Do Unto Others...
By Randy Quarin
It’s a given that you should treat everyone you come into contact with in business with respect and kindness. Whether networking at a cocktail party or riding a busy elevator in an office building, it just makes sense to be polite with everyone you encounter. Aside from the basic decency of treating other human beings the way you’d like to be treated yourself, you simply never know when you’re going to encounter that random office worker again or who they know that might know you.
There’s an adage about how people who receive good treatment from a company will tell at least one other person, while those who receive bad treatment will tell 10 others. This is exactly the sort of situation where that arises, so consider acting courteously towards candidates a form of smart brand management. You’re protecting your reputation by respecting the candidate. Remember that bad reputations travel fast and in today’s tight job market, you can’t afford to have the public thinking ill of your company.
During the search
We’ve had clients in the past that saw nothing wrong with conducting a round of interviews and then waiting for as much as two months before providing any sort of feedback. While it’s certainly understandable that you might want to take some time to reflect on the interviews and weight the candidates against each other, you can’t just let them dangle in the wind while you mull your options. Even if your call simply restates the next steps in the process, getting in touch with the candidates in a timely manner will go a long way to setting their minds at ease and will positively influence their impressions of you and your company.
After the search
When it comes to the next step, when your offer has been made and accepted, you might think you’re finished, but you’re not. Your final task should be to inform the candidates that weren’t selected. And this is where too many people fall lax on their etiquette.
When it comes time to letting candidates know that they haven’t been selected for a position, there are a few things that you should do to remain considerate.
- Call them
It may seem preposterous, but plenty of people don’t take the time to pick up the phone and give
the rejected candidate the word in person. Leaving a voice mail isn’t as good and email isn’t even close. It may not be the most pleasant phone call you’ll ever make, but it’s a necessary one. Letting a candidate dangle in the wind isn’t very kind, so don’t let it fester – pick up the phone and call soon after your decision is made.
- Explain your decision
It’s not necessary to go into extreme detail, but offering feedback with just a few of the reasons behind your decision to go in another direction will not only leave the candidate feeling better about you and your organization, but will offer them the additional benefit of providing some solid basis for self-reflection. Be direct, but try not to be brutal either.
- Leave the conversation open
Unless the candidate in question was so horrible that you hope to never hear from them again (though it seems unlikely that they could have made it to the interview stage if that was the case), it’s best you to leave the conversation in an open-ended, positive light. Remember that this candidate may also be a customer and you don’t want them to be left with a bad taste in their mouth regarding your company. Suggest that their resume will be kept on file and they will be considered for similar positions/roles that may open in the future.
These are all relatively simple and painless tactics to take in dealing with letting a candidate down, but they can go a long way towards ensuring that the candidate is left with a positive impression of the experience and your organization. As a final suggestion, if this all sounds like too much – hire a recruiting partner to handle it for you. Recruiters’ expertise with managing candidate relationships can be put to good use in these circumstances to ensure that your professional approach is maintained.
The thing to remember, whether you’re using a recruiter or going it alone, is that the narrowing of the marketplace isn’t going to significantly improve in the near future, so protecting your brand by doing unto others as you would like them to do unto you is as wise an approach today as its ever been.
- Randy Quarin, Senior Partner, has an intuitive sense of how to solve a client's business issues with the best resources. [full bio...]
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