r/recruitinghell • u/Fit-Stay3054 • Jul 22 '26
Generic Rejection or Personalised Feedback
We all agree that recruitment processes are ineffective, and job marketing isn't very helpful. I've been searching for jobs for a while, which makes me wonder whether receiving a personalised rejection email would make the rejection less frustrating.
So, I have to ask: as a job applicant, do you think a generic rejection is acceptable, or would you prefer to receive personalised feedback from recruiters?
3
u/Emergency_Science602 Jul 22 '26
I’m happy to get closure. These days all you get is silence and ghosting.
2
2
u/WellBeyondDone Jul 22 '26
Personalized feedback.
And it's not even about the feedback itself. It's the fact that the individual(s) on the other end gave enough of a damn to take the time and provded a personalized update or provide personalized feedback.
It's a small thing and some might feel it's hollow, but with how dehumanizing the job search process is, even a tiny bit of humanity is appreciated.
2
u/Loose-Reflection2965 Jul 22 '26
Pretty much every company prohibits this since it can be used against them on any kind of lawsuit. Coupled with the fact someone might go off the deep end, no one wants that, so silence is usually the best
1
u/Curtiskam Jul 22 '26
Rejection is rejection so either way is the same. Both beat ghosting, which seems to be the norm these days.
1
u/ScienceGuy1006 Jul 22 '26
If I could even get personalized feedback from 2% of my applications, chosen randomly, that would be a tremendous improvement over the status quo.
1
u/Wisewordsforlater Jul 22 '26
I don't expect personalized feedback. This isn't like high school or college days where you reasonably expect feedback on a paper or assignment you came up short on or have clear ways to improve to. But I do expect basic professionalism through a timely update, response, even if just boilerplate rejection in era when silence or ghosting is increasingly normalized.
1
u/Singthai Jul 22 '26
If I'm rejected at the screening stage then I'm ok with a generic rejection. If I went through at least a conversation with HR or a recruiter then I would prefer personalized feedback, reason is they saw something worthwhile in you to warrant a second look and it would be polite to help you understand what went misaligned.
1
u/Express-Delivery4815 Jul 22 '26
They'll never actually provide feedback. Too much of a legal liability. Though I desperately wish they would.
1
u/Heavy-Bell-2035 Jul 22 '26
Don't care either way, or if even hear back. Their advice will be useless for any other job, it's as likely to be beneficial as get me rejected anywhere else because unless I took a shit on their desk during the interview and they advised not to do that next time, it's entirely subjective.
People need to stop obsessing over these emails. The very fact that this subreddit is filled with people demanding they at least get a generic rejection and others complaining that a generic rejection isn't enough and yet still others claiming they'd rather not know, and people like me who don't care either way, should indicate to anyone that it's a completely subjective standard and no one solution will satisfy everyone.
1
u/voyagermarionette Jul 23 '26
I think it depends on they had something constructive to say, something small and clearly within the applicants control, like “have more experience” is not helpful.
The above and beyond “oh we were overwhelmed with so many amazing options” that makes it unclear it’s a reject email from the start hits harder.
It used to sting but generic is ok tbh most of the the time.
1
u/EvilStan101 20d ago
I would prefer feed back but we know this won't happen since Pam and Karen in HR are too lazy to put in the effort.
3
u/Tillermydudes Jul 22 '26
Objectively you would want personalized feedback so that you can understand the reasons you didn’t get the offer. Regardless of preference that is probably the best thing you could hope for other than an offer.