To think sending a job rejection e-mail at 10.45 on a Saturday night is a bit shitty?

[happygolurkey]

This is the second time I’ve had a rejection email for a job application just before heading to my bed. I know it’s on me to not be checking this late on, but my emails were open from earlier that evening and I had just lifted my phone to set my alarm for the morning. In the case of this one last night, I’d had a short ‘informal’ zoom chat with them followed by a formal interview. Then this fairly generic rejection email. What’s getting to me is that on leaving the interview the interviewer specifically said that they would make a decision on the Thursday, but rather than contact applicants at, in her own words ‘unsociable hours they had previously been corresponding’ they’d wait till the next day. So they knew it was a bit shit but did it anyway. I’m guessing the reason they didn’t get in touch on the Friday was they were negotiating with the successful applicant, which is fair enough. But why send it at that time of night, to me it just leaves you with your head burling and unable to sleep, whereas through the day you can distract yourself, do something for your wellbeing, or ‘get back on the horse’ so to speak by looking for something else, working on your cv or taking some positive step of some kind. Am being unreasonable, or is this just the new norm? Am buying an alarm clock today and making sure I’m more mindful of phone use, as I say, I know it’s on me and to manage that, but just think this could have been handled with more consideration. I was thinking of emailing tomorrow morning pointing this out, but wonder if it’s worth the bother. Sorry this is so long. Just feeling a bit crap

If there are no ramifications for any future job interviews I would email back to politely but firmly point this out.

I'm sorry, PP, that's shitty of them. One New Year's Eve I was alone at midnight, had had no messages etc. all evening. Feeling pretty suicidal. Then at 00:02 my text notification went ... it was Morrisons confirming my delivery pass had been renewed for another month.

Thanks, Universe.

Really bad from them to do this. I wouldn’t want to work for an organisation that thinks this is an acceptable way to treat people so maybe you’ve had a lucky escape.

Yep, send an email back pointing out there is a schedule button, and not using it isnr kind or professional.

However they were working late, so don’t be too harsh.

Sorry you didn’t get the gig and good luck next time.

You don’t necessarily know when it was sent? Emails are sometimes delayed.

Oh no…so sorry. That’s horrible

Yes you do - the time it says it was sent is the time it was sent - if it was delayed it would still have the correct time showing

Nothing surprises me at all with how shite HR and recruitment processes are. Its not on sending it at that time. At least you got a response either way. Times ive been left hanging. So now you know. Look at it as good interview experience. Ask for feedback and move forward. Best of luck with your job search x

It's not great.

As it's a generic one, I am wondering if it is sent automatically when the admin is done (matching candidate etc). If the manager has been tying up loose ends themselves in the evening it may have sent the rejection email to other candidates without the manager realising. By all means feedback because there may be something they can do (e.g. introduce a check box to send email now or later).

I know systems can be set up this way. DD was offered a retail position - it wasn't quite the one she applied for (in terms of hours) so she got really confused when she received 'unsuccessful' emails. On contacting the manager it turned out that it was once they placed the other applicant in that position it sent an email to everyone else.

Automation is great..... until it isn't.

I think I’d want to know as soon as possible, irrespective of the time.
Also, a lot of firms don’t even bother to let spplicants know when they haven’t been successful at interview and that is worse in my opinion.

Blimey. You seem very unreasonable to me. Someone was having to work very late and presumably thought you would want to know as soon as possible. As you say - if you don’t want to risk seeing emails that might upset you, don’t look at your emails.

My friend got an email informing her of an upcoming disciplinary at 5pm on Christmas Eve. So she could fret about it 0ver the break. That was nice.

i do a lot of recruiting and often schedule decline emails in the system. I wouldn’t have a clue what time of day they go out. Saturday evening is terrible, but it might have been unintentional

It’s a well known bullying tactic; horrible. They’ll sometimes send it on a Friday too.

I would see it as someone having to work very late from home. Perhaps they have too many responsibilities. Not all email programs have a schedule send facility.

This wouldn’t bother me in the slightest

An email to me is sent when it's sent if I don't want to read emails I don't check them until I do

Think of it as an indication that you wouldn't have been happy in the role - because their staff are so overworked and have not been able/allowed to maintain healthy boundaries and breaks, so they're forced to work ridiculously late on Saturdays trying to make sure that the unsuccessful candidates aren't ghosted (and the person forgot to add the schedule time because they were overworked and tired).

Sorry, OP.

I wouldn't bother emailing back. They will instead call it sour grapes. Just find a way to put it past you.

Another shitty thing companies do is say, within the rejection email, "we were lucky enough to get many applications for this position." Just to hammer home how lower down the chain of undesirables your application was.

It's horrible, but that's life. Good luck for next time.

In the past, I’ve sent emails on Friday and not noticed they were still in outbox before closing the laptop; hence not sending until I next got on WiFi. It happens.

Yes, this is what I’m thinking. And I do appreciate that someone had to work late. Only reason I thought about sending a short polite email is to save another candidate having a similar experience. While clearly some people wouldn’t be bothered by this either way, others feel similar to myself. I think I definitely will get back to the previous firm I experienced this with, as they specifically asked for feedback on the process. The thing is in their recruitment ‘sales pitches’ these firms are often at pains to tell you how seriously they take mental health, how there is all this support available for their employees etc etc. but the recruitment process leaves you feeling anything but!

You can set emails to send at a time you choose though, can’t you. In which case, it would seem to be deliberate.

The world doesn’t revolve around you OP. You can’t control when people send you emails. You CAN control whether you read emails or not. Turn off notifications on your phone and enjoy your Saturday night in peace.

It's only marginally better than being ghosted, which I was last week after being assured I'd definitely find out by the weekend.

I think it's rank too. Sending emails with not nice news, as opposed to nice news - you've got the job / you've got a pay rise, outside of working hours, is just not on.