How to Write an Email to a Candidate After Interview – 10 Examples & Template

It doesn't matter whether you're delivering good news or bad; sending an email informing candidates of interview decisions is essential.

In this guide to how to write an email to candidates after an interview, we provide 10 examples you can use to provide important information, insights, and updates to jobseekers.

We provide several examples of emails to candidates after the interview, including follow-up recruiting emails. This guide is suitable for any recruiter creating a follow-up email to a candidate no matter the industry, sector, or specialty.

Recruiters, founders and business owners can go through hundreds of candidates before finding the right fit (we've been there!). It's a tedious task to reply to all candidates, which is why we built our own ChatGPT for Outlook, MailMaestro. Test it out here:

How to write an email to a candidate after an interview?

The email has transformed the world of recruitment, with almost all candidate communication now completed online. Jobseekers, like the rest of us, check our emails throughout the day, says Business Insider. But most of us will screen calls, ignoring those from numbers we don't know. 

But email isn't faster; it's fairer, too – removing bias from the process. Every candidate receives the same message at the same time, giving everyone the same chance. 

Communicating via email enables you to establish an audit trail, providing a log of all interactions demonstrating that your process was fair and transparent.

When should a potential employer follow up?

During the interview process, you should communicate with candidates as often as possible to keep them informed. Be clear about dates, times, and deadlines. 

On average, there are two to three interviews per job, says Indeed. The more senior the position, the more interviews you'll need to complete, and the more correspondence required. 

The average recruitment process takes around a month from interview to appointment. Still, it can be put back for several reasons. For example, staff absence and a shortage of HR support can lead to delays. 

At each stage, you should keep job seekers updated and informed about their progress through the process.

There are several stages you may wish to contact a jobseeker, including: 

• Thank you email to candidate after interview 
• A rejection email after interview
• Email to successful candidate after interview
• Sample email to keep candidates warm
• Follow up email to passive candidates

Failing to communicate effectively is a process called "ghosting", and it's on the rise, says Jack Kelly in Forbes. The article highlights a survey showing that 76% of employers have been ignored by employers, demonstrating a worrying trend.  

Kelly provides some sober advice for job seekers and professionals. "It's easier for them just to keep quiet and hope the person goes away," says Kelly. He recommends that staying in contact is a duty, and we agree. Failing to communicate can harm your reputation and affect the mental health of the jobseeker, as this young jobseeker describes.

How do you follow up with an unresponsive candidate?

It's not just employers that can go missing during the recruitment process; candidates can too. If this happens, we recommend that employers continue the process and maintain communication.  

Treat each applicant as if they're part of the process until they either let you know they're not interested or you've passed that stage of recruitment.  

Below we provide sample emails to keep candidates warm and examples of a follow-up email to candidates after no response that should give a helpful guide.

Basic principles for every email after the interview

The job search process starts a relationship between you and your future employee, so be professional. At every stage in the process, your emails should be formal.

That means following the rules of effective email communication:

• Keep emails concise – Get to the critical information quickly. 
• Be precise – Ensure that the reader understands precisely what you are saying.
• Don't be afraid to use bullet points, bold or underlining to make your point – Simple text improvements can ensure your message is communicated clearly.
• If you want a reply, ask for one – Tell the recipient what you need, including a reply.
• Set deadlines – You don't want a jobseeker to hold up a process, so be clear when you need to hear from them.
• Communicate consistently – Every jobseeker in the process must receive the exact correspondence at the same time. This ensures that your approach is fair and transparent.

Finally, if you're not taking an application further, it's kind to offer feedback to job seekers. Don't offer this unless you're willing to do so. 

If you need some more guidance on how to write a professional email, check out our in-depth guide that tackles the topic.

10 example emails informing candidates of interview decisions

Here are 10 example email templates you can use to support the recruitment process. These examples cover several situations you may encounter.

1. Rejection email after interview 

Informing unsuccessful candidates after an interview is tough, but it's essential that you do so. When creating a candidate rejection email after an interview, don't beat around the bush. Tell them straight if they're not a good fit for the job.  

You should be clear and concise and explain that, while this role wasn't the right one, there may be others in the future. For example, here's a rejection email after the interview template.

2. Thank you email to candidate after interview

Sending a thank-you email to candidate after interview is a positive recognition of the effort they have made and demonstrates that your organization values them. 

While not always necessary, a post-interview thank-you email can provide essential information on the recruitment process. You may want to let a candidate know that you are interested, you've yet to make a decision, the recruitment process is likely to be extended for some reason, or you want to invite the candidate to the next interview.

3. Still interviewing other candidates email template

This is a slightly amended version of the template above. You could call this our "we haven't made a decision yet" email template. In some cases, you may need to interview over several days or weeks. This template provides some clarity for the candidate. We've decided to make a date bold, which makes it harder to miss.

4. Sample email to successful candidate after interview

If you're wondering, how do you email a shortlisted candidate? Here's an example for you. This sample email to successful candidate after an interview (or pass interview email, if you prefer).

5. Congratulation mail to selected candidates

We're moving through the process; how do you let a candidate know they got the job? The "email to offer job after interview" is perhaps the easiest to write (and the best to receive!). You're giving good news, but stay polite and professional.

6. Interview result email to candidate

The interview outcome email is important at every stage, especially the final one. At this point, you (or your recruiting team) will have spent a significant amount of time with a candidate. A short email isn't going to reflect the time, effort, and potential expense they've spent on this. Here's how you deliver an interview result email to a candidate with some compassion.

7. Sample email to keep candidates warm

Sometimes the recruitment process can drag on, and you'll need to stay in touch with applicants to let them know what's happening. In this sample email, we provide clarity on dates to keep candidates warm, enabling them to plan.

While it's easy to offer an apology, you don't need to. However, depending on the length of the delay, you can encourage candidates to contact you if their plans have changed.

8. Follow-up email to candidate after no response

Candidates "ghosting" employers is an increasing phenomenon, as we've documented above. Candidates may ignore you at any stage of the process, from the initial email request to a job offer. 

It's essential to recognize numerous reasons why a candidate may not respond to you immediately. Therefore, our advice is to remain polite and formal but set deadlines. 

Here's how that works in an example of a candidate not responding to an offer email.

9. Follow up email to passive candidates 

Sometimes candidates can go cold and need a gentle nudge. So we've amended the approach above for this follow-up email to passive candidates.

10. How to follow up with candidates after job fair

Job fairs are a great way to meet potential employees; however, you'll have to compete with hundreds of other stallholders for their attention. In this template, we illustrate how to follow up with candidates after a job fair.

Informing candidate of interview decision with MailMaestro

MailMaestro is an AI writing tool that turns short instructions into ready-to-send emails and message.

No matter the industry, role or stage of the recruitment process, our product can help you to communicate with job candidates faster and better.

Take a look at the example below to get an idea how you can supercharge your applicant emails with MailMaestro.

Did this blog post help with informing candidates of interview decision? We hope so.

The next time you are writing an email to a candidate after the interview, just keep these learnings and examples in mind and you should be good to go.

Better yet, give MailMaestro a chance to write the email for you.