With so many exciting job vacancies available, it’s not unusual for many of us to be interviewing for several jobs at the same time. And is not uncommon for there to be a few job offers on the table – so how do you turn down a job offer without burning your bridges completely with that company?

There’s a lot of reasons you might want to turn down a job offer. Perhaps once you’d asked a few questions during the interview the role wasn’t exactly what you expected, or you might have another offer with a better package lined up. Regardless of the reason why, it’s still important to turn down the offer properly as you never know if your dream job could come up at the same company in the future.
So here’s what you need to do to turn down a job offer but still leave the door open for future opportunities.

Be Honest
When you contact the company to decline their offer, it’s important to be honest about the reason why. Politely explain why you feel this isn’t the role for you and the employer will respect your honesty and dependant upon your reason, this will give them the opportunity to rethink their future offers of employment.

Show your appreciation
By phone or email, don’t forget to thank them for their offer and the time they’ve invested in you. The recruitment process is often lengthy and time consuming for employers, and once they’ve found their star candidate and made an offer it can be very disappointing for them to have their offer declined.
Show your appreciation with a simple thank you, it really does make all the difference.

Keep in touch
If you don’t want to close the door completely with this company, then keep in touch with them. The best way of doing this is via LinkedIn, where you can connect with the individuals that interviewed you or offered you the role and also follow the company page.

This way, you can keep up to date with any new roles they are looking to fill and leave the door open for future job opportunities that might be the perfect fit for your circumstances.