Interview cancellation email from employer
Interview cancellation email from employer
Having to inform a candidate that you’re cancelling your scheduled interview can put you in an unpleasant position. Use this email template to let candidates know without burning bridges.
During your hiring process, you might need to cancel interviews for reasons that have nothing to do with candidates’ qualifications (e.g. your company decided to put the position on hold or there are unexpected conflicts in the interviewer’s schedule.) Whatever the case, explain why you’re cancelling the interview. This way, you’ll be able to maintain good relationships with candidates and invite them to interviews in the future.
Keep candidates warm if you plan to reschedule your interview. If possible, schedule a new appointment, or tell candidates when they should expect to hear back from you. However, if you know that the position won’t be open again (e.g. your company’s staffing plans changed or you decided to fill the position internally) it’s best to be honest to avoid raising false hopes.
Email subject line: Cancelling interview for the [Job_title] position
Hi [Candidate_Name] / Dear [Candidate_Name],
I’d like to inform you that, unfortunately, we need to cancel our interview for the [Job_title] position that we had arranged for [date and time.]
[Briefly mention why you’re cancelling and when/whether you are going to reach out again, e.g. Our hiring plans have changed and we decided to put this position on hold for at least three months, so we won’t be conducting any interviews at this time. However, as we were very impressed with your qualifications, we’d like to reach out again once the role is open and schedule a new appointment, if you’re still available to meet. In the meantime, I’ll keep you posted on any updates about this or similar roles.]
Thank you, again, for taking the time to apply at [Company_name] and please accept my sincerest apologies for any inconvenience.
Regards,
[Your name]
[Signature]