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Respond, acknowledge, Be straight Forward.
The minimum responsibility of an HR towards job seekers is to respond to them or update them about the status of their applications.
I am assuming this question is directed towards those job seekers whos applications are unsuccessful but the status is unknown. In this case, a little explaining why their application was unsuccessful and a few words of encouragement to motivate them won't hurt either. You can wish them best of luck for their job search in the future.
In case you would like to keep their Resume in your records for future opportunities, you can ask them for permission to keep their information in your records.
The key is to be informative, positive, and polite towards them. Remember we were all there at some point in our career OR can be in future as well.
