Have you ever been “ghosted”? That time when a romantic partner just disappears – not returning calls or texts – just suddenly cutting off all communication, as if the relationship never existed?
It’s a cruel and immature way to end a relationship. Young people tend to do it because they are afraid of the reaction they may get when they want to break up with someone if they were to do it in person or over the phone or text.
But even adults ghost. (Even middle-aged adults, if the story that Cherlize Theron ghosted Sean Penn is true.)
And, be honest, isn’t there at least one time you never got back to a candidate after interviewing him or her ? You just….disappeared?
We’ve all done it probably. After all, as recruiters, we’re overwhelmed with candidates and position requisitions. Or as hiring managers, we have our regular jobs to do, not to mention interviewing several candidates, and then conducting second and possibly third interviews, negotiating salary with the candidate we do choose, onboarding the candidate and getting him up to speed. It’s easy to forget about the candidates we met with but didn’t choose.
But they haven’t forgotten us. And since many companies don’t even bother to send out a “thank you for applying but we choose a more qualified candidate” letter anymore your candidates — the people who took time out of their days (possibly more than once) to come to your office for several hours are sitting at home. Waiting. Wondering.
This is No Way to Treat a Candidate!
While it’s common practice now not to acknowledge applicants who aren’t interviewed for a position, we feel that anyone who takes the time to come in for an interview deserves the courtesy of a phone call to hear that the hiring manager chose someone else.
And that phone call should come from the hiring manager. (At the very least, the hiring manager should send an e-mail to the not-chosen candidate.)
More Than Just the Right Thing to Do
Taking the time to contact an interviewed candidate not only is courteous, but can help a candidate stay interested in you in the future. After all, a talented individual may not be the right fit for one position, but could be a great one for another. Just imagine the cost savings: instead of having to cull through dozens of resumes, speak to several more candidates, and so on you could instead just bring him in to make sure he’s a good fit. No need to go through the interview process all over again!
But if you never let him know he didn’t get the job, not only do you not keep him in your pipeline, he now has negative thoughts and feelings about you. Don’t forget, people tend to share negative experiences they’ve had with businesses more than they share positive encounters. And with social media at his fingertips……
Bottom line: calling a candidate to let him know he didn’t get the job not only shows respect and courtesy, it helps create a positive candidate experience. On the other hand, a negative candidate experience can be “self-destructive” and have undesirable consequences for your firm down the road.
Sorting through resumes and performing preliminary screening activities on candidates for your Orange County or Los Angeles company can take considerable time. Let Helpmates do this tiresome but critical aspect of your interview process for you. Contact us today.
