About Rejection Letters
Writers, job applicants, artists and inventors may all receive rejection letters after submitting their work or resume to a company or having an interview. Some people may receive dozens, even hundreds, of rejection letters. Although rejection letters are often seen as negative and disappointing, they can also provide valuable information and encourage people to persevere.
Other People Are Reading
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Type
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Due to the large number of submissions they receive, many companies use form letters for rejection. These may include generic statements, such as "does not fit our needs at this time." Some companies, such magazine or book publishers, use a checklist style form letter, which allows them to mark a list of reasons the piece may have been rejected. This gives the writer some feedback while saving the editor valuable time. Occasionally, companies may send a personalized rejection letter with specific feedback, suggestions for improvement, or encouragement to try other companies.
Time Frame
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Some companies send out rejection letters immediately after making a decision, while others may never follow up with applicants who are unsuccessful. Many magazines, book publishers and agents list an approximate time frame in their guidelines for receiving a response. This is only a general estimate, often ranging from a few weeks to several months. Some also give a time frame after which writers can assume the editors are not interested, allowing writers to submit their work elsewhere.
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Significance
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For many people, receiving rejection letters can be disappointing and discouraging. They may take rejection letters as a personal attack on their work or qualifications, or a sign that they will never be hired or published. However, many job applicants receive a number of rejection letters before achieving success, and many well-established authors received rejection letters for works that were eventually published and became famous. For example, George Orwell received a number of rejections for "Animal Farm," and J.K. Rowling's first "Harry Potter" book was initially rejected by 12 publishing houses.
Risk Factors
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Many companies and publishers reject most applications and submissions simply because they only have a limited number of openings, and can only accept a very small percentage of what they receive. They may reject resumes that do not clearly show the skills they are looking for, or writing that does not grab their interest, or lacks a timely topic or outstanding quality. Applicants are also more likely to receive rejection letters if their work is not appropriate for the particular opportunity, of if the application is not directed to the right person within the company.
Expert Insight
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There are many ways for people to deal with rejection letters. In some cases, they may choose to persevere, and simply cross that company off the list and try another opportunity. In other cases, they may decide to revise their work or resume in order to improve the chances of finding a market for it, especially if someone has taken the time to give feedback on a submission. They may also choose to work with an online or in-person critique or support group to help them improve their work, and deal with rejection letters.
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