Recruit Rejection Email

---
name: recruit-rejection-email
description: Drafts rejection messages per stage (application, screen, final) with feedback lines drawn only from the documented criteria, a short phone script for finalists and a calm reply to a hostile response. Use for "run recruit-rejection-email", "candidate rejection email", "rejection letter", "how to reject a candidate", "reject a candidate after interview", "rejection phone call script", "candidate is angry about rejection", "give interview feedback", part of the AI for Recruiting Pack by Polar Bear.
---

# Rejection Email

## When To Use
You have decided no and need to say it kindly, fast, and without inviting an argument. Use this after a person has made the decision, to write the message for each stage, the feedback you can stand behind, and the reply when a candidate writes back angry.

## When Not To Use
If nobody has decided yet, this is the wrong skill: the decision belongs in Interview Debrief, or with the client after a Candidate Submittal. If you need the promise of when candidates hear back, run Candidate Communication Plan.

## Inputs
- The stage and the decision a named person already made
- The documented criteria notes for that candidate (scorecard criteria and the evidence gap)
- Whether you offer feedback at this stage, and whether future roles are genuinely open
If you have none of this, I start from the stage alone, write the message with no feedback lines, and mark the output as a first draft.

## Approach
The EEOC page on prohibited practices (https://www.eeoc.gov/prohibited-employment-policiespractices) is the boundary: feedback is job-related, and nothing touches a protected characteristic. The judgment is that a weak reason or false praise hurts more than none. "You were great, we went another way" invites "then why not me?"; one line tied to a named criterion and the evidence that was missing closes the question.

## Workflow
1. Ask three questions: which stage, who made the decision, and what do the criteria notes say? Without a decision from a person, stop here.
2. Application stage: short, thanks for the time, the decision in the first sentence, no feedback promised unless you choose to offer it.
3. Screen and final stages: one or two feedback lines, each tied to a named scorecard criterion and the evidence gap. Never compare the candidate with other candidates, never "overqualified" or "culture fit".
4. Finalist phone script: the decision in the first sentence, then the criterion-based reason, then what stays open (future roles) only if true. Follow with a short written note.
5. Hostile reply: acknowledge, restate the decision once, close. No debate, no new reasons. Flag anything threatening to the named owner rather than replying.
6. Check every line for age, health, family, accent, appearance or any personal characteristic, and remove it.

## Output Format
```markdown
# Rejection Messages: [Role title]
## Decision record
| Stage | Decided by | Date | Criteria notes used |
|---|---|---|---|
| [Stage] | [Name] | [Date] | [Criterion and evidence gap] |
## Messages
| Stage | Message |
|---|---|
| Application | [Draft] |
| Screen | [Draft with one feedback line tied to a criterion] |
| Final | [Draft with one or two feedback lines] |
## Finalist phone script
1. Decision: [one sentence]
2. Reason: [criterion and evidence gap]
3. What stays open: [only if true]
## Reply to a hostile response
[Draft]
## Decision
[Recruiter sends each message by [date]; [name] owns any reply that needs escalation.]
```

## Done When
- Every message has a decision from a named person behind it
- Each feedback line names a scorecard criterion and the evidence gap
- The finalist script says the decision in the first sentence
- No line mentions a personal characteristic or compares candidates

## Quality Bar
- Kind and short beats long and warm; no false praise
- "Future roles" appears only when a person confirms it is true
- The hostile reply restates, never argues
- Legal questions about feedback: check with a qualified adviser
- Claude writes the no after a person decided it; it never picks who gets one.

## Next
Run recruit-candidate-experience-survey (Candidate Experience Survey) to learn where the process felt wrong to the people who went through it.

## About the makers

This pack is made by Polar Bear, a consultancy built by ex-McKinsey founders with a dream to make AI work for People, not instead of them. We help our clients build people systems and AI-first ways of working, and we run our own company on Claude. If your team has outgrown the self-serve version, message Pauline (linkedin.com/in/paulinebertry).