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[tenured]

Reading today's First Person by Scott Gac reminds me of a rejection letter I got a couple of years ago, from a Dept. Chair at American University that friends of friends tell me is a very sweet and well-meaning person.  It included an obviously well-intended but insulting line to the effect that our profession really needs to start finding better ways to provide meaningful opportunities for the talents and training of people such as myself.

Which was a weird thing for me to read smack dab in the middle of year 5 of a tenure-track position.  It had never occurred to me that I hadn't found a meaningful opportunity for my talents.  And incidentally that line was also a stab at her own department:  the only way it could possibly make sense is on the assumption that no one would ever leave a job to go to her department-- that only the unemployed would possibly have applied.

I've always believed that attempts to say something encouraging in a rejection letter are more than likely to go astray; the best rejection letter strategy is basically to "get in, get out."  I.e., we're not hiring you, thank you for your interest, good luck.

[schoolmarm]

One of the oddest rejection letters I got was from Wheaton College.  It began "God has other plans for you....."

I've also had them addressed to other candidates.  This was probably a student worker slip up in not matching the letter to the envelope.

[Pecos]

I got a rejection letter for a job I did not apply for.

Apparently, HR mis-directed my application.  Needless to say, I did not get the job, and would guess the search committee received my app too late.

[stinkylulu]

Among my oddest rejection letter experiences:

3 identical rejection letters from the same small department over a period of 11 days.  (All actually signed by the same hand, each hand addressed, exactly the same.)   Points for thoroughness?

But -- thankfully -- no mention of God's plans...

[ullalay]

After making it through several rounds at yale (requests for recs., then writing sample) but no campus interview they sent me a post card addressed to

E Smith

First initial correct - last name not even close, but starts with same initial and is also short.

tacky, tacky, tacky - and with their resources!  I wouldn't have thought twice at a smaller school but from Yale?

[anon]

Teehee--
I got a rejection letter and a request to do a referree report the same day from Yale.  I'm thinking they liked my proposed research statement enough to give me work to do but not enough to actually interview me.

[I don't read them]

I don't know why you even read the letter. I have stopped doing that because the only useful information in the letter is: the search has closed and you are not the one. I know that much when I see the envelope. Just to make sure, I read the first line. I am not interested how they actually phrase it - it's only sweet talk anyway. The only thing I am interested in is getting the information that the search is over so I can move the file. And, yes, I would like to get it in an envelope and not on a postcard.....

[Anon 2]

Personally, I think the biggest problems with rejection letters is that they fail to get to the point.  I mean you know if you get a letter in the mail that 99% of the time it's a rejection letter.   I don't really want to hear about how competitive the search is, or what a difficult decision it was for the search committee.   I get that in my field that there are usually upwards of 100 applications, and I'm assuming if the search committee did their job at all that the decision was a difficult one.

And I've received a few rejection letters, like the one mentioned from Wheaton College, that the other poster received.  Talking about God, his plan...lots of stuff about Jesus.   It's great that those insitutions are committed to their religious philosphy, but it still drives me nuts to thinks like In Christ's Love, sitting at the end of rejection letter.

[sorta like]

"but it still drives me nuts to thinks like In Christ's Love, sitting at the end of rejection letter."

We may not love you, but Jesus still does...

[lostintranslation]

A few years ago, my husband received a rejection email.  It was a mass email and you could see everyone else's names or email addresses in the sent line.  That was pretty tacky.

[%sig%]

[RejectionFirst]

Once, I received the rejection letter before their letter that recognized that they have received my application.

[CC adjunct]

I like getting rejection letters because they end the time of worry about that institution.  I can stop thinking about them, and move on to something else.  I prefer a poorly written rejection to nothing at all any day.  The strangest situation was the 2 calls I got this hiring season, where I felt like I was consoling the caller (we got along, and I think it was harder for them to do the rejecting than me getting rejected).

My first year on the market, I applied to more than 30 places with no response at all.  I actually did a little celebration when I got my first rejection letter (yes, I know that is really sad).  I took it to mean that I was important enough (or qualified enough) to be treated like an actual human being.  This past year, I even got some rejection letters from places I was no longer considering.  It was a little nice, since I could honestly tell myself that I had rejected them first, so it did not count anymore.  That was much better than the usual sour grapes.

[Time warp]

My very best rejection letter was one dated almost 2 1/2 half years after I had applied for a position as Director of a Center on Aging.  I am used to the absurd, seemingly endless academic search process, and the unbelievably rude behavior by many supposedly distinguished Universities that leads them to never acknowledge receipt of your application or inform you of your status until you read about their new appointee.  But this rejection letter 2 1/2 years later is the all time winner.  That was almost three years ago.  I am feeling inspired to write back to them some time this summer and thank them for their prompt and courteous reply.  Only in academia!

[stinkylulu]

I got one 15 months later, but 2.5 years?  
(I love this thread.)

[Queequeg]

When I had a position as a visiting professor, I applied for a full-time position in my own department.

 They sent my a rejection letter through the mail, weeks later, addressed to "Mr. Williams" - not "Ms." "Mrs." or "Dr."

And this was from my own departmental secretary.

pretty depressing.