What is a wise way and the right timing to inform a professor that supported you of your rejection? Let there be some professor who whole-heartedly supported your application to some position in academia; let the decision be a rejection. Then what is a wise way and the right timing to inform the professor of this matter?

I think: if I inform the professor right after I am aware of the decision, then I may hurt his/her feeling, because he/she was for me; if I inform him/her later, then the same concern takes place and I cannot justify why I procrastinated letting him/her know it. Moreover, I am not quite sure what is a wise way to draft such an email.

I know that there is no "the" right timing; I just want to know a win-win timing, so to speak.

Thank you for taking time to share your wisdom.
I think: if I inform the professor right after I am aware of the decision, then I may hurt his/her feeling, because he/she was for me; if I inform him/her later, then the same concern takes place and I cannot justify why I procrastinated letting him/her know it.


You shouldn't worry about this at all:


Faculty members generally aren't particularly emotionally invested in these decisions.  For the students involved, they feel (and in fact are) incredibly weighty, but faculty members are involved in dozens of cases per year, so they get some good news and some bad news and it all averages out emotionally.
Even if this professor is unusually emotionally invested in the outcome, delaying reporting the result won't make it better.  They might end up feeling unhappy with the unfairness of life or the poor decision-making skills of whoever turned down your application, but they won't be upset with or disappointed in you, so there's no reason to worry or delay.


I'd recommend just letting your letter writers know when you find out, without stressing out about when or how you tell them.  You could just forward the rejection e-mail with a brief note (such as the "Many thanks for your support; unfortunately I did not succeed." suggested by iayork).