Question: As the head of a well-known educational institution I frequently receive CVs from people seeking employment. Since we are fully staffed I cannot even consider the request but feel sorry for the applicant. I vacillate between ignoring the request and responding in the negative. What is the right thing to do?

Answer: When someone sends you their CV it means that they have invested some degree of effort and much hope. Failure to respond at all leaves them with the discouraging impression that you have no regard for their qualifications.

You should therefore take the trouble to respond that you regret that at the moment you are not hiring new personnel. If you are truly impressed with the applicants qualifications but have no opening for him, you might suggest another organization which might seek his services.

This is another one of those situations in which one must remember the classical dictum of the Sage Hillel: "Dont do to others what is hateful to you." None of us wants to be ignored when we put our best foot forward.

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