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
Follow me on Twitter
@IngeniumSearch
