It’s been whirlwind multi-month courtship, with a number of interviews. You’ve introduced your finalists to everyone and had them in numerous times. You may have even wined and dined them. Now the decision is in. One person has been chosen. The others are out. It’s time to let the candidates you’ve been courting know, they are not “the one.” There’s no easy way to tell someone they did not get the job, but it has to be done and done with compassion, care and without delay. Equally as important, this message has to be delivered directly. If you’ve deployed an effective interviewing process, you’ve probably developed something of a relationship with the candidates who made it all the way to the end. That connection deserves a personal let-down. And this means a phone call.
There are a couple reasons we advocate for this approach. The first is that you want to leave the candidates you don’t select with positive feelings about the organization and its players, including you. You never know what the future holds and if an opening will come up that is perfect for someone you previously rejected. One day you too may be looking for a job, and a candidate you spurned now holds the keys to the kingdom. It truly is a small world, and you never know when paths will intersect again. When they do, you don’t want to feel compelled to cross the street to avoid someone because you didn’t treat them well some time ago. Its better to find yourself in a joyful reunion of sorts that is a byproduct of a positive past experience. Second, directly, and compassionately communicating bad news to a candidate is a demonstration of respect. And respect is an integral component of civility. Treating people well is something we learned to do at the knees of good parents and service-oriented supervisors. Showing we care about someone we are not going to immediately or ever employ, for that matter, creates the foundation for a lasting relationship and good feelings between employer and finalists. When candidates aren’t chosen but are told of the decision in a professional and personal manner, they are more likely to leave the experience with a favorable impression of it and of the employer and are more likely to apply again if an opportunity arises. There’s a good chance too that they will tell others about their positive experience. To be an employer of choice requires treating all candidates with kindness and compassion, even those you do not elect to hire.
Letting candidates down gently can be done with a brief phone call, either from the hiring manager (which is most optimal), the head of the search team, or the recruiter who lead the search. Such a call could go something like this, “[Candidate Name], this is Kim Stott from Humanist. I wanted to let you know that we enjoyed getting to know you during the search process for [POSITION TITLE]. After careful consideration, the search team has selected another candidate. We hope that you will consider us in the future, if another opportunity arises that interests you. With your permission, we would like to keep you in our databases and contact you if we see something that looks like it might be a good fit. Would that be okay? We want to thank you very much for your time and for your interest in Humanist and in this position.” If you really don’t feel that the candidate would be a good match for the organization, you may leave out the sentences related to future opportunities and staying in touch. Even without these components, messages of this nature can have a positive impact on candidates. While the rejection may leave candidates disappointed, a personal and supportive message will most likely be well received. At a minimum, candidates will know their standing and will be free to move on to other opportunities.
With the let-down phone call, you may get an occasional person who would like greater insights about the decision or about their performance during the interview process. In an ideal world, we’d encourage you to give them this feedback. Given the litigious nature of the workplace today and the human tendency not to like negative feedback, its wise to side-step questions like this with a general response. When asked why they were not selected, the employer may offer this response: “The search team determined that another candidate’s skill set (and/or experience) was a better fit for this opportunity.” If, however, you elect to respond more specifically, we have some suggestions for you about what to say that can minimize the risk of hurt feelings. When you are confident that the interview process employed a sound and well-defined selection criteria, you may choose to give candidates feedback related to them. In this case, you may share the following, “One of the most important skills we were looking for, was X. While you demonstrated that you had a number of the other key competencies we were looking for, that did not appear to be the case with X.” You could also say, “The interviewers simply did not get enough detail from you related to X to ensure that you could do the job” (Neiderkorn, 2018). Whatever you elect to share with the candidate, choose your words thoughtfully and focus on behaviors the person can change (Silberman, 2000).
If you opened the door to staying in touch, do your part to sustain the relationship. Encourage candidates to connect with you on LinkedIn and to follow your company there (Niederkorn, 2018). Invite potential employees to public events held by your firm that may be of interest to them (Ibid), and if a strong relationship developed, you may want to ask them to meet you for lunch or for coffee periodically. Many applicant-tracking systems allow candidates the opportunity to create profiles and receive notifications of job openings that may be a fit for them. If yours does not have this functionality, take the time to notify people when suitable openings arise. You may also want to encourage applicants to reach out to you directly when they come across a position of interest.
In a digital age, recruitment often feels like an impersonal numbers game. Making an effort to really connect with applicants can serve as a tool to build a more robust and high-touch recruitment process. It can also help you stand out in the crowd as a choice employer – one with a reputation for truly caring about people. All it takes is a little bit of time and some extra effort. Give it a try and tell us how it works for you.
-Kim Stott, Founder and Senior Consultant, Humanist (April 10, 2018).
REFERENCES:
Niederkorn, A. (2018). What to say to the candidates you don’t hire. The Muse. Retrieved electronically from https://www.themuse.com/advice/what-to-say-to-the-candidates-you-dont-hire.
Silberman, M. (2000). Exchanging feedback. People Smart. Berrett-Koehler: San Francisco. Pages 95-117.