Nailing down sources for a story is often hit and miss — and more of a miss around the holidays.
Through the years, I’ve had some interesting rejections. Some are completely understandable like, “We’re entering our quiet period” which means no one at that company better so much as sneeze in the direction of the press or investors until nap time is over. This typically happens before quarterly investor reports. Any public disclosures are closely governed by the feds during the quiet period so I totally get that. No one wants to rock the boat during that critical time.
Some rejections come as a total surprise. What you see as a great opportunity for both that company and CCJ readers others see as a bad fit and may respond with something like, “Thank you for thinking of us, but we’ll have to respectfully decline.” Who knows? Maybe the pitch wasn’t quite on target or maybe a swamped PR agent sees it as another late night at the office.
The shortest rejection I’ve gotten yet is “Pass” which is a wee bit longer and a tad more graceful than “No” but still has a dating app sting to it as if I’ve been swiped clean off the screen.
[Related: J.B. hunt honors veterans with Wreaths Across America]
