US Company Apologises After Sending This One-Word Rejection Letter

Rejection letters are not easy for anybody. Whether it is to a job candidate telling him that he didn't get the position or to a start-up founder that he might not get any funding- these are the emails most of us dread reading. However, the correct language and comfort can make it easier for the candidate to accept the news. Recently, a user took shared that he received a one-word job rejection from a company. The job applicant shared the North Carolina-based company's one-word rejection on Reddit after receiving it. Since then, the company has expressed regret for the abrupt email and blamed a system error for the entire incident.

The job applicant posted a screengrab of the email rejection a few days ago. As per the screenshot, there was no salutation at the start or end of the email, and there was no explanation for rejecting the candidate. Instead, it only stated "Decline". The man wrote in the caption, "In all my years, I've never seen a rejection letter so... I don't even know what to call this. Uncourteous? Rude? Unprofessional??" Many people on the platform empathised with the user and criticised the company for its communication skills. 

In an update to the incident, the user said that his post "made so many waves" that the company reached out to him and apologised for their email. The company wrote in its apology, "We recently learned of a system malfunction with our online recruitment software where it automatically sent out replies to applicants for some openings with the single word 'decline'. We are very sorry this error occurred, as it does not represent who we are or how we treat people. All applicants should be treated respectfully throughout the recruitment process, which includes receiving an appropriate, polite response with the outcome. We sincerely apologize for this mistake and believe we have found the source of the problem so this does not happen again."

UPDATE on: Rudest rejection email I've ever gotten
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The user wrote in the caption, "Apparently my original post made so many waves that it reached the company, and I got sent this earlier today. Some of you sent me screenshots that you received the exact same email, and I know some of you reached out to the company itself to talk about it, so thank you all for that lol It's good to know that it's technical error and not someone in HR/hiring that wanted to be an a******, you know?" He added that he was grateful for a response from the company rather than being ghosted.

Since being shared, many people had mixed reactions to the post.

"I Still prefer "declined"," said a user.

"TBH it's still better than being ghosted," added a person.

Another wrote, "As long as they accept being contacted with 'applied'."

"Just reply back: decline," remarked a person.

"Employers need to stop relying so much on automation tools especially if they're flawed. They expect applicants to jump through hurdles to apply to the job yet don't do the same. If it's that hard trying to communicate properly then maybe there should be more people in the company looking at applications," said a user.