Okay, everyone…Pop Quiz!
You are recruiting on an open position. You source a candidate, screen him, have him chat with the hiring manager and decide to fly him in for an interview with the team. After a long day of interviews, it is determined that this candidate will not get the job. What do you do?
A) Let him know that you will not be offering and offer him some feedback on his interviews.
B) Tell him that he did very well, but another candidate was stronger.
C) Send a quick e-mail saying the position has been filled. Best of luck in your search.
D) Nothing.
I will accept A, B, and begrudgingly, even C. But, if you picked D, you just failed Professor Pankow’s Probing Pop Quiz.
I know we’ve covered this topic at FOT in the past. But, I feel like I have heard multiple stories from candidates recently about how they’ve gone through an entire recruiting process and heard nothing in the end. Zilch. Nada.
If you are a recruiter who frequently leaves candidates hanging, I would like to hear from you in the comments. Why do you do this? What makes this okay either professionally or morally?
I am not talking about a response for every candidate that applies. I mean, if you are a high volume recruiter, it’s not realistic that you are going to send an e-mail to hundreds of people. But, don’t you feel you owe some kind of explanation to the people you’ve spoken to? People who have taken time out of their days and often days off of work to interview with your company?
My guess is that reasoning for this comes down to one of two things. Either the recruiter doesn’t like giving bad news or they are too busy to reach out. Here are my suggestions for both.
If you don’t like giving bad news, try to remember that this is not about you; it’s about the candidate. Giving them the news, even if it’s bad, at least gives them closure. They know that they shouldn’t wait on pins and needles for this opportunity to come to them. They can move on and know they tried their best. Most people express gratitude when I call them with the bad news. Of course, it doesn’t make their day. But, at least they know that we cared enough as a company to let them know where they stand.
Time, I can sympathize with a little more. We’re all busy. But, try to consider it part of the process. Just like you need to block time for the phone screen, just like you need to block time to deliver an offer, block time to break the news. It can be as quick and easy as a form e-mail. A phone call is better and more personal, but if time is really the issue, just hit send on a pre-constructed mail. When I am pressed for time, I will often shoot out such an e-mail with an offer to schedule some time if they want further feedback.
Feedback doesn’t need to take longer than 10 minutes. Maybe even less. “Hi… you didn’t get the job. We’re moving forward with a candidate who had a stronger background in mud-wrestling. Sorry to bring bad news. Do you have any questions?” That’s it. It’s quick and it’s easy. Move along to other things.
I’m sorry to rehash old wounds with topics already explored. But, come on, people. We work in Human Resources. We’re supposed to know how to deal with people. The Golden Rule is important in recruiting as well as life. Treat candidates as you wish to be treated. And, stop ignoring them.
Jason, great post and always something worth discussing. I did several months of research on candidate experience earlier this year using a statistical sample of over 250 companies (various sizes/industries) and over 97% offered poor candidate experience.
The cost of this that goes unrealized as that very few companies can exist without customers of some sort. Candidates are often current or potential customers. Their experience with you, at a time when they are most interested in your organization, can dictate their future relations with your company.
For example: I company I analyzed received over 90,000 unique applicants a year. Statistically, 87,000 were not current customers. An average customer of that company spent $150 per year with that business. The way the recruiter and company treat and interact with that candidate can have an impact of upto $13MM in sales, but be conservative and say you convert only 10% of the candidate pool and it’s still $1.3MM in sales.
Powerful stuff, and as I say “no evil can come from treaing candidates like your best customers.”
Again, timely post, and I’ll be fascinated to follow the comments.
Jason, that’s a great post and your message can’t be repeated often enough. All our research at Jobsite.co.uk indicates that this is the single biggest factor that makes looking and changing jobs such as miserable experience.
For me it comes down to respect for the individual, for respecting the time they took to engage. And as Jim mentioned in his comment, every candidate is a potential customer.
@Jim…that is an Excellent point! I have a mentor that taught me that a long time ago. “Everyone is a customer.” By not responding, not only are we being rude, we’re potentially losing a sale. Great comment.
@Felix…indeed, you are correct. I think recruiters get so honed in on the person they’re going to hire that they forget to consider the individual that’s left hanging.
