Chapter 8: Bad News Messages
For this paper I have chosen to write about the blog entry on harsh rejection letters. Rejection letters may come to us from all spheres of life whether it is academics or work or business or even love. Rejections from prospective employers may be commonplace when the applicants are young and inexperienced and are often quite generic. Rejections in businesses may occur when vendors lose out on contracting bids or when businesses choose to go with other contractors for their service requirements. In any event, there are many opportunities in businesses to send out rejection letters. As with any business communication there is a certain method to writing a rejection letter also.
As the blog states, unduly harsh letters are rarely acceptable in a business scenario. The examples in the blog are mostly from the world of arts where an individual is at the receiving end of the rejection. However in business, a company may find it necessary to reject the services of another company. In such a scenario a harsh closure might result in legal issues. Therefore businesses may choose to always keep their rejections professional and to the point.
I agree with the blog that rejections that don’t specify the reasons for rejection are not effective. If, when rejecting a candidate for a post, a company is able to state something like “functional knowledge of taxation would have added to your application”, it would result in one of two things. The candidate would get better equipped by learning the subject or he would apply for jobs where such a requirement is not stated or implied.
Of course, the harshest examples in the blog were from several decades ago. Business communication has adopted a global language today and also caters to specific cultures. The added sensitivity ensures that while the news may be bad, it is not demoralizing.
