Thank you for contacting us about the matter in question!

15Jun10

I usually don’t mind automatically generated e-mail responses, as long as they are eventually followed by a genuine human reply which addresses all the important matters put forward in my original e-mail. However, sometimes, automatic replies can just be completely retarded.

A while ago, I contacted a company about a software development career opportunity. After an appalling application process (which I won’t bother fussing about now), I eventually received an offer to move on to the interview stage. By this time I had already received and accepted an offer to study a PhD, so I had to decline, though I still wanted to maintain contact in the interest of potential future employment. I therefore sent the company this e-mail:

I wish to withdraw my application as I have recently received and accepted an offer to study a PhD for three years.

However, as I may be interested in working for you in once the PhD is complete, I would like to ask if it may be possible for you to keep my application on your records for future reference?

They were kind enough to send the following reply:

Thank you for contacting us recently.  Naturally we are very sorry to learn that you will not be proceeding with your application for the following vacancy: Software Engineer – Graduate.  However, we are sure that you reached your decision after due thought and consideration.

Please accept our best wishes for every success in the future and, if we can ever be of any assistance, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us.

Seriously, what kind of reply is that? The last line offers assistance, but that’s exactly what I requested in my original e-mail. Either they didn’t read my e-mail properly and/or sent back a thoughtless e-mail template, or it was read by some robot which detects synonyms of the word ‘no’ in response to job offers and sends the appropriate e-mail telling me how sorry they are that I can’t work for them. Either way, they haven’t put any proper consider consideration into what I asked of them.

I’m not really angered by this, because this kind of response is so common that it’s becoming predictable. I actually find it amusing. There are of course companies which handle enquiries of all kinds sensibly, and it is with them I wish to work in the future.

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Tags: e-mail, employment, enquiries