Ronalfy.com — The Personal Website of Ronald Huereca

This post was written as part of Peeve Week 2: Work.

One of my job search pet peeves has to do with job hunting rejection. No one enjoys being rejected again and again, company after company, but there is a certain type of rejection that holds a special place in my heart.

Rejection by Pony Express

Here’s a typical case. You apply to a company for a job. You might get a email confirming reception of your CV but often not. A few months later, a beautifully word-processed letter arrives thanking you for your interest but acknowledging that your candidacy doesn’t meet the company’s present needs. What went wrong?

1. Your skills may have met the company’s needs at the time that you applied, but that’s a foregone conclusion now that someone else has the position.
2. So much time has passed since you submitted your resume that you probably gave up hope and may have even found a job in the meantime. I’ve had a few companies reject me this way in the past, and I was always surprised when the letter appeared in my mailbox, not even knowing that my submission had been looked at.
3. The letter will almost always be some sort of template, impersonal in every way.
4. Businesses should only do things that make business sense. What can a company gain by taking so long to reject you? Even if the mail is automatically-generated, this process still costs money while the chances of leaving a positive impression on you are slim by this point.
5. The icing on the cake is when the rejection letter tells you that your resume will be conserved in the company’s database for future considerations. At this point, it’s likely that you don’t even want to work for them anymore (it does feel as if they’ve been toying with you somewhat).

Companies should just end this practice. I’d rather get a rejection letter that’s sincere but definite, than a letter that’s open-ended and meaningless.

Jacob Share created JobMob to rally job seekers and jobfinders in finding jobs in Israel and all over the world. If you liked this post, subscribe to the JobMob RSS Feed for more real-life job search attitude. While you’re at it, have a laugh on us with some funny job search horror stories.

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