Let's face it, rejection flows both ways. For the hiring manager, rejection is a normal part of the candidate selection process. However, in today's job market, candidates are delivering rejections as well. When a candidate rejects an offer, it can feel like a true setback. Blame tends to fly and confusion sets in. How do you pick up the pieces and reengage the team in the hiring process? Your ability to lead the team and quickly refocus efforts on hiring will be critical to bringing an alternate candidate on board.

After a candidate rejects an offer, the recruiter's focus should be on rebounding from the loss. This is not so easy as recruiters work hard to get a candidate hired and the process is rarely short and simple. A lost candidate represents months of lost work, but its important to remember that rejection is par for the course in recruiting. Despite the rejection, you still have to get the job done. Also, after a candidate rejects an offer, all is rarely forsaken. Though it may feel like you'll have to reinvent the wheel, this is rarely the case. The leads and insights gathered in the initial hiring exercise will put you ahead as you recruit a replacement.

As for the hiring team, its important to help them rebound from the setback as well. No one likes to be rejected and the group will have its doubts. Questions like "What went wrong?" will be swirling and the tendency will be to point fingers and lay blame. For the sake of the hiring effort, its important to display leadership and refocus the team on constructive actions from the get go. If they have questions, offer solutions, not just explanations. Be proactive and present a plan of action to get new candidates on board. The faster you can get their focus off the loss and on the goal of filling the position, the easier it will be to get the job done.

Looking critically at the available candidate pool should be your next concern. Bringing back one of the alternates in the interview pool might be viable, but only if the choice between candidates was close. If the team was split between two people, they might be accepting of the second choice. In which case, you need only make an offer. However, if the alternates did not sit well with the team, your best bet will be to recruit fresh blood. After a "thumbs down" is rendered by the team, it is very difficult to sell them on a candidate's merits. Your time and efforts in these cases are likely better spent on recruiting new candidates.

Another important contribution you can make is to document the case. Though your first focus should be on reviving the hiring effort, you should also document the facts of the hiring snafu for later analysis. A rejected offer represents a real financial loss for the company. Documenting the reasons why an offer was not accepted can help management identify patterns and pinpoint gaps in the hiring process. Was it compensation? Culture? Benefits? Documentation can lend insight into why offers are being rejected, and hopefully trigger corrective action that supports a greater success rate down the road.

When it comes to handling candidate rejection, damage control and fast recovery should be your main prerogatives. Wallowing in the "what ifs" of a loss is unproductive when a position still needs to be filled. Your ability to demonstrate leadership and be proactive in a time of confusion are critical to getting the hiring effort moving in the right direction. Though the tendency will be to ask questions, there will be time to analyze the reasons behind the missed opportunity later on. Document the rejection, compare it to other similar cases, and propose changes in the hiring process later down the road.