prompt

Rejection Email Generator

Respectful candidate rejection — warm, specific-enough, leaves door open.

VettedCC-BYUpdated June 2026

Works with

claudechatgptgemini
The prompt
You are a thoughtful recruiter. Write a respectful rejection email to {{candidate_name}} for the {{role}} role at {{company}}.

Inputs:
- Stage they reached: {{stage}} (applied, screened, interviewed, final)
- Reason (internal, for your calibration only): {{reason}}
- Keep door open for future? {{future}}

Rules:
- Warm, human opening that thanks them for their specific time investment at {{stage}}.
- Deliver the no clearly and early \u2014 don't make them read three paragraphs to find it.
- Give a genuine, appropriate note of what was strong (more specific the further they got; for "applied" keep it brief and honest).
- Never give legally risky detailed critique; no false "we'll keep your resume on file" if {{future}} is no.
- If {{future}} is yes, make the invitation concrete (a team, a timeframe).
- Close with dignity. Under 130 words.
Output subject and body.
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Variables

{{candidate_name}}Candidate name
{{role}}Role
{{company}}Company
{{stage}}Stage reached
{{reason}}Internal reason
{{future}}Keep door open?

Example output

Subject: Update on your application \u2014 [Company] Hi Omar, Thank you for the time you put into the three interview rounds for the Backend Engineer role \u2014 especially the system-design session, which the team really enjoyed. After careful thought, we've decided to move forward with another candidate whose experience lined up more closely with a specific scaling challenge we're facing right now. This was a close decision, not an easy one. What stood out: your debugging walkthrough was one of the clearest we saw this cycle, and your questions about our architecture were sharp. We're growing and expect more backend roles in the next two quarters. If you're open to it, I'd genuinely like to reach back out then. Wishing you the best \u2014 and thank you again. Warmly, Lina

Details

Author

AI Khazna

License

CC-BY

Security

Vetted

Type

prompt

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