An experiment in replying to job applicants

gibson123

Well today I started an experiment and it's down to you guys on these forums. I usually offer feedback and depend on job applicants to get back to me. Well today I sorted a whole pile of applications and categorised them so I could give some more specific feedback with the rejection e-mail / letter. I then created some templates and asked my administrator to send out e-mails or letters to the people who were unsuccessful in the correct category. It fell into a few categories, and only a few fell out of the categories and required different feedback. Here are my categories and replies:

Unfortunately your application has been unsuccessful on this occasion and this is because you do not have or failed to tell us that you have: (then one or more of the following)



- the type of experience we were looking for
- 2 years experience
- the technical skills required for the job (motor vehicle skills)
- core competencies for the job in particular ( team work etc.)
- the qualifications we asked for
- an interest in this particular post
- an understanding of the work environment (workshop)
- an understanding of the role
- motivation to work for our business

I also correlated this with something I found about the application that I thought was good:

- Your application was well laid out and you answered all the questions very well.
- Your answer to the ( e.g core competency) question was particularly strong
- Your answers were concise and comprehensive

Unfortunately I also had:

- your application was incomplete
- you failed to answer some questions
- we could not understand the abbreviation and text speak in your application.

It all took a bit longer than normal but not majorly and now we have set up some templates it should be easier in the future. However I am waiting to see if I get any further feedback ( I invited them to call me to discuss further is they wanted)

Anyway it occurred to me that just giving out feedback may be deemed as patronising, any thoughts?

Sorry for the ramble

scooby088

Feedback is always welcome in my opinion and makes us improve ourselves for the next time.

hugoshavez

you seem to have a lot of time on your hands. Do you have other responsibilities besides recruitment?

agrinnall

I think I might be a bit unhappy just to get a template reply (although better than the usual nothing at all) but I think you could make it a bit less abrupt by having a paragraph at the start to say that you received a lot of applications and while you can't give personal feedback to applicants the following may be useful..... and then the template reply.

Well done for at least making some attempt to help the people who were unsuccessful, perhaps you will start a trend (ooh, sorry, just need to pop out to look at that flying pig!).

gibson123

hugoshavez wrote: »

you seem to have a lot of time on your hands. Do you have other responsibilities besides recruitment?

Yes a whole lot of other responsibilities and no I don't have a lot of time on my hands. I have always sorted through applications and taken notes with a view to giving feedback, however I have never previously volunteered this information. As I said this is an experiment however if I get good feedback, it may be worthwhile in terms of the business reputation to continue with this. In time terms it took only a little longer than normal to short-list and categorise as described.

gibson123

agrinnall wrote: »

I think I might be a bit unhappy just to get a template reply (although better than the usual nothing at all) but I think you could make it a bit less abrupt by having a paragraph at the start to say that you received a lot of applications and while you can't give personal feedback to applicants the following may be useful..... and then the template reply.

Well done for at least making some attempt to help the people who were unsuccessful, perhaps you will start a trend (ooh, sorry, just need to pop out to look at that flying pig!).

The letter sent was a bit softer than this post, but I think I will use the bit I have put in bold above (with your permission) it does come over friendlier.

Casati

I would really welcome it, in fact I'd really welcome a simple thanks but no thanks, most companies don't even bother to let you know if you haven't been successful.

4 times over the past 18 months I have got to the interview stage, once even to second interview and then just had a deafening silence from the company. 3 of the 4 did not bother to respond to me when I (very politely) followed up by email, and one replied with a four word email

'You didn't get it'

hugoshavez

gibson123 wrote: »

Yes a whole lot of other responsibilities and no I don't have a lot of time on my hands. I have always sorted through applications and taken notes with a view to giving feedback, however I have never previously volunteered this information. As I said this is an experiment however if I get good feedback, it may be worthwhile in terms of the business reputation to continue with this. In time terms it took only a little longer than normal to short-list and categorise as described.

Fair enough. It does seem like the feedback is designed for applicants who are either totally inappropriate or are just spamming applications all over the place.

As much as it must be disappointing to get no feedback from an application, I feel truly constructive feedback (which has a chance of being taken to heart) is best given for unsuccessful interviewees.

gibson123

Casati wrote: »

I would really welcome it, in fact I'd really welcome a simple thanks but no thanks, most companies don't even bother to let you know if you haven't been successful.

4 times over the past 18 months I have got to the interview stage, once even to second interview and then just had a deafening silence from the company. 3 of the 4 did not bother to respond to me when I (very politely) followed up by email, and one replied with a four word email

'You didn't get it'

Shocking behaviour, I call everyone I interview, I always have done and do not think I will change that now. We tend to interview maximum of 6 people for each post, how long does it take to make 6 phone calls?

LadyMissA

gibson123 wrote: »

I also correlated this with something I found about the application that I thought was good:

- Your application was well laid out and you answered all the questions very well.
- Your answer to the ( e.g core competency) question was particularly strong
- Your answers were concise and comprehensive

these ones got an interview or did you also have ones too that were over qualified who you are not interviewing?

gibson123

LadyMissA wrote: »

these ones got an interview or did you also have ones too that were over qualified who you are not interviewing?

No they did not meet some of the criteria e.g. length of experience, however another part of the application was quite strong e.g core competencies, so I gave them feedback on what was good as well.

I don't understand "over-qualified", I think it is a cop out. The closest I have got are the wrong qualification e.g. when I got a Politics graduate (masters) who applied for an administration job. The applicant with the NC in Business Administration and administration skills got that particular job.