Rejecting a Candidate Application

Rejecting an application moves it to the Rejected status — a terminal state that cannot be reversed. You must pick a rejection reason (used in reporting), and you can attach a private team note and choose whether to send the candidate a rejection email.

Prerequisites#

Rejecting an application#

1. Open Candidates in the sidebar and select a candidate.

2. Select the application you want to reject from the candidate's Applications list.

3. On the application detail page, select Reject in the header actions.

4. The Reject application dialog opens.

5. Pick a Rejection reason (required for reporting):

   We rejected them

   Reason	When to use
   Not a fit	Skills, experience, or scope did not match this role
   Failed interview	Performance in one or more rounds did not meet the bar
   Compensation mismatch	Expectations and offer ranges could not be aligned
   Other	A different reason — add details in the private note

   They withdrew / out of pipeline

   Reason	When to use
   Candidate withdrew	They asked to step out of the process
   Hired elsewhere	They accepted another offer
   Duplicate	A duplicate or test record being closed out

6. Optionally add a Private note. This note is visible to your team only and is never sent to the candidate.

7. The Send rejection email to [first name] toggle starts on when the candidate has an email address and rejection emails are available. Turn it off to record only an internal status change. When rejection emails are unavailable, the toggle is off and disabled with an Upgrade hint. When a candidate has an email, confirmation waits while feature access is loading.

8. Select Reject application to confirm.

Rejection email#

When the toggle is on and the candidate has an email address on file, Intervy sends a rejection email using your organisation's rejection template immediately after you confirm. If the candidate replies, the reply goes to you — the teammate who rejected them.

While the toggle is on, the dialog shows a preview using the current rejection template: your organisation's rejection template — your edited version if you saved one on the Communications page — filled in with the candidate's name, the position, your organisation's contact email and your sign-off. Anyone who can reject an application can see the preview when sending is available and the toggle is on. With the default template, the subject is Update on your application for [position title].

The private note is never included in the email.

When the email is skipped#

For rejections from the Reject dialog, the email is skipped in these situations:

Email delivery failed#

If delivery fails after the status is saved, the application shows an Email failed badge. The status change is still recorded.

After rejection#

Once rejected, the application detail page shows a rejection summary panel with:

• The rejection reason chip
• Email delivery status badge
• The private note (if you added one), labelled Internal rejection note with a Team only badge
• The rejection date (the private note card also shows the time)

The Reject button is no longer shown in the header once the application is in the Rejected status.

A rejected application is closed to further interviews. In the Hiring Pipeline, phases without an interview show "This application is closed." and offer neither Schedule Interview nor Mark Complete. A phase whose interview is still booked keeps its Cancel button, but Reschedule is no longer offered.

Status transitions#

An application can be rejected from any non-terminal status:

Attempting to reject an already rejected, hired, or withdrawn application returns an error.

Permissions reference#

Troubleshooting#

Rejection reason required — The Rejection reason field is required. Select one of the reason options before confirming.

The Reject button is not visible — The button only appears for applications in the Applied, In Review, or Offer status, and only when your role includes candidates:update. Applications that are already Rejected, Hired, or Withdrawn cannot be rejected again.