Your company is hiring and you are the one to lead the process. For the first time you’ll realize that hiring can be fun and it can be tiring at the same time. Dealing with all the candidates every day can drain you out of energy. And when it comes to breaking the bad news to them, it is crucial for you to be wise with words.
That is how you maintain professionalism in your organisation and also make it easy for the candidate to accept the news well. But are you totally confident about that? Do you know how exactly to deal with situations like this? Are you sure of the right words?
Well, even if there is slightest of the confusion, we are here with some tips that’ll help you. So, you won’t ever have to wonder again on “How to tell someone they didn’t get the Job”.
How does it matter?
Well, conversations can lead to arguments and we all know that. These arguments can be excruciating and might eat up a lot of your precious time as well. Also, it might get rude at times. You as the hiring person wouldn’t want to let that happen.
To prevent that, you need to know what transforms a conversation into an argument.
And breaking it down to you, it’s just the words. You pick the wrong words, you land into an argument. You choose the right words, you pass smooth.
Hiring goes around the same way. There is no bad way of revealing a good news to anyone. No matter what you say, if it’s true, a good news will be a good news. And if you have to tell someone that they didn’t get the job, you will have to play with words. Otherwise you know conversations can lead to arguments.
So, how to actually do it? What is the perfect way of telling someone that they didn’t get the job? Well, you will learn that in the sections that follow.
1. Avoid Arguments
As we discussed above not being able to choose the right words can land you into an argument. You wouldn’t want that, would you?
And then the worst thing about that will be that you might not even be the one to have rejected the candidate. And so you won’t even be able to change anything.
The thing is that you know that this conversation will be carried out only after the final decision of not hiring the concerned candidate would have been made. Provided that, there is nothing that can be done in the favour of them. They need to know this thing beforehand.
Making it clear that you have no authority over this decision and there is nothing that can be done about it will send out a clear message. That will result in a more focused and clear conversation.
2. Positive Approach
The next thing is how you say it. To be honest nobody really likes to hear negative feedback. It’s just hard to swallow. Although, you would have met candidates who would have taken rejection in a good way by working over the areas that they lack in, the bummer is ‘not everyone does that’.
And the news of rejection is the one which is negative in all forms. The best you can do is make the right choice of words and then make the right use of those. For example, while telling a candidate that they didn’t get the job, instead of saying:
“The hiring manager isn’t really convinced by your ability to deal with such situations.”
You can say
“The chosen candidate has an impressive record of dealing with situations like these.”
This apparently small difference will ease out the conversation to a considerable extent. You will be able to observe that.
3. How To Better Yourself
To the candidates who you reject, try to be more than just a recruiter who didn’t hire them. Try to add value with your words. Breaking the rejection down to a candidate might seem to focus on their negatives. What you can do is try to balance that out.
Talk about what they did the best at. Tell them the areas which they are better than others at and suggest them to sharpen the skills where they might be lacking. Continue this conversation in a tone that they can believe in you advising them for a better future. This will be a good way of conveying your wishes for their future even when your company didn’t hire them.
Also, this will leave an impression of good professionalism for your brand.
4. Be prepared for the worst
Apart from everything else, the first thing you need to know and accept is that no matter how hard you try to be diplomatic and to make the conversation go good, there will be times when it just goes out of hand. We’ve all had those times. You can do your best, but can’t control how someone takes rejection, right?
The best way to deal with this is take this as a blessing in disguise. If a candidate starts arguing over something, that automatically gives you a reason not to pick them. This totally will make it easier for you.
And talking about whatever they can say, there is one thing about every profession. Criticism has to be taken with grace. That is how you be better and keep growing.
Final words
Telling someone they didn’t get the job can be one of the most difficult things to do as a Recruiting manager. You have to be calm and think of the best words that you can come up with. Then using those words in the best way so the person can swallow it with ease is what makes it more complex.
But then all of us have to go through this at some point in time. And the key to successfully revealing the rejection to a candidate is to be wise with words. Although, it might not be that easy, keeping the above mentioned tips in mind will always help your purpose.
Laurie