How to respond to unsuccessful candidates
Human resource management is an exciting career path as you get to meet people from different walks of life, lead a team, ensure the company’s employees are happy and work hand-in-hand with management.
You get to cover so many different areas in a business, and one of them is hiring employees.
While the talent searching process is overwhelming with so much competition out there, it can also be daunting when you need to tell unsuccessful candidates that they didn’t make it.
After all, these candidates have put the effort in with their application and face-to-face interview, the least you can do is give them a proper ‘no’ with reasoning as to why they didn’t meet the company’s criteria.
For many busy HR departments, it’s too much of an effort to give them a reason. But whatever you say could assist them with their next attempt. It’s never easy to reject someone who tried their best, but here are two reasons why companies should get in touch with their applicants after the interview process:
The right of reply: Because everything happens digitally nowadays, so many emails get lost in translation when it comes to job applications. Often times, HR departments and managers themselves fail to respond to an applicant after the interview process to let them know that they didn’t make the cut. With the job market being increasingly competitive and so many different, talented individuals trying their luck at finding a new job, it’s important for human resource departments to give their applicants their right of reply, depending on the stage of the recruitment process the candidate has reached. Professionalism goes a long way when rejecting an applicant, therefore common courtesy is to provide additional tailored feedback, especially if requested by the applicant on why their application was unsuccessful.
Don’t blame it on the numbers: Depending on the size of the organisation, there are always going to be times when there’s a massive influx of applicants and only the top 10 get contacted for interviews. It’s normal that most companies don’t have the time to sit and respond individually to each person who applied, but once they have been contacted with regards to an interview, applicants should be kept in the loop. It’s only fair and respectful that they know where they stand.
Here are a few tips when responding to your applicants:
Tell the truth: If you’re rejecting a candidate, it’s important to give them a truthful answer as to why their skills or experience is not what the company is looking for. This type of constructive feedback will give them the advice they need to be better. If they take your advice and apply to your company at a later stage, management will be pleased with how enthusiastic and willing that individual still is about your company. There is no reason to lie to your unsuccessful candidates. It’s already so difficult to find a job, so at least be respectful and part ways with them over some feedback they can learn from.
Treat your candidate with respect: An application process needs to be unbiased. You cannot base your judgement on the way someone looks, smells or speaks. At the end of the day, you’re hiring talent to add value to your company. This type of negative reaction or comment to others could set a bad name for the company. Make sure you are always professional, regardless of culture, race, age, sex or opinion.
Provide the feedback to offer assistance: Feedback should not be a hassle to give out, especially to unsuccessful candidates. Your feedback needs to be of assistance to the applicant, so make sure that anything you say to them will guide them. Anything negative, rude or an attack on their character can be escalated and communicated to the public. This will give your company a bad name.
Stick with factual feedback: On the back of being respectful, stay away from making decisions based on how you feel about a particular person. Either someone has the skill and personality to fit into your working culture and make a difference or they don’t. And, even if they don’t, it should not be based on your opinion but rather on their skills or experience. Keep feedback factual and unbiased, and make sure your candidates perform a practical test to better support your feedback. That way, you’ll be able to test their expertise and if they don’t fit the position or make the cut, the test results are then self-explanatory.
Final words:
In HR, you’re dealing with people’s emotions on a daily basis. Your love for people is not a good enough reason why you would excel in such a position. If you feel that you lack emotional intelligence or the ability to perform HR tasks efficiently, take the time to do a human resource management course to better your knowledge and skills in your career. Industries are constantly changing, and while you might have thought that you’d just be sitting in the corner organising admin, there are so many other tasks you need to be handling. Talent management is an exciting element of HR, and if you recruit and hire the right people, it can offer your company plenty of rewards in the long run. Do your research and constantly try and personalise (or better) your approach to unsuccessful candidates. A friendly, helpful approach could really make a difference to the applicant and give your company a strong name in the industry.