Dear Liz,
I had a job interview for my dream job on Friday of last week. The interview went really well.
It is a firm where I really want to work. The interview was with a small firm of three staff and the boss, "Richard," brought the whole staff into the interview because he wanted everyone to be included in the decision.
The place I am currently working offers little to no recognition for staff and very poor communication. I was amazed and refreshed at the way he included his staff. The interview was a conversation that flowed very smoothly and I felt I would have fit in with the staff very well.
I sent handwritten thank you notes to everyone who interviewed me on Monday. Today I received an email saying:
Good morning Samantha,
Thank you for taking the time to meet with our team about the available position at our office.
After serious consideration, we ended up moving forward with another candidate, but we'd like to thank you for talking to our team and giving us the opportunity to learn about your skills and accomplishments.
We would like to keep your resume on file in the event another position becomes available or the selected candidate doesn't work out.
We wish you good luck with your job search and professional future endeavors.
Sincerely,
Richard
I still want to work there very much. I know I need to reply to this email but I am not sure how. How do I respond to a rejection letter, professionally, so I do not ruin any chances of working there in the future?
Thank you and I appreciate any help you can offer,
Samantha
Dear Samantha,
It is not necessary or expected for unsuccessful job candidates to reply to rejection letters. Most candidates don't reply to "no thanks" messages. They just say to themselves "Oh well! That's fine -- obviously that company was not the right employer for me, at least not at this moment in time!" and they carry on with their job search.
However, if you want to reply to Richard you can write something like this:
Dear Richard,
Thanks for your message, and for the opportunity to chat with you and your team last Friday. It was wonderful to meet you and your colleagues. The energy around your vision is palpable. You've assembled a tremendous crew!
All the best to you in 2018 and beyond -
Yours,
There is no downside to being polite. If you'd like to stay in touch with Richard and his team in case they have additional job openings, a great way to do that is to follow Richard's Twitter account and/or his blog or the company's blog.
Don't send Richard a LinkedIn connection invitation unless you and he spoke about doing that during your interview. However, if there is a third-party recruiter in the mix you can let him or her know that you remain interested in Richard's firm and would love to be considered for future job openings there.
Unfortunately the boilerplate language "We will keep your resume on file in the event another position becomes available" seldom translates to unsuccessful candidates getting a callback down the road. It happens occasionally, but in most cases a company will just run a new job ad and interview a new crop of candidates.
So, if you want to be considered for future opportunities in Richard's firm you'll need to take that responsibility on yourself. You can create customized searches on the major job boards so that if your target companies (Richard's firm and others) post new job openings, you will be alerted.
Let's say Richard has a Twitter account and two months from now, he posts a link to a new job opening that interests you.
You can write to him and say,
Dear Richard,
I hope your day is going well. You and I spoke about a Marketing Assistant opportunity at Acme Explosives in February, along with Susan and Javier from your team.
We had a great talk about fig jam and helicopters [or whatever topics you and the team discussed]. I saw that you have a new job opportunity posted and would love to learn more about that role, if appropriate.
Thanks and have a great day,
Samantha Smith
Even when you have a great interview, don't put all your job-search eggs in one basket.
Don't start to believe that there is one perfect company you simply must work for. There are many other organizations that need help. Some of them might deserve your talents more than Richard's company does.
Never, ever slow down -- much less stop -- your job search activity until the ink is dry on your offer letter -- if then!
All the best to you,
Liz
