How to Decline a Job Offer (With Examples)

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, you have a 30% chance of getting a job offer when you apply for between 21 and 80 jobs. Even so, not every job offer you get will be one you want. Although it can be challening, it’s essential to understand how to reject a job offer without burning bridges between yourself and the company you’re rejecting. Regardless of why you’re choosing to reject the offer, maintaining a positive relationship may leave very important doors open for your future career path.

How to Decline a Job Offer

Rejecting a job offer is common, especially when labor markets favor employees. Notably, a Glassdoor report found that over 17% of people rejected job offers in 2019 (down from nearly 20% in 2010, but up from around 15% in 2015). What’s important here, however, is not so much the number of rejections but the reasons, which generally align one or more factors:

• Compensation and benefits: The company did not meet your salary expectations or lacks the type of benefits you want or need.
• Negative interview experience: You had negative experiences during the interview process that soured you on the company.
• A slow hiring process or offer: The company dragged the hiring process on too long, or the offer came in too late.
• No career development opportunities: The company did not appear to offer good opportunities to grow your skills or career.
• Poor work-life balance: The company did not offer a good work-life balance (for example, no remote or hybrid work options)

Since these are among the main reasons people quit jobs, it stands to reason that you’re likely to reject an offer if you see yourself quitting because of it (or because you quit a previous employer because of it). With that in mind, we’ll explore how to professionally decline a job offer in a way that identifies the reason you’re declining without completely hurting the potential for future engagement.  

Template 1: Compensation and Benefits

Payscale found that 42% of people believe they’re underpaid. If you receive a job offer with compensation and benefits that are too low, and the employer is unwilling to negotiate, here’s a rejection email template that may work for you:

Template 2: Negative Interview Experience

A negative experience in the hiring process may easily sour you on the role. If that happens, here is a template that may work for you:

Template 3: Slow Hiring Process

Many companies are taking longer to hire people. The human capital advisory firm Josh Bersin found that companies take an average of 44 days to hire, with some roles sitting empty for 2 to 3 months. If you had been on the receiving end of a slow hiring process, you might have taken another offer that came in (even if it was a less desirable one). 

Here is a template that may work for you in this situation:

Template 4: No Career Development Opportunities

Pew Research found that during the Great Resignation, 63% of people who quit cited “no opportunities for advancement” as a key reason for leaving their jobs. If the role you were offered is at a company that does not appear to support your development goals, it might be a good idea to pass on that role instead of finding yourself in an early turnover situation.

Here is a template that may work for you in this situation:

Template 5: Poor Work-Life Balance

A YouGov survey found work-life balance is incredibly important to nearly 70% of US workers. That’s the kind of data that should comfort you if you ultimately reject a job offer for a role that looks like it may not offer the kind of work-life balance that you want or need. 

Here is a template that may work for you in this situation:

Things to Keep In Mind When Rejecting Job Offers

You may feel anxiety over rejecting a job offer, particularly in a difficult labor market where jobs are hard to come by. This is going to be less of an issue if you are sitting on multiple job offers, but it may cause a high level of anxiety if you find yourself rejecting the only job offer you receive after sending dozens of applications. 

One thing to keep in mind is that rejecting job offers is very common. A Garner survey conducted in May 2023 (notably, a period where the job market was a bit more in favor of employees) found that:

While you can accept a job offer and then back out of it if a better offer comes in before you start, this practice is deeply frowned upon and likely to sour your future prospects with those employers and the recruiters or recruiting companies they hire to find talent.

Try to Avoid Burning Bridges If You Don’t Like the Company or Offer

Depending on the reason why you’re rejecting the job offer, sending that “no thanks” email response could either make you feel bad or empowered. For example, if you had a terrible experience in the interview process, you might be tempted to send an overtly snarky rejection email. As with many things, it might make you happy at the time, but it could also hurt your future job prospects.

This is where the concept of “don’t burn bridges” comes in. Your view into each recruiter’s or hiring team’s network could be fairly limited. In many cases, the recruiter may be working for a company that recruits for multiple businesses. When recruiters find a great candidate, even if that candidate rejects the job offer, they often return to that candidate for future roles. 

Recruiters and hiring managers are people, and whether they do so consciously or not, they may hold onto negative experiences with candidates in a way that could hurt you in the future when applying to jobs at the same or other companies.

How many applications does the average job posting get?

However, if your rejection letter is negative, you may find yourself silently blacklisted by that recruiter. Is that an acceptable or official policy? Not typically? Does it happen? Unfortunately yes. As Joann Lublin explained in a Wall Street Journal article, black marks can derail your job search. 

Keep In Touch If You Like the Company

If you’ve rejected a job offer for reasons that weren’t due to negative experiences (such as having a better offer or having the offer come in too late), it might be prudent to stay in touch with the recruiter and hiring managers. 

Add the individuals you interviewed with to your LinkedIn network. Stay engaged with them by commenting and reacting when they post content. Follow the company’s social media pages so you can stay up-to-date on what’s happening there. If the company makes a major announcement that’s directly related to the team you were supposed to work with, send congratulations to the individuals you spoke to on the hiring team.

Doing this will help you continue the relationships you started during the interview process and help keep you as a top-of-mind candidate should new roles arise that fit your skills and interests. 

If the employer thought you were a good candidate when they offered you a job, and you were cordial in the rejection letter, there’s very little reason for them to change their mind about your value as a potential employee. If anything, gaining more experience somewhere else in the interim will likely make you more appealing as a hire.

Turning Down a Job Offer Is Not the End

Regardless of why you need to turn down a job offer, you may still have future job prospects with that company. The individuals who made your interview experience negative may leave and be replaced by others who are a better culture fit. The company may grow in size and be able to offer a better compensation package. The company leaders may reverse course on their return-to-office policy and instead embrace remote and hybrid work. 

Companies are dynamic and, just like you, they change over time. Those changes may mean future opportunities to work together. Make sure your rejection letters leave those doors open so that you keep all of your options open as you develop in your career.