What Do These Candidates Want From Me?
One of the trends that I see being talked, typed, and tweeted about is the candidate experience and bill of rights. I get it. Recruiters should follow up if they say they are going to, recruiters should honor their commitments for interview time, and recruiters should tell candidates when they don’t get the job. I believe recruiters should be as honest as possible throughout the process in order to let candidates know where they stand. We have all been on the other side of the equation as candidates. We have all been promised follow up that didn’t take place. We have all had a phone interview scheduled that didn’t happen. And we have all been left to our own internet sleuthing to find out about the job we didn’t hear back on and who actually got it. It sucks, bottom line. We are in the time of need to know, and sooner than later.
With candidate experience in mind I have been working diligently to send thank you emails to all candidates that we are rejecting throughout the process. The last group I sent out I received a variety of responses. Many of the email responses support the need for information and were very positive. Some said thanks for the information, one said she couldn’t believe she heard anything and thanks, and one said thanks AND referred another person. Then there were the not so positive responses. One candidate told me how crappy my company was, that he had expected this result, and that the “word on the street” was negative. Seriously? Then why did you apply? Another candidate argued with my decision to move forward in the process, saying he felt he had met all the requirements with the exception of one. The problem was the one requirement he felt he didn’t meet was the basis of the job; project management experience. Seriously? He pointed out that he didn’t have 3-5 years of project management experience, for a project management position.
So what do these candidates really want? It seems like many are thankful to get the information about their status for their own peace of mind, but it seems like just as many others are looking to start an email argument because they don’t like the response. And what does a candidate hope to gain by being argumentative, negative, or down right rude? Do you want to know that you are out; regardless of if the company has had any other contact with you? Do you want to know why? How much do candidate’s realized/expect us to share? I just hope the number of classy folks that say thank you consider to out weigh the Negative Nancy’s of the world or people are going to get tired of sharing the information candidates seem to be desperate for.
I will always argue candidates are people first and deserve to be treated with decency, honesty, and integrity. I just hope candidates remember the recruiters and hiring managers are people too, and deserve the same humane treatment.
