Don’t bullsh*t me during a pandemic, tell me straight away I didn’t get the job
I’ve applied for over 1,500 jobs since June ’20 with a lot of rejections, if they get back at all, and none of them get straight to the point.
They usually go something like this:
Subject: Update on [Job Title] at [Company]
Dear [Name]
Thank you for your application for [Job Title].
We are so grateful that you would consider applying for this role with us from the thousands of other companies.
We are humbled and honoured to have received such a huge number of applications for this position.
We have made the decision to move forwards with candidates who better match the benchmarks for this role.
Thank you for your interest in joining [Company]. We would love to keep hold of your CV for any roles that may be suitable.
We wish you every success in the future.
Regards,
Talent Team
With 1,500+ applications only about 5% actually bothered to write a rejection email in the first place but they all follow the same pattern: Thanks for…; Gratefulness; Humbled at the number of applicants; Actual result; More thanks and we’ll keep your CV; Well wishes.
They won’t even tell you anything in the subject line of the email, I’ve even seen “IMPORTANT UPDATE on your application with [Company]” which gets you excited about being offered an interview.
You know what I’d rather see?
Subject line: “Unsuccessful job application for [Job Title] at [Company]”
Short and sweet, I don’t even have to open the email and read 3 lines of pleasantries designed to mask the fact that the news is bad. When I apply for hundreds of jobs in a week I need quick and easy ways to spot the rejections amongst the fog of other application emails about interviews or Glassdoor recommendations of what I should apply for next.
I don’t need your humbleness, I just want a straight response.
Most employers will be using the same copy and paste responses from before COVID but that’s no excuse to not update it during a time where the job market is a mess and people expect an easy to digest decision.
I want to be able to see it and spend my time applying for more jobs.
I’d rather see an easy to read table showing the status of the application and why I didn’t get further. Surely that’s easy enough to implement?
Am I reaching for the stars here? Or do people really want overly polite and fake rejections?
