a job candidate sent me plagiarized work

A reader writes:

I’m hiring translators for my agency. After the initial phone screening, I send out a test to candidates to evaluate their language and translation skills. To evaluate all candidates against the same parameters, I send them the same document in English and request them to send me back the translation in the other language. This test piece was created specifically for recruitment testing, so neither the original nor any translated versions are available publicly.

Two days ago, I rejected a candidate’s test. He wrote back asking me for “an example of what you are looking for.” My colleague suggesting sending a test that was completed earlier by a successful candidate. In hindsight, that was probably not a good idea.

Today, we had another candidate apply and I sent her the test. Within 15 minutes, she sent me the “translation” back. That struck me as odd. The test piece is short, but it is not possible to complete it in a mere 15 minutes. When I started reading it, I realized it was the identical document I had sent to the candidate I had rejected two days ago. The document properties showed that it had been created by the successful candidate, so it was clear that it had been passed on to her and she had merely re-attached it and sent it to me.

I’m obviously going to reject this candidate. But I am really tempted to mention the reasons behind the rejection rather than just sending my typical generic rejection letter. Is it unreasonable for me to do that? If not, how do you suggest this be communicated to her?

I answer this question over at Inc. today, where I’m revisiting letters that have been buried in the archives here from years ago (and sometimes updating/expanding my answers to them). You can read it here.

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