Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Why are we so hesitant to respond to your application?

Imagine…you find the job of your dreams online, you write a glowing motivation letter, upload your cv and hit the send button. Immediately you receive an acknowledgement that your application has been received and will be treated in the days to come. You anxiously wait and then … nothing…

Is it too big a hassle to recruiters and headhunters to inform candidates of the status of their application? Are we merely lazy or just plain impolite?

I sincerely hope neither. With automated processes and well-designed e-recruitment software, it shouldn’t be that difficult to keep people up to date on their status, right?

Recently, one of my clients decided to outsource their entire recruitment process to us. This leaves me and my team faced with the hard reality of hundreds of applicants, all eagerly waiting for feedback.

Through automation, a simple push on the button sends your linked in profile to a potential employer. This has a consequence that over 50% of applications can be immediately rejected. People from all over the world apply for jobs, even if these jobs are Belgian based with a Belgian content.
Isn’t it strange that people expect the courtesy of a recruiter to reply to their application if they don’t make the effort of reviewing whether their profile matches the basic requirements of the position?

Other applications that meet the requirements at a first glance are reviewed into more depth. Some candidates are invited for a telephone screening but the majority of the people are usually not withheld.
Wanting to do the right thing, I prepared the e-mails to be sent out and hit the send button. It wasn’t until 5 minutes later that I understood why we are so hesitant to send out feedback e-mails.

It was as if my mailbox exploded! Some candidates replied with a thank you note, which I liked J. But quite a few people asked for clarification as to why they were not invited for the next step.
I fully understand that question but in this stage of the process, selection is done based on hard facts. We compare the content of your cv with the functional requirements. We do this at our best judgment.

It may be hard to accept that you don’t get a chance to personally explain the reasons why you consider yourself the best possible candidate. But imagine that we would invite everyone that applies to a position…it would take weeks to talk to all of you and in the end, the outcome would probably be the same.

Rather than spending your time trying to reverse the decision, focus on other opportunities where your profile is a closer match or focus on your personal network to identify that opportunity that will be the next step in your career.


I look forward to hearing from you,
Isabel

Through a personalized and tailor-made approach, Ingenium Executive Search aspires to assist you in attracting the right talent that matches the DNA of your company

Check out our website http://www.ingenium-search.be
Follow me on Twitter @IngeniumSearch