Candidate rejection emails and AI data leakage: what a rejection email gives away in ChatGPT or Claude.

Rejection emails are the most dreaded writing in a recruiter’s week, which is why they go into ChatGPT or Claude for a kinder draft. The email names the candidate, repeats what the client said about her interview, gives a reason and promises to keep her on file. Drafts also tend to include what the consultant is thinking and what the client really meant. This page marks every item in a routine rejection email that the Privacy Act and anti-discrimination law touch, and shows how the same email is drafted on Ermos inside the agency, before it is checked and sent.

The candidate rejection email

Written after the client decides, within a day or two of the interview, to every unsuccessful candidate who reached the client. Many are drafted from the client’s feedback email.

To:
From:
Date: Monday 2 November 2026, 5.30pm
Subject: Finance Manager, Northgate Freight Solutions

Dear Jessica,

Thank you for your time on Tuesday.

Kind regards,
Tamsin

An invented email. All people and companies are fictional and the email address is a placeholder. Hover or tap any highlighted item for the analysis; the full list is below.

What leaves the agency

  1. 1
    The candidate and her email address

    A named person and a personal address. Personal information, in an email about a job she did not get. Privacy Act guide.

  2. 2
    That she applied to a named client

    That a named person went for a named role at a named company. It reveals a job search her current employer may not know about.

  3. 3
    The client’s reason

    A reason that refers to seniority and the age profile of a team. The Fair Work Act protects prospective employees from adverse action because of attributes that include age, the NSW Act has provisions aimed at employment agencies, and under s 361, where a complainant alleges that adverse action was taken for a prohibited reason, that reason is presumed unless the person who took the action proves otherwise. Wording like this is the kind a complaint turns on. Privacy Act guide.

  4. 4
    Interview feedback

    A manager’s opinion of her performance and her answers. Personal information in the form of an opinion about the candidate, given in confidence by the client. Privacy Act guide.

  5. 5
    Another candidate’s offer

    That an offer was made and its amount. Personal information about a different candidate, disclosed to a person who has no right to it. Privacy Act guide.

  6. 6
    A request to keep her on file

    A statement that her information will be retained and used again. A use of her personal information that the privacy notice and her consent need to cover. Privacy Act guide.

  7. 7
    The consultant

    Ties the email to a named consultant and her direct number.

  8. 8
    A note to self left in the draft

    The consultant’s private thought that the candidate will suspect age, written into the body. Evidence of what the agency suspected, and the reason a draft should never leave the building. If the candidate asks for access to what the agency holds, APP 12 requires access unless an exception applies. Privacy Act guide.

What happens in Frontier Models (ChatGPT, Claude)

  • The whole document is transmitted to the provider’s servers. On personal plans the user cannot choose where it is stored or processed, and for the major providers that has generally meant outside Australia, under that country’s legal process. Some business plans offer storage in Australia, but the provider still receives the content.
  • On consumer tiers, prompts can be retained and used to train future models.
  • The provider’s staff and systems can reach the content under the provider’s own policies.
  • Once sent, the agency no longer controls it. Retention and deletion happen on the provider’s terms.

The same document on Ermos

Ermos Dominion

The document is drafted on a unit in your office, from your own templates and the candidate file. Every marked item stays on the unit, which keeps working with the internet switched off. Nothing in it is transmitted to an AI provider, so there is no disclosure to analyse: the confidentiality work is the same as for your file server.

Ermos Edge

Your documents, the index and your access boundaries stay on your own instance in an Australian data centre. When a staff member asks for this draft, only their question and the excerpts they are permitted to see go to a named Australian provider, who is contractually barred from keeping the content or training any model on it. Nothing is processed outside Australia.

Frontier Models (ChatGPT, Claude)Ermos EdgeErmos Dominion
Where the document is processedProvider servers, generally offshore on personal plansYour instance in an Australian data centre; answers generated in AustraliaThe unit in your office
Who can read itProvider staff and systems, under policyYour staff, within the boundaries you set. The named Australian provider processes only permitted excerpts, under contract, and keeps nothingYour staff only
Is it keptOn the provider’s termsKept on your instance; the provider is barred from retaining itStays on the unit
Can it train a modelOn consumer tiers, yesNo, by contractOnly your own unit learns from it, on your hardware

Part of AI data leakage in recruitment agencies.

Common questions

Do ChatGPT and Claude use the information in a candidate rejection email?
Yes, everything pasted or uploaded is sent to the AI company's servers and processed there to produce a reply. As at October 2026, whether a conversation on a personal plan (ChatGPT Free, Plus or Pro; Claude Free, Pro or Max) can be used to train the models depends on a setting each user controls. Business plans (ChatGPT Business and Enterprise, Claude Team and Enterprise) and the developer APIs sit under commercial terms, and OpenAI and Anthropic each say they do not train on that content by default (OpenAI, Anthropic). On either product, the thumbs up and thumbs down buttons can send a whole conversation back for training. The email names Jessica Whitlam, repeats a client's comment about seniority and the age profile of its team, and mentions another candidate's offer.
Is it safe to paste a candidate rejection email into ChatGPT or Claude for a kinder draft?
No, because the draft holds more than the email being sent. The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) recommends in its guidance on commercially available AI products that organisations do not enter personal information, and particularly sensitive information, into publicly available generative AI tools, because of the significant and complex privacy risks. This one carries the client's interview feedback, another candidate's offer amount and a note to self that she will think it is age. All of it would reach the AI company.
Can ChatGPT or Claude be trusted to draft a candidate rejection email?
Not without a check. Language models can produce fluent text with details that are not in the source, wrong figures, wrong dates or references that look real but are not. A qualified person should check every line against the client's actual feedback. In this email the stated reason, the interview comments and any mention of another candidate's offer would do most harm if wrong.
How can a recruitment agency use AI for a candidate rejection email without sending it to ChatGPT or Claude?
Ermos is built so the document stays under your control. On the Dominion AI unit it is drafted inside your office and none of it is sent to an AI provider. On Ermos Edge your documents and index stay on your own instance in an Australian data centre, and only the question and the excerpts the user is permitted to see go to a named Australian provider that is contractually barred from keeping them or training any model on them. Ermos drafts the email from the client's feedback and the agency's own rejection template. The consultant checks the wording, decides what to say and signs it before it goes.
Do we have to give reasons to an unsuccessful candidate?
Giving reasons is a choice, and it carries risk. Under section 361 of the Fair Work Act, where a complainant alleges that adverse action was taken for a prohibited reason, that reason is presumed unless the person who took the action proves otherwise, so a stated reason referring to age or family becomes evidence. Take advice on how much to put in writing.
Can an unsuccessful candidate ask what we hold about her?
APP 12 requires an APP entity to give an individual access to the personal information it holds about them on request, unless a specific exception applies. Drafts, notes and feedback may be within that, so assume the candidate may read them and keep internal comments out of the email chain and the file.
Can we tell her about another candidate's offer?
The offer amount is personal information about the successful candidate. Disclosing it to an unsuccessful one is a use and disclosure question under APP 6, and it serves no purpose the successful candidate would reasonably expect when they accepted the offer. Say that an offer has been made if the client agrees, and leave the amount out.

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