We'll let you know by the end of the week?

mattcanary

Floss wrote: »

I guess most of the applicants posting here have not been involved in recruitment within the last 12-18 months...

It is very time consuming to do your regular job alongside sifting through anything up to 150 applications/CVs, set the shortlist criteria and shortlist against them, spend 1/2/3 days or more interviewing the shortlist, discuss and agree on the succesful applicant and then let them know before processing a new starter (references etc).

And you want each & every recruiting company to let you all know if your interview wasn't succesful? I'm sorry, but I think a reality check is required. People just don't have the time to spare to do this anymore, or the office juniors who can send out the "sorry" letters.

Not sending out even a letter to say a candidate was successful in an interview is just rank bad manners. It does two minutes to do, using a template on Word. An explanation of why you were unsuccessful would be brilliant of course, but sending nothing or not contacting the candidate by phone or email is appalling.

You should be ashamed of yourself for admitting to it.

mattcanary

Floss wrote: »

If you re-read my post, I said "involved" in recruitment. Not "working in recruitment". And no, it wasn't part of my normal day-to-day job in local government, hence the comment about the time it takes to recruit.

My and Melysion;s argument applies even more to someone working in local government. Application forms are very detailed and not a quick thing to complete. The least people unsuuceessful at an interview should expect is a reply.

Pathetic, and sums up so many aspects of modern society.
Employers expect the earth from their staff and job applicants - yet offer nothing in return.

J_i_m

I think it's a question of professionalism and customer service.

Yes, I accept that maybe some of the logistics behind a recruitment process can get busy.

But I don't think it's an acceptable stance to say "Well I've got too many rejected candidates to handle, so I'm not going to inform them or offer feedback". That's just unprofessional. If you walked into Tesco's literally one minute before they closed the entrance doors.. you'd still expect to be able to make your purchase, they'd simply wouldn't close the checkouts the second the closing time happend... they'd still serve the customers actually in the shop.

(Now, I realise that recruitment and a shop are not the same thing, but the analogy of service and professionalism is still very relevant).

A candidate is expected to be "perfect" and professional.

The very least you ought to be able to expect from the employer or it's recruiter is some professionalism.

In all forms of business, as a manager you would not be impressed if your staff decided that they weren't going to behave professionally or provide good service because it was too inconvenient for them. You'd be going down conduct & disciplinary very quickly indeed.

So why should it be acceptable to take such a cavalier attitude when it comes to recruitment?

redcard

melysion wrote: »

Sending out rejection letters after an interview should be something that happens all the time, as a matter of course, rather than the 50/50 situation that happens at the moment. There is no excuse whatsoever not to do this other than blatant disregard for the job applicants. The ¨too busy¨ excuse doesn't wash I am afraid.

You can demand what you like, but their priority lies with the employees they already have, not the ones they don't want.

Ask my HR department and they'll tell you they waste so much time filtering out useless CVs and arranging interviews for people who don't bother turning up.

AP007

melysion wrote: »

Regardless of what you actually do Floss my general sentiments remain the same. Sending out rejection letters after an interview should be something that happens all the time, as a matter of course, rather than the 50/50 situation that happens at the moment. There is no excuse whatsoever not to do this other than blatant disregard for the job applicants. The ¨too busy¨ excuse doesn't wash I am afraid.

I have never had a rejection letter all I have been emails and one was even a text!

melysion

redcard wrote: »

You can demand what you like, but their priority lies with the employees they already have, not the ones they don't want.

Ask my HR department and they'll tell you they waste so much time filtering out useless CVs and arranging interviews for people who don't bother turning up.

Ten years ago we wouldn't be having this utterly ridiculous conversation because potential employers were decent enough to send rejection letters without question. Because it's the right and professional thing to do. I don't care how many CVs HR have to filter though or how many interviews they have to arrange. IT'S WHAT THEY ARE PAID TO DO!

How has it suddenly become discretionary? I guess it's the sign of the frankly uncaring society we live in in general. Makes me sick

RiverStar

melysion wrote: »

Ten years ago we wouldn't be having this utterly ridiculous conversation because potential employers were decent enough to send rejection letters without question. Because it's the right and professional thing to do. I don't care how many CVs HR have to filter though or how many interviews they have to arrange. IT'S WHAT THEY ARE PAID TO DO!

How has it suddenly become discretionary? I guess it's the sign of the frankly uncaring society we live in in general. Makes me sick

While l agree with your comments about receiving a rejection letter after interview, l also can relate to Floss comments. I dont work in local government but in private sector and like Floss have some involvememt in HR.

The problem is that nowadays ONE person (l am speaking from experience here) is expected to do all admin and HR/payroll/finance duties, as well as call handling and everything in between.

Ten plus years ago there were enough staff to do all this. Nowadays, you are expected to do all,this and work extra no a low wage and no extra pay for overtime.

I understand the frustration lack of rejection letter causes and if your lucky enough to receive one, my guess is its from a large company with a dedicated hr team, otherwise, small companies with one person doing everything only has time to contact the successful candidate.

Sad but true, its the times we live in.

By all means, call and find out if you've been successful or for feedback, but remember, if you get the 'unavailable' line its probably because they really are unavailable and have more to do than go into detail with someone they can barely remember who came in for an interview last week.

noelphobic

RiverStar wrote: »

I understand the frustration lack of rejection letter causes and if your lucky enough to receive one, .

Not my idea of being lucky! :rotfl:

I've had 2 interviews and did get a call from the first one to say I'd been unsuccessful and that I had done very well (talk about mixed messages!) . I had a disastrous interview last week and am just awaiting confirmation that I didn't get the job. I am pretty sure they will inform me of that.

melysion

"Lucky enough to receive a rejection letter"? Dear god ....

duchy

melysion wrote: »

"Lucky enough to receive a rejection letter"? Dear god ....

I have to wonder at how some people's minds work !!

Ten years ago it wasn't commonplace to have a private email address so rejection letters were typed , stuffed in an envelope and postage needed to be paid....yet rejection notification was the norm. Writing a short and professional email and bccing takes anyone with even basic competency literally minutes.
It's just down to the fact that many companies don't feel they are employing people but disposable "units".