What the best way to tell someone that "you were not hired?"

I have to inform some folks and I was thinking reinforce the positive qualities of the individual and go from there but get off the phone quick.

Any other thoughts?


On the plus side i get to hire someone and i don't have a problem making that call at all :-)
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Just like a Band Aid... The quicker the better!!!

Seriously, don't say how great they interviewed or anything! Just let them know, "I am sorry to inform you; you did not get the job!"

If they have questions point them to Human Resources or your supervisor!



Congrats on your new hire!!! That always feels good!!!:-)
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I'd go with "I'm Ken. I'm very sorry, but you didn't get the job. I hope you'll consider us in the future."
I don't think most people have a problem with aplication rejection, and they appreciate a call. I don't think anyone even expects a callback, although they certainly hope for the courtesy and get upset if it isn't extended to them.
I'd say you've already covered your bases when you pick up the phone. :-)
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I was 'not hired' recently and the hiring manager I think did a great job. He scheduled a meeting on the phone with me, and told me that they had hired someone else for the position, but that he wanted to let me know I was exactly the type of person he wanted in his organization, but I needed some more experience. He offered to let me ghost or help out experienced engineers so that the next time I applied I would have the whole package.

It was an internal application, I have been with the company for 10 years. But in the last two years I have decided to cross over from Network Engineer to Unix Engineer.

I thought it was very classy, and have taken him up on his offer. I have been working on my own time with the Unix, Linux, and Windows guys to get as much experience as I can.
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MOBD already beat me to it. :-)
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Yours added that nice touch of "please consider us in the future"!!!

Sweet!!!:-)

BTW - I know I joke around a lot, but seriously I have been in management for the past 28 years! I have made a ton of mistakes in that time, so I speak from experience!
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When I used to be in the position to hire/fire people a lot of time I would keep it short and sweet and tell them " I just wanted to call and update you on our hiring process. Unfortunately, we decided to go with another candidate but should something else open up and your I would like to contact you to see if you would still be interested in a position with us. I usually use some kind of dialog like this because it ends on a positive note and is not a total let down for the candidates. It's never an easy position to be in to make be the one to either let people down or let people go.
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I like this response best. However, I would use caution in committing to contacting the candidate if another opening materializes. If you truly would like to bring this guy on, I would recommend asking the candidate if you could contact them if another opportunity presents itself. (Some may say it's just semantics but I think choice of words is extremely important here.)
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I think it's great that you are even calling to let them know. In my experience most dont.:-)
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:-)
Where I work they only contact the person hired. They stopped making calls or emails to other candidates years ago.

For what's it worth, I think they made a mistake, and still believe a courtesy call or letter is the right thing to do.

Good Luck.
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I've always gotten the standard , "Thank you for your interest in our company, but we've decided to go with someone else for the position. Best of luck in future endeavors. Sorry you weren't good enough for our high standards...."

Ok maybe I added the last part :-)
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I used to tell people, "Sorry but we selected someone we felt was a better fit to help us achieve our future goals."

But then again, I remember interviewing this one young man for a job with a weekly newspaper. He had just graduated with a degree in journalism I told him we didn't select him because he couldn't type. He couldn't. I sat and watched him type a story with one finger on each hand. He wasn't fast.
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Well the deed is done. Short, sweet and to the point. "All that applied were reveiwed thoroughly and you were not selected but we appreciate your application and interview."

I personally weighed heavy on experience, education, skills and attitude. A good attitude was absolutely mandatory.
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Well done!!!:-)

That's why you're making the big bucks!!!:-)
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