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Comment by dijit | Hacker News Reader

I've hired people before, and usually when it comes time to send rejection emails it can be very hard.

If someone clearly isn't right for the job, you owe it to them to mention why- I'm an engineer, I work in absolutes and "Culture fit" or something so wishy-washy doesn't roll well off my fingers.

But how do you tell people that they lack basic knowledge or experience in certain areas without sounding bitchy or attacking.

Even worse is the ones that interviewed well, or showed significant competence.. yet were not as strong as another candidate.

I agree it's wrong to send nothing- but it can be hard to formulate a pleasant email.. especially if you've interviewed many people. (10-15 at my last employment, I was replacing myself and had limited time to document/check everything).

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How about the generic but at least semi-informative

"We received your application as [JOBTITLE] and thank you for your interest in our company. After careful review of the applications for this position, we regret to inform you that we are considering other candidates which match the skills and qualifications of this position more closely. We will keep your application for the next 2 months should the position reopen, if you wish to oppose this please click this link."

That said I completely oppose OP's (satirical) template. If you want news, grab a phone and just make the call. If you can't get an answer after a reasonable time and an active research from your side, is it really a place you want to work at?

This; I have generally been able to get a response by calling the HR or recruiting person with whom I first made contact.

>But how do you tell people that they lack basic knowledge or experience in certain areas without sounding bitchy or attacking.

It frustrates me that you see it this way because it means when I give direct criticism to individuals I'm expected to bring in line via performance reviews, they get upset and take it personally. It also frustrates me because I'm surrounded by people who refuse to give me direct criticism of my work for fear that I will take it personally. Meanwhile, I'm trying to develop professionally...

A solution to that might be some unofficial group that can critique others without having control of their job and/or code review.

I play a lot of competitive games and it is hard to give criticism in a positive way that doesn't make people freak out nowadays.

Here are some of my thoughts. If the person doesn't know enough about something tell them something like: I really appreciate your enthusiasm and interest in the job and would love to hire you in the future. Right now though, we have more candidates with more experience in x, y, z. Here are some resources to help you with those areas and I would love to talk to you again once you get more experience in those areas!

If the person isn't the best candidate you could say something like: Thanks for taking the time out to interview and talk to us over here! You are truly a great candidate and would love to hire you in the future once more positions open up. Until then, I recommend you keep building up experience in x, y, z to become the candidate we and everyone else would immediately snatch up!

I believe if you're honest and helpful you'll come off better than a company that never responds or gives a generic response.

If no one knows what they need to do to get a job, how are they going to get better so you'd want to hire them?

>But how do you tell people that they lack basic knowledge or experience in certain areas without sounding bitchy or attacking.

We would have liked to work with you, but unfortunately we do not feel your skills in $AREA_OF_CONCERN are as strong as we require.

Despite this rejection we wish you a happy job hunt and strongly encourage you to apply to $CORP in the future.

If somebody was better, you say that outright.

If the problem is culture fit? Well I really wouldn't write that in an email (too likely to make you come of as an ass, too likely to make you easy to sue if the person was a member of some minority).

"Thank you for your application, unfortunately the position has been filled."

That doesn't say anything that can be misconstrued as discriminatory hiring.

Sadly as an employer you are sometimes rewarded for being considerate with an argumentative or nasty reply.

Can't you just redirect any response to /dev/null? At least that way you have given the candidate an ack and they can move on.

Interesting idea, it seems a bit harsh! I just ignore any negative response - figuring they are showing their true colors and that I made the right choice.

Don't worry about hurting their feelings. Think about helping them become a stronger candidate in the future.

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