Responding to applicants
LeslieC
204 Posts
It seems that more and more I am getting emails from applicants who have submitted their resumes in response to want ads, in which the applicant wants to know why I did not select them to interview. I always made it a practice to not respond to these emails (I could end up spending ALOT of time at this). I am wondering if other HR people are seeing this trend and if anyone is actually answering these queries?
Comments
I do, however, try to make myself very available to applicants. I will sit for a couple of minutes with anyone who fills out an application, I return all applicant phone calls, and I follow up after all interviews to let them know the status of things, and finally I call all interviewees one way or another after the final decision. I try to treat them like customer. Looking for a job is the hardest job and I think we've all been there and know what it is like. I do respect these people and give them my time, but communicating by e-mail shows no initiative or effort and I would force them to communicate directly with me.
If you get into the reasons for that subjective decision, you will find the applicant argueing with you about their qualifications or personality or experience or any of the myriad reasons you chose someone else.
It is rarely the black and white issue such as, you did not have an Engineering Degree. For that reason, I send a letter to each direct applicant indicating that we have filled the position and thanking them for their interest. If they persist, I only say - we filled the position with a person that we thought was the best fit.
Getting into details is fruitless for all.
And the only people I email to tell them they were not selected are the ones who actually physically came in for a series of interviews. Sorry, but I just don't have the time to do otherwise. And I send that final message to myself with blind copies to the candidates. We can let this internet phenomenom overrun us or we can manage our personal time. It's our choice.
The only applicants or candidates I reply to in writing are those whom we've actually interviewed. Then I do not EVER give them a personal objective reason why they did not get the job. The Dear John letter states simply: "Thank you . ., . .however, after careful review of all candidates for this position, we have selected a final candidate whose education, background, training and work experience we feel is most suited to this position and the needs of . . "
We're reaching a volumn where we may not be able to reply to all contacts. I'll have to think of something else.
And yes, our selection has nearly as much to do with 'chemistry' and 'fit' as with BFOQ's. Hence: "we feel is most suited to this position and the needs of . . . ."
I don't think I need to go any further or shorter than that.
If it is someone who did have a formal interview, I do think they deserve a response (phone call, letter). If it is a resume or email solicitation or walk in fill out application type of person who never gets an interview... I don't think that you need to respond. We would have to hire an additional bodies to do this. (You must have a higher unemployment rate or better jobs that we do to get this many follow up's from email/resume submissions.)
May be they just want to make sure you received their resume. If that was the case and you WANTED to respond, you could do so and say "Your resume has been received, however you were not selected for further consideration at this time.) If you are just getting follow up emails with someone just continuing to show an interest, I wouldn't do a thing. If it's a phone call, just say they were not selected for further consideration. (You don't have to say why.) If it is someone you might be interested in for other or future jobs, you can add that you will be glad to keep their resume on file in case another position might arise. (This is why I like to have a separation of resumes and applications. I feel that applications may deserve a response, resumes not.)
E Wart
We get a lot of walk-ins who fill out an application and then bug us to death that they didn't get a job. I go around preaching all of the time that we don't need to give them a reason....but that doesn't seem to work either.
We have currently taken the tact that, to get them off the phones or emails, we send them a postcard (pre-printed) with minimal verbiage, letting them know that all things considered we found other people/another person whatever that fit the organizational goals more appropriately. IF they call back and want to argue about it, we just tell them that they have received a postcard and that is our final word on the topic, end of discussion.
However, for people we actually interview but do not choose to hire, we send a letter saying something like: "given all qualifications we had to consider we feel we chose the candidate that best suits the needs of the department, the Hospital, etc. If we REALLY liked them, we tell them we will stay in touch, otherwise we drop it.
If someone just follows up to ask if I got their resume, I always confirm that I have, its a fair request.
Its just all of these "what's wrong with my resume" "can you tell me what I should be doing differently" inquiries that I find astounding. I use to be Career Counselor, and I am tempted to tell these people that for $150 per "50 minute hour" I'll work with them.. just kidding...
thanks for all the info.