Jason, I’m glad there is someone out there on the recruiter’s side laying all this out. Can’t tell you the number of clients I have spoken to who are just frustrated beyond belief that recruiters they hired could not or will not give it to them straight. Job seekers are entitled to a response, whether good or bad…at least they will know what to do next!
Sometimes recruiters forget that this is all part of customer service…excellent recruiters get a LOT of referral business when they treat job seekers right. Hopefully this post will remind them if not jolt them awake from their stupor.
Karen, The Resume Chick (on Google or Twitter for questions, comments or violent reactions)
Iam so glad & agree with your point. Lots of recruiters do not realise this mistake. I see this happening often with candidates and even I face too as a candidate. It makes me wonder, why most of the recruiters ignore this. Candidate experience is so important in the entire recruitment life cycle and it has to be taken care well even at closure too, though it is a bad news to the candidate.
Not only the recruiter, it affects the organization image too.
@girlofhr – The only problem I see with keeping people hanging is they may really want Opportunity A and turn down Opportunity B or even C because they feel like they’re still a contender for A. When they find out they aren’t in consideration or someone else was chosen at whatever point, it can be hard to handle.
Between my husband and I, we’ve dealt with lots of situations with recruiters (both internal and external) and I cannot tell you how frustrating it is to feel strung along. My husband had three interviews in three different states that he was told he was a “finalist” for, but no one would make a decision. He ultimately took the first position that made a firm offer, because we needed something firm. It wound up working out for him.
I’m one of the “underemployed” right now because I took something for benefits and stability (it gets old looking at your resume and realizing it’s slowly going to you know where and there is not a whole lot you can do about that) but have been consistently frustrated with recruiters who never follow up or return calls. I’d be happy to hear “we just don’t have anything that we think you would be a good fit for” if it meant being able to know for sure an opportunity wasn’t happening.
To the recruiter it may be just another candidate, but that candidate is a person; that person deserves the simple respect of a phone call or email to let them know they’re not in the running (you could even say “for this position” if you’re so inclined.)
I agree Jason. Its important to set expectations up front, and live up to them when it is time to deliver the message. We are representatives of the company we support, as well as representing ourselves as professionals. Closing the loop in a timely and professional way is a great step in building and fostering relationships.
You might recruit this person again someday, or they might have a friend to refer to you at some point. The better the experience they have with you, the more likely you will reap the rewards from your efforts later.
It’s not only recruiters that aren’t treating candidates well. I had an interview today with a hiring manager whose goal was to antagonize and and/or embarrass the candidate. The candidate walked out. I asked the manager what the purpose of this was – his response, “I needed to see them under stress.”
Unfortunately, he isn’t the only manager hiring like this right now.
Nice post, Jason. I strongly believe in communication throughout the recruitment process, particularly toward the end. Even if you decide the candidates you’re speaking with aren’t right for THIS position, you might want to keep them in your pipeline for positions coming in the future. Not keeping in touch and updating them on this process will likely make them not want to work for you down the road. Bottom line is communicate—if the candidate is no longer someone you are considering, let them know. If they are, let them know that too.
And @Jim, great comment! The way you handle candidates is a huge reflection on your employment brand and overall company reputation. Failing to communicate could hurt your ability to attract candidates and customers in the future. (I wrote more about that earlier this year: http://blog.yoh.com/2010/01/why-you-need-to-communicate-with-all.html).
Spot on – common courtesy! A key pillar of business.
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Following up with candidates is not only the right thing to do; it’s also good business. Yes, it takes time and distracts from the primary job of finding and placing the right person. Remember though that our’s is a people business. Candidates who I followed up with appropriately years ago often call me out of the blue – I just got a job last month from a former candidate. (We do retained search) On the flip side, candidates remember inappropriate follow up as well – and trust me it can be very damaging over the long term.
Regarding another post about the ill advised behavior of the hiring manager who wanted to see the candidates under a “stressful environment – I would really apreciate stories,examples, solutions to the challenge of communicating effectively with your internal corporate clients. I’m doing a series of presenations for National and State SHRM audiences on managing the search process, with a focus on communication issues.” Comments from you guys – the experts – would lend real life impact and help a large number of people.
Thanks very much.