“I’ve been applying for jobs since 2010,” says an outgoing young woman still searching for that first career job in the field of her college major. “I’ve been shocked by the number of places you never hear back from. You start to wonder, should I even apply?” 
When I go to the comments sections at career advice sites and job boards, listen to the locker room talk at the health club, and talk to friends who are looking for work, one thing I hear constantly is about the black hole where job applications disappear into. That abyss that apparently swallows the contact info. of candidates, maybe even after they have had seemingly successful interviews, background checks, drug testing, etc.
Back in February I posted this story on Staffing Talk about what potential employers owe job applicants. We received some really good comments so I thought I would revisit the topic.
In the body of my previous article I quoted a job seeker who calls potential employers cowards and disrespectful when they perpetually leave job seekers in limbo. Our first commenter said at the very least Acknowledgement and Closure is due the candidate.
“I’m sure there are systems that are in place to send out automatic form letters for both of those items. I know I am not grateful for the reject letter, but lately I am more thankful due to the fact that other companies only offer limbo as a choice. As far as the cowards and stuff talk, I would tend to think that it is not cowardliness but more just a lack of consideration and lack of knowledge. They only want to see the list of acceptable candidates. Candidates that do not make the cut are not a matter of their concern, and that goes back to the systems in place just like they send the automated acknowledge email they can send the automated closure email. But sometimes I just call until I get a voice that gives me closure.
I know I am not grateful for the reject letter, but lately I am more thankful due to the fact that other companies only offer limbo as a choice.
Following the posting of that comment came this one in response.
“I hate to be ‘that guy’ but I have to,” says Kevin Prow. “Liability plays a factor in the lack of closure. You’ve been unemployed for a year and are on your last dime in litigious America. What a better time then now to utilize the Land of Possibilities’ legal system to earn you another year on the couch… only this time, it’s paid. So what if your case doesn’t have merit? What’s cheaper for the company that rejected you–fighting you in court, or paying you to just go away?”
Liability plays a factor in the lack of closure.
Then “Stevie” chimed in. “I have to agree with Mr. Prow. Employers need to be very careful when giving an applicant “closure.” One wrong word could cost the company a lot of $, and earn the applicant yet another year of sucking on the teet of the system!”
Daniel – This is a huge problem in today’s world of recruiting. Many companies, I’d say approximately 75%(probably more) don’t have the common courtesy to let you know what their decision is. Sometimes, I understand if I send in an application online and I’m not a good fit, then the company doesn’t respond back. Fine, I’ve gotten used to that, so I guess that’s just how it is.
The worst part is when you complete a 1 1/2 hr. assessment or have a phone interview or worse yet, have a 3 hr. face-to-face interview with a few of the hiring managers and many of these companies do not have the common courtesy to send an email or make a phone call letting people like me know what their decision is. They just ignore you and leave you in limbo, holding onto any hope that maybe they are still considering you. 4 weeks, 6 weeks, 2 months go by without a word. There’s been a couple instances where I’ve told maybe 3-5 companies what I thought of it and that I thought it was very disrespectful and the least they owed me was a simple email or phone call communicating the decision to me based on the time I took to make a good impression on them.
Corporate America makes me sick these days. Full of jerks and insensitive a-holes who only care about themselves and have zero consideration for the hard working people who are trying their a$$es off to find employment. They need to put themselves in our shoes and then maybe they will get it.
Corporate America makes me sick these days. Full of jerks and insensitive a-holes who only care about themselves and have zero consideration for the hard working people who are trying their a$es off to find employment. They need to put themselves in our shoes and then maybe they will get it.
Gerald – Hi Daniel, I understand your frustration. However, lawsuits have made it so that it is “safer” to not tell a person why they didn’t get the job — it’s hard to sue someone for discrimination when you don’t have any feedback whatsoever. Maybe it’s a sad reality, but I bet that’s the case for a lot of companies.
Is that what’s at the heart of this? Litigation? Or is it lack of time? Or something else? When I was at a job board site a recruiter who said they work for “a very large placement firm in Chicago” made this comment.
I’m not going to lie. I’m guilty of this same thing. The main issue here usually boils down to time. I, just like you, have only 24 hours in a day, usually 8-9 of which are spent at work. When I have a job posting out there, depending on the position, I usually get between 60-100 resumes a week for each position and I usually have 4-5 going at once. Sometimes I can’t even get through all the resumes, let alone respond to them. To be able to respond to everyone would take almost my entire day and I would never actually be able to find that right person which in the end may be you. Unfortunately, even at a company my size, we don’t have any way of clicking a button to automatically send out an email saying ‘Thank you, but you’re just not a fit’, because of the way we interface with job boards. So please take this into account. We’re not all horrible people that want to screw you over. One other thing I will say though is, even though many times I might put “No phone calls” in the ad, if someone calls me I take the time to talk to them and go over their resume with them on the phone.
