From People & Culture

Subject: We’re still interested

Dear Applicant,

We wanted to reach out before you heard nothing from us.

The position you applied for is no longer available. It remains on our website because we are optimistic about growth.

We were interested in how you described your future. It closely resembles the future we describe when recruiting: meaningful work, somewhere to live, enough time to have a private life. There was a strong alignment.

At this stage, we are unable to make an offer.

We would, however, like to maintain the relationship. You may continue receiving invitations to imagine yourself here.

You asked whether the salary would cover living alone. Several members of our team share apartments. Others bought some time ago. We have found that discussing the actual figures can make people uncomfortable, so our internal conversations tend to focus on flexibility.

The role requires flexibility.

During your interview, you mentioned that your parents were beginning to worry. We understand. They encouraged you to pursue an education, and you did. We encourage you to gain experience, and you are trying. It would be helpful if someone close to you could continue covering the interval between these recommendations.

Please be assured that you are not falling behind. We recently revised the age range for our young talent initiative.

We also noticed that you have started something with your friends. We enjoyed looking at it. There was an energy there that several people felt was missing from our own work.

Would you be available to give a short presentation on how you sustain that energy?

We appreciate that you may have reservations about sharing an unfinished project. There is no need to make it more professional on our account. The fact that you appear to enjoy doing it is precisely what interests us.

Our team has been discussing how to bring that feeling into the organization without changing the way it operates.

You mentioned that, for a few weeks, working on it made you forget about finding a job. We would encourage you to include that in the presentation.

Regarding payment, could you send us your usual rate?

If you do not have a usual rate, let us know what you had in mind.

We are particularly keen to hear from people who believe something else is possible. This has become a difficult quality to assess in interviews, as most candidates have read the advice about appearing positive.

You seemed genuinely excited at one point. We would like to hear more about that.

Best,

People & Culture

Sent at 11:43 p.m.

Photo story by YUKI.