REEE-jected!!!

When I worked in broadcasting years ago, I quickly learned that job insecurity was one of the major pitfalls. As a result, I often found myself on the job market and the recipient of one of the more common negative business messages: THE EMPLOYMENT REJECTION LETTER.

Effective rejection letters in broadcasting essentially follow the standard rejection letter format that almost everyone gets when seeking employment. Since I’ve received a high proportion of rejection letters during my many job searches, I’ve read some that range from polite and encouraging to disrespectful and downright mean-spirited.

The worst came from a Program Director at a Danville (IL) radio station. He proceeded to explain to me how Danville was much too big for someone of my talent because it was a market of 200 thousand people. Whoa! It’s right up there with Chicago and St. Louis…NOT! Ironically, I was working at the time in Terre Haute (IN), a market roughly about the same size as Danville.

In my opinion, the most effective rejections began with a buffer statement, such as “Thank you for your interest in continuing your broadcasting career at WJX-FM”. Some rejections contained statements that were more direct, but I always appreciated getting acknowledged for taking the time to apply.

By the way, whenever I received a letter from a broadcaster during a job search, I could almost lay a wager that it was a rejection. If the broadcaster was interested in me, they would contact me by phone.