Prepare for it, because when you have bad news to deliver in a professional environment, there are ways to do it correctly, and ways to make a mess of it.

1. No matter how bad things are, everything is presented in positive terms.
To do so effectively, you must be knowledgeable of your subject and must include other facts and issues that are close to the situation. Never, never, never give bad news first!

Dear [applicant],

Thank you for your interest in [your company name].

While we were impressed with your background and experience, we have selected another candidate whose qualifications and experience more closely meet the requirements of the position.

In future, if you see a posting that interests you, we encourage you to reapply.

We appreciate your interest in [your company name] and wish you success in your future endeavors.

Human Resources

2. Good News – Bad News – Good News
Identify the good news, the bad stuff and … really think about how you can solve it. Simple, duh?! Remember nobodies wants problems … but obstacle and ways to avoid them, is ok. Present the facts and avoid excuses and finger pointing!

Ladies and gentlemen,
I am pleased to report that our new testing procedures have improved our failure detection by 95% over the past three months. We had one catastrophic failure which, regrettably, resulted in the loss of an expensive machine, but, this was scheduled for replacement during the next fiscal year and this event allowed us to revise our failure detection and increased quality and productivity.

For fun, try this the next time you get a rejection letter from a employer:

Dear [name of the person who signed the rejection letter],

Thank you for your letter of [date]. After careful consideration, I regret to inform you that I am unable to accept your refusal to offer me [job title].

This year I have been particularly fortunate in receiving an unusually large number of rejection letters. With such a varied and promising field of candidates, it is impossible for me to accept all refusals. Despite [company name]’s outstanding qualifications and previous experience in rejecting [applicants], I find that your rejection does not meet with my needs at this time.

Therefore, I will initiate [employment] with your firm immediately following [graduation/job change, etc. — get creative here]. I look forward to working with you.

Best of luck in rejecting future candidates.

Sincerely,
[your name]

Ok, webmasters / web developers, here’s the news:

the oldest animated character in the world is … a goat leaping to get the leaves on a tree.

Without a website support to show it, our ancient artist used a painted bowl.

But if you start spinning … here’s the output:

Pretty cool, eh? Now, you can make your day and insert this public domain animated character to your website, or even better, take some pottery class and start build on this new media.