How can I discourage unsolicited job requests?

Question

My team recently hired a couple of interns, and I was the point-of-contact for the hiring process. I made the unfortunate decision to include my work e-mail address when posting the opening to my alma mater's job boards.

The positions are closed, but I am now receiving random e-mails from students asking if there are any openings. I don't particularly want to receive any more e-mails when there is no job opening, and our company has a jobs site where current openings can be viewed (which is where they should be looking).

I don't want to be rude to the job seekers, because:

1. I remember being in their shoes and feeling somewhat desperate for a job.
2. I was the one that stupidly put my contact info out there where students could get it.

How can I craft a response to these students that says "we have no openings and please don't contact me again", in a way that is professional but firm?

Answer 1

How can I craft a response to these students that says "we have no openings and please don't contact me again", in a way that is professional but firm?

Something like "We're sorry, but the positions are filled at this time. For future openings, please see our jobs site at jobs.yourcompany.com" should suffice.

In the future, whenever you need an email address to use for these sorts of time-limited external communications, create one specifically for that purpose that you can forward, or use an email from which you can add/remove yourself.

Answer 2

Change your email address.

If you don't want your time to be wasted reading emails from people who are writing regarding a position that is no longer available, the best way is to close that email completely.

The IT department should be able to handle such changes, and direct any work-related aliases to your new email. You may also request that the old account be kept open so that you can check it once in a while when you are free, but otherwise this seems to be the best option available to stop receiving emails regarding the closed position.

Alternatively, contact your school to confirm that they have removed the listing. It could be the fact that they did not ensure that it was taken down when it expired, and therefore removing the entry (if it is still up) will likely significantly reduce the number of emails regarding the position.