Phone calls for me are socially awkward and I generally want some time to privately process rejection rather than immediately need to have a conversation about it. Also I generally keep my phone at home during business hours so it’s quite likely I’d need to spend half an hour playing phone tag.
You call, greet the person, say in the first sentence that you won’t be making an offer, say a few more short sentences, react to any responses, then hang up. You don’t make it a conversation. The important thing is that they hear your voice.
It’s fine to speak on voicemail and for the other person not to call back. This avoids phone tag.
Note that Manager Tools doesn’t always have to most airtight arguments, but they tend to have tested their core guidance (which includes hiring) empirically.
Phone calls for me are socially awkward and I generally want some time to privately process rejection rather than immediately need to have a conversation about it. Also I generally keep my phone at home during business hours so it’s quite likely I’d need to spend half an hour playing phone tag.
Good to know, thanks!
For completeness, my idea of a rejection phone call (derived from https://www.manager-tools.com/2014/11/how-turn-down-job-candidate-part-1) is:
You call, greet the person, say in the first sentence that you won’t be making an offer, say a few more short sentences, react to any responses, then hang up. You don’t make it a conversation. The important thing is that they hear your voice.
It’s fine to speak on voicemail and for the other person not to call back. This avoids phone tag.
Note that Manager Tools doesn’t always have to most airtight arguments, but they tend to have tested their core guidance (which includes hiring) empirically.