What Your Recruiting Practices Say About Your Brand
A brand’s reputation is everything. What many don’t think about is that your team members are the most visible ambassadors of your brand.
As an example, your Talent Management or Recruiting function is an outward-facing department. These professionals spend much of their time crafting job postings and managing the recruiting process from receipt of applications and resumes to hiring. All these actions (or lack thereof) reflect your brand.
As a long-time Human Resource professional, a comment that I frequently heard from friends and those in my networking circles, was they usually didn’t hear from companies to whom they’d applied for a job. In fact, a survey mentioned in a 2018 eBook by Phenom People estimated that only 2% of Fortune 500 companies communicate a candidate’s status throughout the recruiting process.
An online article published on March 19, 2019 on Flexjobs, suggested some of the reason’s candidates don’t hear back from potential employers could be because:
*The company’s staff are just too busy
*They are afraid of legal ramifications
*They are just plain rude
While there were several other reasons listed, the first two are excuses I hear from companies as well. And to be honest, I think they are all problematic. Do you really want your brand’s reputation to be linked to any of these excuses?
If your recruiters are too busy to craft a thoughtful email that lets candidates know you appreciate their interest and you will be reaching out to those candidates whose experience and qualifications best match your needs…something is wrong. Get some help from Upwork or other websites from which you can hire as much or as little talent as you need to get the job done.
If you are afraid of legal ramifications, I would suggest that you invest in training. Teach your recruiters and hiring managers what they should or shouldn’t say to a candidate. If someone has been interviewed by you, they deserve follow up communication. If you are afraid you will say something that will put your company at risk, you are likely in a position in which you should not be interviewing candidates (without proper training).
Unfortunately, being rude seems to be the rule of the day. This week I spoke to a friend who had two great interviews with a company and was assured he would hear back by X date. Three weeks later and still no communication.
I recently took over a search for a client. One of my stipulations was that I be permitted to contact every applicant to let them know where they stood. Any that were interviewed would receive a phone call regarding next steps. There were over 100 applicants for this job. I lost count as to how many thank you emails I received from candidates I had to thoughtfully reject.
We all just really want to know where we stand.
I believe candidates and companies are at their best during the recruiting process. Do you really want a prospect to assume that your company’s team members are overworked, unqualified or rude? I’m guessing this wouldn’t match with the values listed on your company’s website.
Instead of justifying lack of communication to candidates, make your brand stand out! And the following are great reasons:
*Candidates do talk
*It’s respectful and professional
*That person you are rejecting may not be a team member, but may be a lifelong customer
Guard carefully your company’s reputation. It’s like trust. It’s easy to lose and difficult to rebuild!