Rejecting a candidate
Last updated: September 24, 2026
Every rejection is a chance to leave someone with a decent impression of your company, or a bad one. This article covers how to reject a candidate thoughtfully in Kula — picking the right reason, sending (or scheduling) a considerate email — and, just as importantly, how to make sure your automatic rejection paths aren't leaving candidates in the dark.
Who can do this: Recruiter, Hiring Manager, Admin, Super Admin.
Where to find it: Jobs → a job → Pipeline or Candidates → the Reject icon next to a candidate.
Reject a candidate
Click Reject on the candidate.
Choose a rejection reason. See Managing rejection reasons.
To let them know, tick Send email and choose a template. Without an email, the candidate never hears back.
To avoid bad timing, such as a Friday-night email, schedule it for a date, time and time zone instead of sending now.
Confirm.
To reject many candidates at once, see Bulk actions on candidates. Everyone selected gets the same reason and email.
When you reject a candidate manually, you pick a reason from your organisation's rejection reasons list, and you have the option to check Send email and choose a template. Sending an email isn't required — but skipping it means the candidate never hears back from you at all.
If you want to soften the timing (say, avoid a Friday-night rejection email), you can schedule it for a specific date, time, and time zone instead of sending immediately.
Make sure automatic rejections send an email
Kula can reject candidates automatically in three ways. Each has its own email setting, so turning one on doesn't turn on the others:
Rejected by | Email set up in |
|---|---|
Knockout questions | The rule itself. See Auto-rejection rules and knockout questions |
AI score below the threshold | The job's AI scoring settings. See Setting up AI screening criteria |
Fraud Detector (Suspicious) | Rejects with the reason "Fraudulent candidate", on the first automatic check only. See Catching fake profiles with the Fraud Detector |
Good to know
Bulk-rejecting applies one reason (and one email, if you send one) to every candidate you select. Worth a second look before you bulk-reject a mixed group of candidates who don't share the same rejection reason.
A rejected candidate only shows under the Rejected status, never under All Stages — regardless of whether a person or an automatic rule rejected them. If you're trying to find them later, filter by Rejected directly.
FAQ
How do I set up auto reject with AI scoring and email notifications?
Turn on the AI-scoring auto-reject toggle in the job's Job Information section for the score threshold, then attach a rejection email template to it the same way you would for a knockout rule — the two are configured separately, so setting up the score threshold alone won't start emailing candidates until you also add the email. For more on scheduling that email,
Need help?
If you have questions or need assistance, reach out to us at support@kula.ai or use the in-app chat.