Thank you for your application

When was the last time you said ‘thank you’ to a candidate for applying for a job? When was the last time you acknowledged a candidate application?  You always do? OK, you are a good recruiter. But, I am sure you have, perhaps, a ‘friend’ who has let an application or two slip by without a response.

Actually, the sad fact is that the vast majority of candidates will get very little response from their job applications. They send off their CVs full of hope and expectation and are met with… nothing. No response. Sometimes not even an acknowledgement of their application. This is, sadly, the reality of the candidate experience. For all the technology that has been purchased and implemented the vast majority of candidates will get no response or feedback on their application.

Candidates spend a lot of time preparing applications. They have to read the job ad, create a covering letter, tailor their CV, fire it off. It all takes time. And they do this because they want to work for your friend’s company.  And how does your ‘friend’s company’ respond to their efforts? Squat. Nothing. Zilch. Nada.

What does this do for a recruitment brand? It can’t be good. And what about the wider brand? Imagine if a customer emailed a sales query and your sales person didn’t respond? You’d fire them, wouldn’t you? You wouldn’t want your customers treated this way. So why treat candidates this way? And this reminds me…

Many many years ago I made an application for a job with a young and funky high street fashion brand. I used to buy their shirts so I was really quite excited about working with them. The application process was young and funky too. They didn’t believe in CVs, they said. They just wanted a short essay on some topics. I went along with it, thinking I’d be young and funky too… in my young and funky shirt.

In the end it took about four hours to write that young and funky essay.  About an hour in, I wished they were a little less young and funky and a little more boring and had simply asked for a CV. I persisted, however, and eventually completed my application. I sent it off… I never received an acknowledgement. Not a received notice. Not a thank you. Nothing.

I never bought one of their shirts again.