Here is a letter that I received early this year informing me I was not selected for a position for which I was interviewed:

Thank you for your interest in the --- position.  It was a pleasure to meet you.  Your education and experience are impressive.  However, another candidate more closely meets the needs of the --- at this time.  I wish you the best in your job search.

This letter was short and sweet, though it quickly got to the heart of the matter while wishing me the best and being happy to have met me.  It was actually an encouraging letter to receive and edified and encouraged me to keep going in my job hunt. 

This letter was not received in response to a church position, but I think parts of it could definitely apply.  By receiving this letter, it gave me the communication that I needed to allow me to accept another position.  By being timely and letting me know I was not chosen for the job, I was able to then move on instead of wondering whether or not I was hired (as I have wondered sometimes for weeks or months in other cases). 

I worked as the receptionist for a church for a short time.  While I was there, the church was looking for a youth minister and a music minister.  I cannot tell you how many times I had an applicant call to see if their resume (which they had sent in sometimes weeks or months before) had even been received.  While yes, the church received well over 100 resumes for each position, they should have contacted each applicant either through a letter or through a short phone call, letting the applicant know that they were in the process of sorting through resumes.  As the sorting continued and they got their list down, they should have contacted them and let those people know that they were not accepted for the job.  By doing it as they went along instead of all at the end (which was literally over a year later for the youth minister position), it would have made it that much simpler.  Instead of writing 150 letters at the end, 10 letters a month would have been easier to do AND would have allowed the applicants to know their status instead of remaining in limbo. 

Moreover, this lack of communication is not only frustrating, it is also un-Christian.  Christians are to strive to build one another up, not tear one another down.  By causing angst, frustration, and eventually anger by lack of communication, what kind of message are we sending our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ?  That’s my two cents anyways.

Is it the wording of the rejection letter or the lack of a rejection letter that has people frustrated or angry?  Or is it simply the lack of meaningful employment?  I went through all of this a few years back after a divorce ended my Bible College teaching career.  I ended up getting hired on a staff of a church five years after receiving a rejection letter from the same church.  Churches are as bad at the hiring process as they are at getting rid of people when they don’t want them.  That is a fact of life.  Most churches, especially small ones, are simply not equipped to deal with 100 applicants for an open position.  Some people on this website have made it sound a lot easier than it is.  From what I have seen on this website, many people just need to work on putting together a decent resume, then work on their interviewing skills, and let the Lord take things from there.

Thank you very much for your interest in a POSITION position here at XXXXXXXXX.

Our commitment is to hire staff members whose employment and ministry experience is properly matched to the job description.  We have learned that when these are aligned the person enjoys a fruitful ministry, and the Church is able to better accomplish its mission.

After reviewing your candidacy, we have chosen to pursue other candidates whose background and experiences more closely align with the job description.

Thank you for your willingness to explore employment and ministry service here at XXXXXXXX.  I am confident that the Lord will continue to provide vocational direction to you.

In His Service,
XXXXX XXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXX

I have been given a great letter that was encouraging and uplifting before.  I have also recieved lies and no communication as well.  This church who was considering me for their student ministry job went so far as to have me travel to meet them and then tell me their deep intrest on several occasions and yet I have never heard from them again.  I believe that some churches, not the majority, are lying and manipulitive when it comes to hiring practices.  It is very sad and it is very hurtful to those who spend time, money, and energy.  Thanks for allowing me to voice my opinion.

I don’t surf these boards much, but I am on a Pastor Search Committee at this time and I have some observations.

First, thanks to those who submitted samples of rejection letters. The only example I had was the one in the initial article and I didn’t like that one at all, so you have provided me with a place to go in making up such a letter.

I agree it is rude not to acknowledge the receipt of the resume and not to respond with either yay or nay further down the line. All I can say is that where we are right now, some of you aren’t going to hear from us for a couple of weeks - it takes TIME and PRAYER to go thru each of your resumes one by one and study it and discuss it with the other committee members.

Now here are my observations which are more of an admonishment to those applying for positions. YOU have opinions about how WE churches should handle your resume, here is MY humble opinion about how you should handle your application process:

First, please write down all the churches you are applying to and REMEMBER that you have already sent your resume to those churches. I have received at least 4 from one guy and about 6 other men submitted them more than once and they obviously had no recollection that they had done so. This is annoying.

Second, Do NOT include unpublished manuscripts that are 50 pages long - do you actually think that at this inital “meeting” I am going to READ IT?? I want to know the following:

The basics, where you went to school and where you worked. WHo your family is, what you do in your spare time, what your spiritual gifts are, and why you left your last churches. It’s also great if you include a SHORT doctrinal statement (200 resumes times 8 pages of each resume plus doctrinal statment = a greater chance I’ll just get tired of reading the same stuff and bleep over it).

Look I know it’s a fine line between how much to include and what to leave out, but we’re going to ask you the hard questions in an interview over the phone, so just abbreviate the basics of your philosophy and theology.

Again I’ll tell you the cover letter is vastly underused. That’s where I am seeing the spark and the passion that drives you in your ministry. THAT’s what’ll make me put your resume aside, out of the other 150 that are just like you.