How to write a rejection letter?

Nam Orange
Jul 20, 2017 · 4 min read
Source: Internet

I just started working recently and there are a ton of things to learn out there. In order to understand clearly and make it easy to review next time, I’m going to write a series of articles to record what I have learned and have done with it in reality. If you see these posts, hope you find them useful in some ways, and your comments will be always appreciated.

Let’s start with writing an email and in this case, it’s a rejection email or rejection letter.

There are many kinds of rejection letter and I think everyone received at least once or twice, if you did not you would be the luckiest man. It may come from the organization where you are applying for a volunteer position, the company that you are applying a job or more interesting is the rejection letter from your crush (I sent an email to confess my love and received a rejection from crush via email too)… But this time, I want to talk about the professional manners and you are the one who will send the rejection letter on behalf of yourself or your company to your partners, your sponsors, your suppliers,…

This can be difficult to do, most people (myself included) feel disappointed or even angry when they are turned down for something and it’s especially tough to pass after a lot of back and forth. But in terms of business, it’s very common and you have to write a rejection letter which not only gives a good reason but maintains the partnership. These are 3 steps to write a good rejection letter.


Firstly, keeping in mind that your rejection letter needs to be:

  • Formal
  • Direct but polite
  • Short
  • Give a good reason why they have been rejected

Rejection letters need not be long, and the reason you give for the rejection need not be super-detailed. And it’s better to move straight to the point.

Secondly, considering the structure of the rejection letter.

  • Say thanks
  • Deliver the news
  • Give the main reason
  • Offer hope

I looked at some rejection letters and realized that they are written following the simple structure above.

Finally, reviewing your rejection letter before sending.

Make sure that your letter does not lack of some components like the complimentary close, the signature line,… misspelled is not accepted.


This is my rejection letter on behalf of my team to a company that want us to help them promote their event and sale tickets.

Hi …,

Thanks for your patience while we reviewed this proposal and had discussions.

Unfortunately, we need to focus our resources on an important event coming so I’m afraid that we’re going to have to pass.

We hope you find a good partner soon and have a successful conference. We definitely look forward to collaborating with you in the future.

Thanks and Best Regards.

Here are some other examples I collected on the Internet.

[Their name],

We were lucky to get some strong proposals in on this and we deeply appreciate all the info from your side — and for your patience. After a lot of careful thought, we have decided to go with another firm for this project. While we certainly have no doubt about the superior quality of your team or that you could deliver on this skillfully we decided to use this project to expand our bench of development partners and, since this is part experiment for us, this was a good opportunity to do that.

We’d really like to continue talking with you about future projects we have coming up this year. I definitely look forward to collaborating in the future.

Thanks again for your help and your time,
[Your name]

Dear Mr Boxall,

Thank you for your enquiry about supplying our company with new photocopying equipment.

Unfortunately, we are currently not in need of replacing our existing photocopiers. We recently entered a new 2 year contract with our existing photocopier provider.

You would be more than welcome to contact us again when our current contract is up for renewal.

Yours sincerely,

Jeff Thompson
Office Manager

From,
__________
__________
__________
__________

Date: _____ (Date on Which Letter is Written)

To,

__________
__________
__________
__________

Subject: Proposal Rejection Letter

Dear _____(Sir or Madam)

I Mr. ……………….(name of the sender) is writing this letter on behalf of……………(name of the company). After receiving your letter and your proposal we had initially decided to accept your proposal. But, it was then we referred our company laws and norms we came to know that it we cannot officially become partners with any external company. We are extremely sorry for rejecting your proposal. But, we cannot go against our rules.

However we hope you find a better company and start your journey well. Also we wish you success on behalf of our management team and company.

Yours Truly,

Name of the organization

______________

Sign of the Manager

)
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