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Recruitment
Make that phone call
Every job applicant deserves some kind of response
By Mark Bania
On paper, recruitment is no different
than any other form of marketing.
Highly skilled, high-quality workers
are a valuable commodity, and companies
spendbillionseachyearattemptingtoattract
and hire workers who can provide an edge
over the competitors, increase productivity
and drive revenue.
The recruitment process includes the creation
and maintenance of an employment brand that
exists in tandem with the company’s consumer
brand.
That’swhyHRdepartmentsandtalentacqui-
sition professionals — the curators of a compa-
ny’s employment brand — should always strive
totreatprospectiveworkerswiththesamecare
and concern that sales or marketing staff treat
potential customers with. In most areas, the
majorityofcompaniesunderstandthiswelland
craft efficient recruitment strategies that high-
light the career opportunities and workplace
culture unique to their organizations.
However, there’s one mistake many compa-
nies are making — and jobseekers are notic-
ing, according to two 2013 Canadian surveys
released by CareerBuilder (one of 424 workers
and the other of 475 hiring managers and HR
professionals):
•Only39percentofhiringmanagersrespond
toalljobapplicantsbyacknowledgingreceiptof
their applications.
•82 per cent of workers who applied to a job
in the year prior to the survey have had at least
one employer not get back to them at all.
Odds are, if you’ve applied to a job recently,
you know the feeling this induces. Job applica-
tions often take 30 minutes to an hour to com-
plete, and that’s not counting the time spent
on customized cover letters and resumés. To
not hear back at all — not even a confirmation
emailsayingtheapplicationwassubmittedsuc-
cessfully or a notice once the job has been filled
— can leave a person dejected and wondering
whether her resumé was seen by anyone.
Andworkerscarealotaboutcommunication
— 75 per cent said they expect to hear back af-
ter applying for the job, whether the company
is interested in them or not, found the survey.
So why do so many companies fail on this as-
pect of job applicants’ experience?
The first reason is simply that short-staffed
HR departments can easily be overwhelmed by
the sheer number of applications — a single job
posting can attract hundreds of resumés. In an
ideal world, recruitment professionals would
liketospendasmuchtimeaspossiblewitheach
applicationandrespondpersonallytoeachone.
Since that is not an option for most companies,
recruiters tend to direct their efforts toward
whittling down the pile of resumés to a man-
ageable level and, unfortunately, communica-
tionwithapplicantsissometimesdeprioritized
or overlooked altogether.
The second explanation is that in a competi-
tivelabourmarket,employersholdallthecards
and don’t stand to gain anything by using re-
sources on job applicants they know they won’t
hire.
Negative jobseeker reactions
While many people (31 per cent) would move
on and do nothing following a poor applica-
tion experience, the majority take some type
of action, starting with eliminating that orga-
nization from future consideration — 47 per
cent of workers would never seek employment
with that firm again, according to the employee
survey.
Butitdoesn’tendthere:One-thirdwouldtell
friends and family not to work there; one in five
would take their feedback directly to the com-
pany; one in seven would review the company
on a site such as Yelp or Glassdoor.
A negative experience can easily alter a job-
seeker’s impression of a company’s consumer
brand,aswell.Forinstance,34percentofwork-
ers said if they don’t hear back from a prospec-
tive employer, they are less likely to buy a prod-
uct or service from that company.
Whenemployersdorespondtoapplications,
there’s a decent chance the jobseekers will look
more favourably on the company even if they
wererejected,accordingtothebookTheTalent
Equation, by Matt Ferguson, CEO of Career-
Builder,LorinHitt,aprofessorattheUniversity
of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and Prasanna
Tambe, an assistant professor at New York
University.
In a study of more than two million jobseek-
ers, the authors found 17 per cent had a bet-
ter opinion of the company after being notified
they were out of the running. Meanwhile, only
two per cent of candidates whose applications
wereignoredhadamorefavourableimpression,
while 44 per cent had a worse impression.
Positive applicant experience
Eveniftheydidn’tgetthejob,Canadianworkers
will likely reward companies that respect their
time.Afterafavourableapplicationexperience,
a majority (67 per cent) would consider seek-
ing employment again, found CareerBuilder.
Additionally:
•44 per cent would refer friends and family to
jobs at the company
•25 per cent would be more likely to purchase
their products
•23 per cent would deliver positive feedback
directly to the company.
Communication doesn’t have to be elabo-
rate — jobseekers don’t expect personal phone
calls updating the status of their applications.
Employers simply need to make sure their ap-
plicant tracking systems are set up to send au-
tomated emails when a candidate successfully
applies or the job status changes. Some compa-
niesareevenadoptingstatusupdatesviamobile
text messages.
It’s also beneficial to communicate the hiring
timeline and process from the start so jobseek-
ers have a sense of where things stand.
Providingagoodapplicantexperienceshould
be seen as an opportunity rather than a cost.
When companies show respect to all prospec-
tiveemployees,it’saboosttotheiremployment
brands that will ultimately help them hire the
best talent and simultaneously safeguard their
reputation with consumers.
Mark Bania is Toronto-based managing director for
Canada at CareerBuilder.ca. He can be reached at
mark.bania@careerbuilder.ca or, for more informa-
tion, visit www.careerbuilder.ca.