Let’s talk rejection emails. Does anyone actually send them? I used to send a fairly generic rejection email when we decided not to move forward with a candidate after meeting with them. However, more and more candidates would respond to the email and/or call in, asking for more details. Weirdly enough, I get harassed by rejected candidates a lot less when I just ghost them. Anyone else have similar experiences?

At my level it’s the same as with D1. If I interview someone and choose not to move forward with them, I always ask the recruiter to send a rejection email that includes an offer to provide feedback. Some ask for the feedback, others do not.

I cannot fathom thinking it’s acceptable to simply ghost a candidate if I’ve moved a different direction.

I assume you're not interviewing dozens of people for any given role, and the few minutes it would take to customize pieces of a template rejection letter with specifics about why you did not select them (also thanking them for their time and wishing them luck in their search) would go a long way to prevent "harassment." It's not unreasonable that people would like to understand if there was something they could have done differently or different skills you're prioritizing so they can try to hone their approach for their next interview. It also could potentially even help you realize that maybe your job posting doesn't focus on the skills most important to you and that's why you're getting candidate mismatches, if that happens.

No feedback due to lawsuit potential, but definitely a generic won’t be moving forward email. Usually the system will send it automatically when the job listing is closed and someone is hired.

At my level, if I have interviewed you then you get a call from me to share feedback. The email is a bridge and I offer to have the call if they are interested.

yes the recruiter sends the rejection email! I think it's a good practice not to leave the candidate hanging, even if it's generic

I send a generic rejection email. If they ask for information or clarification at the first round, I typically won't provide any feedback. It's just not reasonable to be sending out so many individualized responses to potentially hundreds of people. If they are in the second or third round of interviews and I have to send them a rejection, and if they request it, I might give them a fairly generic but still slightly individualized feedback if I can and I know why they weren't moved onto the next round. But at the end of the day, I'm usually too busy to be constantly emailing people back-and-forth.

I have never sent a rejection email. Typically, I just stop communicating with a candidate when I decide not to move forward with them. I thought this was a fairly normal practice.