We recently had interviews for a retail position at my store. After sending the generic ‘we decided on another candidate’ email to the applicants we interviewed but decided against, one of them asked if I could provide any feedback as he’s been looking for work for almost a year, is well qualified, gets asked in for interviews but never gets the position. He’s asked for any help and critique about himself, his interviewing skills or his resume that may help him for the next application.

The issue is, he smelled very badly of a mixture of curry, B.O., and bad breath. To the point one of my staff Slacked me about it when he first came in to warn me, and I had to host the next interview in a different room to let the one we were in air out.

He seemed very smart, confident albeit a bit nerdy, he knew all the products we carry and seemed to have the knowledge to sell them. I feel like if it was me I’d want to know what’s holding me back because it should be an easy enough fix. But I’m concerned about professionalism and the overall…. Politeness of telling someone you didn’t hire them because they stink. What do you think?