your advise on rejection letters please

nimbo

it would be nice as a job seeker to know why i wasn't short listed - TBH i would love to even get rejections, sometimes i just feel that my CV's just get lost in the wonders of the world wide web.... i do look at the adverts and try to provide each thing that i have been asked to...

however like it has been said - i wouldn't feel comfortable discussing salary before interview. and if i did give a figure i would then be shooting my self in the foot, if the job description was terrible and at interview x number of extra tasks were mentioned i'd be stuck. also if i was being interviewed by someone who seemed like a knob head i would ask for more money due to the suffering i would have to endure (that is if i were to get offered a job haha).

had a friend who kept going back to work for the same guy, as he had designed the software package that the vile man sold, and he ended up getting paid 2.5 times as much is advance as one of his major gripes is that pay day got later and later in the month.

bluenoseam

To be fair I would be tempted to show them up by addressing all applicants (if possible, I don't know how many you've had!) PERSONALLY, with an individually written letter either inviting them to interview or addressing the reasons behind them not getting an interview - atleast then not only will you have been polite in informing them, they also have good, constructive criticism with which to build on. Asking for current/last job's wage isn't exactly uncommon (or atleast for the jobs I'm applying for) and well, asking for a notice period is infact probably one of the better requests to make within a job advert - saves you giving someone a conditional offer only for them to turn round and say "oh sorry, I need to give current employer 3 months notice according to my contract".

These are just as I see it though - or perhaps I'm already (after 3 of them) starting to get a bit sick of e-mails from "recruitment manager" stating "we won't be taking your application any further" when that's really no more use to man or beast than them saying nothing at all! (fortunately I'm intelligent enough to understand I really would suck in a bookies, have no management experience & know nothing of the jewlery business - so those 3 e-mails really didn't need to say anything)

mlz1413

bluenoseam wrote: »

.addressing the reasons behind them not getting an interview - atleast then not only will you have been polite in informing them, they also have good, constructive criticism with which to build on.

this is how I'd hope extra info would be viewed and would potentially help them in their job search.

mlz1413

Sambucus_Nigra wrote: »

If you give salary details and potential start date in your ad, then you automatically filter out those that won't meet your requirements.

eg Salary circa £25k, and expected start date 1st August. Interviews will be held on 15th June @ [insert location] and travel expenses will not be reimbursed.

The above implies one month's notice if the job is offered within a few days of interview - and the start date can be renegotiated if someone excellent comes along that you want but who needs extra time to get out of a contract.

ETA: your comments look a bit picky - you are after a person not an automaton.

thanks for this its brilliant feedback.

with ref to your ETA its priecsely because we're after a person and not a machine that the ability to teach is so important. Also I assume a CV and covering letter are someones best effort and so get disappointed when covering letters are so poor.

Sambucus_Nigra

mlz1413 wrote: »

thanks for this its brilliant feedback.

with ref to your ETA its priecsely because we're after a person and not a machine that the ability to teach is so important. Also I assume a CV and covering letter are someones best effort and so get disappointed when covering letters are so poor.

Ok - don't take this the wrong way but your questions are asking people to p1ss in the wind and then getting annoyed when they p1ss in the wrong direction or refuse to p1ss at all.

Asking people preferred salary - when you have not given an estimated starting salary - what do you want people to say? £50k - £12k? Who knows? Nobody knows what your salary boundaries are so the reason people don't answer it is because it's left blank in the first place. If they aim too high, then they assume they are out - if they aim too low then they can be selling themselves short and if they don't add it at all they get binned. Hardly fair. It's not about being able to teach people it's about blindfolding them and punishing them when they can't see what you are getting at. I never ever apply for jobs without an estimated salary in the job description as it's a waste of my time. At the very least I'll call and ask. If you don't know in advance what you are expecting to pay then don't waste my time!

And as I said before, notice periods can be flexible.

The answer that you want people with the ability to teach has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with answering the 2 questions that you ask for in your covering letter. I have no idea why you would think this.

SurreyBear

I think the OP is right to use the rejection letter to provide at least some feedback. I rejection letter where they have made an effort to personalise it makes the rejection that bit easier. I completely agree with the OP - if candidates don't supply the required information (for whatever reason) then they can't complain when they don't progress through the process.

alisonmeyers

The problem with asking about salary and starting dates is also odd because so many people look at the benefits package. Not salary.

My sister once went for an interview for a job she was desperate to get - it was paying a good 5 or 6 grand above her salary at the time. Not insignificant - and she got offered the job. Irony of ironies, she ended up having to turn the job down because what they hadn't told her at the telephone interview, 1st interview and left until the end of the 2nd one was that it was at an office the other side of the city, not the one closest to home (higher parking charges, an extra 45mins if she bussed it)... plus she'd be cutting down from her current holidays (earnt through service) back down to the legal minimum again (28 ish)... and lose the option to flexi time and an enhanced maternity package.

So... for that six grand she'd lose:
Easy commute (significant chunk of time per day) compared to her current role
Easy parking compared to her current role
Enhanced maternity leave (not useful at the time, but she used it 2 years later)
4 or 5 extra holidays per year
Flexible working

... so you can see with that example why someone's salary expectations isn't the only thing that you should be judging by if you want to know "if" you can afford them. It's not even the main thing!

And anyway, isn't that what market rates are for? Look at your competiters - if you're out of line by a large amount, you should either be boasting about it upfront (look at us, competative salary to keep talent!) or keeping it quiet (most likely underpaying your employees). Unless you're in such a specific niche that employees have no idea if they're underpaid or overpaid (unlikely in the age of the internet).

Salary is a relatively poor indicator of whether you can afford someone or not.

mlz1413

Ok final question - what words would you use to be constructive to the candidate who applied with the below???
Hi
can you please have a look at my Cv for above role

The postion applied for is a managment role.

Sambucus_Nigra

mlz1413 wrote: »

Ok final question - what words would you use to be constructive to the candidate who applied with the below???
Hi
can you please have a look at my Cv for above role

The postion applied for is a managment role.

Does the CV fit the role?

Are you just trying to use the letter on it's own as a recruitment tool or are you trying to get the best person for the role?

mlz1413

No idea didn't read it due to the position needs someone who can write.

I use the CV with the covering letter as recruitment tools, anyone can get a professionally written CV as that service is widely available. The covering letter is more likely to be written by the candidate and this letter (I use that word loosely) is poor.