because you were not hired or had a bad experience. HR people work very hard to get the right person for the right role and that job is often made a lot harder because of people with that kind of attitude. Most hiring managers do not appreciated being contacted directly by candidates (especially those who have already been rejected) as they tend not to go away once they get a name and a number.

If you receive what is likely to be an automatic reply (as it sounds like OPs response was) then there is no reason to email back unless you would like more information or feedback regarding why you weren’t successful (but keep in mind the reply may come from an unmonitored system). If you have already been through part of the recruitment process such as interviews and receive a phone call or a direct email from the recruiter then once again it is fine to query what could have been done to improve your application or interview techniques and perhaps even thank the recruiter for their time (as OP was looking to do).

It is not always looked upon as spam and honestly when you get a lot of angry and bitter rejected candidates (who proceed to call the hiring managers or anyone in the company and keep pushing their applications or those who send back something like your loss) those who are actually polite, professional and respectful do tend to stay in a recruiters mind when other roles open up as those are the kind of employees companies are generally looking for, not someone who is going to insult staff members and fail to follow proper procedures (because if you are not willing to follow the process to get a role, then how do we know you would follow processes and procedures within the role?)