About Employment Rejection Letters

Employment rejection letters can be devastating to an unemployed person who needs a job. It can be at the very least disappointing to someone who is employed but is looking for employment with someone else. Regardless of the status of the person getting the employment rejection letter, understanding the basics of the formality and the underlying reasons they are sent can be reassuring to the savvy job hunter. An employment rejection letter denies employment, but it is not a good indicator of a job seeker's potential.

Significance

An employment rejection letter is significant, of course, in that it ends the pursuit of a specific position for the job seeker. But many job seekers fail to realize that the significance ends there. The employment rejection letter says nothing about the job seeker's skills, talents, or potential as an employee. The extent of the significance of an employee rejection letter is simply that the application for a particular job at a particular time was deemed by someone impersonally as not being the best match.

Function

The employment rejection letter serves as an official notification that the job seeker is officially denied the position for which the job seeker has applied. It is important for the job seeker to understand that this is an important function for the employer because there are dozens, perhaps hundreds, of job applicants, and the employer needs a system for narrowing down the list of applicants. Therefore the function of the rejection letter is to fill a need for the employer, not to provide an in-depth appraisal of a potential employee's worth.

Types

It's important to realize that an employment rejection letter is almost always an impersonal form letter. The letter might be addressed to the job seeker's name specifically, but this can be done quickly by the employer to dozens of applicants by simply changing the addressee for each letter. If the employment rejection letter does not specifically refer to any of the applicant's traits, then it should be considered a form letter and should not be taken personally.

Misconceptions

Employment rejection letters are often viewed as a rejection of an applicant's talents or worth. Job seekers should understand that employers usually have a large pool of applicants who are deemed qualified for a particular position. The reasons for a rejection letter can be attributed to quirks by the human resource department or the manager. The reasons for rejection letters can be attributed to a reaction to the applicant's use of sentence structure in a resume. It's important for a job seeker to understand that the rejection letter serves the employer to winnow down the multitude of applicants and is not a statement about the job seeker's worth.

Expert Insight

Employment rejection letters are sometimes sent to the most qualified applicant. The successful applicant usually has an inside contact or reference that makes the human resource department satisfied about hiring a particular applicant. Don't take an employment rejection letter personally. Simply move on and send out more employment applications.

Resources

• Examples of employment rejection letters