Interview Cancellation Email Template

Keep candidates warm if you plan to reschedule your interview. If possible, schedule a new appointment, or tell candidates when they should expect to hear back from you. However, if you know that the position won’t be open again it’s best to be honest to avoid raising false hopes.

No one likes to cancel, but it happens to the best of us. Use this email template to let candidates know you need to cancel or change schedules without burning bridges.

In this email, explain why you’re cancelling the interview, so you can maintain a good relationship with candidates and invite them to interviews in the future.

Sample email for interview cancellation

Subject line: Need to cancel your interview for the [Job_title] position

Hi [Candidate_Name],

I have some bad news. Unfortunately, we need to cancel our interview for the [Job_title] position that we had arranged for [date and time.]

[Provide a brief explanation of why you’re cancelling and when/whether you are going to reach out again, e.g. Our hiring plans have changed and we decided to put this position on hold for at least three months. However, as we were very impressed with your qualifications, we’d like to reach out again once the role is open and schedule a new appointment. In the meantime, I’ll keep you posted on any updates about this or similar roles.]

Thank you, again, for taking the time to apply at [Company_name] and I will contact you in the future to [reschedule].

Warm regards,

[Your name]

[Signature]