Question for entrepreneurs: What is the best way to offer a job or reject an applicant after an interview?

I鈥檓 a new business owner & need advice on interview etiquette. This is a non-corporate setting, I own a medium sized family entertainment center and most of my applicants are high school or college students as well as a few stay-at-home mothers looking for part time work

When/how is the best way to offer a job? In what way (if any) should I respond to unsuccessful interviews where no job is offered? Input with as many details as you can spare is greatly appreciated (especially a sample of a job offer and rejection).

Because of the sheer volume of applications I have to turn a lot of them away. Do most business owners call and tell prospects they are not needed or can they imply it by not calling? When offering the job, is there a protocol of what to say (ie; "We would like to extend to offer you a position of a party host, the pay is $11/per hour") or is there no set standard?

This may sound like a redundant question, but I'm going from stay at home mom to a business owner, so the role itself is a stretch for me.

Easiest way to offer a job would to simply state which hours and days are available and see if that is OK with the applicant. If it's not try to find out exactly how flexible they are and if you can work with them and them with you.

You should not tell the person during the interview that they did not get the job. It's a lot easier to tell them you will let them know within a week.

The simplest way to tell someone they didn't get the job would be to call and tell them, "I'm sorry the position has been filled, but if you want us to keep your application on file for future openings we will do so." As long as you are honest to the prospective employees you should have no problems finding the right people.