So is this recruiter saying that at least part of the problem could be addressed with software? That if he could click a button to generate an email that at least a candidate would hear something? Gregg, are you reading this? Sounds fairly simple and straightforward.
As for the rest of you, what are your company policies regarding acknowledgement and closure? When a req or position is filled, do you have a mechanism for contacting everybody else in the pile to inform them of this, and perhaps encourage them to apply again for another position? Do you think a job applicant deserves anything when they apply for a job with you?
We’d love to hear from you again.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
As I posted in the earlier article, I believe; and do my best to make sure that any candidates that actually interview are kept up to date on the status of the job order. Whether they were selected or not, I try to keep them apprised of the progress of my search. This is out of courtesy and honestly, to simplify future searches: If I leave a great candidate (and those should be the only ones I interview if I’m screening right) why let them slip away because the initial opening didn’t work out?
In Staffing especially, there is a desired ‘return on investment’ from each interview, and that can only be maximized if we treat our candidates fairly, respectfully and as if we value their time and skills as much as our own.
As to responding to each person who submitted a resume for a position: I don’t feel that is ‘owed’. More often than not, the candidates have not met the basic requirements. As an example, I recently posted a position for a Payroll Assistant, requiring X amount of experience with mulit-company payroll processing. I received over 30 responses and 4 had the requirements. To insinuate that a company ‘owes’ a candidate who either fails to read a job posting or chooses to exempt themselves from the requirements is nonsense.
Like or Dislike:
4 
1
That’s a great philosophy Steve and I’m sure it makes you successful as well.
Like or Dislike:
1 
2
I agree that candidates who fail to read job postings, don’t satisfy even the most basic minimum requirements, have low level errors on cover letters and resumes, or otherwise don’t invest much in an application, should not expect much in return. I wasn’t advocating or implying they are owed anything.
But lots of candidates, including “Daniel” who commented on our site, have considerably more than that invested in the process, and simply go into the “no further contact” pile once their forward momentum has stopped.
It seems to me there should be a simple, non-time consuming solution that would make these candidates at least feel respected.
Also, from a branding standpoint, it certainly behooves every company to take care with their customer touchpoints.
When you post a job description, our put out an open job in some forum, when candidates respond that is a brand interaction, perhaps the only they will ever have.
With that comes an opportunity to make a positive impression, or as we read in the cases of several of the commenters, a negative impression and interaction.
Mostly though, I was just trying to offer up some rhetorical questions that gets people talking. I know there are two obvious sides to this subject and strong cases can be mode for both.
I can sum it up for you in an honest way. I am a hiring manager and the reason hiring managers don’t call you back or respond to you is because you:
1. Completely wasted their time by submitting an application for a job that you are in no way qualified for, would you like to waste time going through mountains of unacceptable resumes that should never have been submitted?
2. Became a stalker and called them ten times a day after submitting your resume.
3. Started calling the main line and harassed every employee who answered the phone about why you weren’t being called back, why the ad is still posted if you weren’t hired, etc.
4. Walked into the office location hiring, told the receptionist off and then proceeded to demand to speak with the hiring manager ASAP, barged into the HR office, interrupted a private meeting to flip the Hiring Manager the bird for not dropping what they were doing to greet them. (This is a true story) No one ever got offered a job by harassing their way in.
5. Bottom line: If you aren’t getting feedback, a call for an interview, or a call to offer you a job after an interview- THEY ARE NOT INTERESTED IN HIRING YOU. MOVE ON. No one wants to hire an annoying nag. Hiring managers need to hire people with the necessary skills and personality for the job.
6. When a hiring manager is interested in speaking to you, interviewing you, and hiring you: They will go out of their way to make contact with you.
Like or Dislike:
1 
2
You are using one unusual incident as a blanket excuse to treat people as crumpled paper? Keep it up, you’ll be CEO in no time. Bitch.
Like or Dislike:
2 
0
People like Lillian are the reason why the unemployment rate is high. Folks, this is why you can’t find a job. Attitudes like that are what we are up against! So many people like to blame our government for unemployment (and rightfully so), but I believe there’s an even bigger culprit……the employer!
Like or Dislike:
2 
0