{"id":1150,"date":"2017-02-03T06:15:28","date_gmt":"2017-02-03T14:15:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/recruitloop.com.au\/blog\/?p=1150"},"modified":"2019-03-27T15:52:53","modified_gmt":"2019-03-27T04:52:53","slug":"rejecting-candidates-after-interview-is-an-essential-part-of-the-recruitment-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/rejecting-candidates-after-interview-is-an-essential-part-of-the-recruitment-process\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Rejecting Candidates is Actually Good for Your Employer Brand"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s Note:<\/b>\u00a0This post is by\u00a0Paul Slezak, Cofounder and CEO of\u00a0RecruitLoop<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 the World\u2019s largest marketplace of expert\u00a0Recruiters\u00a0and\u00a0Sourcers\u00a0available on-demand.<\/i><\/p>\n

The most common complaint from job seekers is that they never hear anything after their interview<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Yet getting back to unsuccessful candidates is a common courtesy that many recruiters, employers and business owners don\u2019t seem to consider necessary any more.<\/p>\n

Sure it\u2019s easy to call a candidate, tell them how impressed you were with them at interview and to offer them a job with your organisation, or if you’re an agency recruiter to arrange a time for them to meet with your client. (And we all know how good it feels\u00a0to call a candidate and to verbally offer them a job).<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not<\/em> so nice to have to call a candidate, thank them for their time, and then let them down gently and tell them that they have been unsuccessful. But this is still something you must do if nothing else to maintain a professional reputation in the market.<\/p>\n

Rejecting\u00a0candidates is\u00a0part of the recruitment process.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

It is in your interests, because it demonstrates you are serious and that you care about what you do.\u00a0After all your candidate more than likely took time off work to come to meet with you, probably did the best they could at interview, so please have the decency to call them and let them down over the phone personally<\/em>.\u00a0The candidate will respect you for it and remember that you called them back.<\/p>\n

It is also very much in the candidate\u2019s interest to hear why<\/em> they didn\u2019t get the job.<\/p>\n

It will help them to brush up on those areas that may have let them down and allow them to do a better job next time. It will also help them to maintain their self-esteem, knowing they were unsuccessful because a better candidate won on the day, rather than hearing nothing and assuming it was because their application was so bad it didn\u2019t warrant a reply.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t wait too long to provide feedback.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Please\u00a0don\u2019t let days (or weeks) go by without providing your candidate with feedback.<\/p>\n

Candidates aren\u2019t mind readers. They genuinely want to be kept in the loop. Some candidates might think that \u201cno news is good news\u201d, while others might think that \u201csilence can only mean one thing\u201d. Don\u2019t keep candidates in a state of uncertainty.\u00a0You also don\u2019t want them making the wrong assumption.<\/p>\n

Provide them with feedback \u2013 whether positive or constructive \u2013 regardless of the outcome of their interview. They will be grateful either way and more importantly they will respect your level of professionalism.<\/p>\n

Never reject a candidate via\u00a0email.<\/h2>\n

Please don\u2019t just send a standard email (or text message!) letting them know your decision to not include them as part of the shortlist or to let them know that your client has decided not to take them to the next stage.<\/p>\n

Call them personally and provide them with any feedback you can.\u00a0Giving constructive feedback is about more than just telling the candidate what they did wrong. They probably already know that and would benefit more from hearing what they did right as well.<\/p>\n

Here are some tips for when you call:<\/p>\n