Recruitment Feedback – The brand image of your organization

Staff – love them or hate them, all businesses need them to not only survive, but thrive. From time to time every business needs to hire some one. This usually involves placing an advertisement somewhere, having a number of people apply, short listing, interviewing and then offering the best or most suitable person.

Sounds simple huh!

Ok so we all know that short-listing can be a challenge, and as for interviewing, well that is a whole set of blogs on their own. Giving recruitment feedback and communications is increasingly important in a connected world.

Branding and company image in the recruitment process

We all want to hire the best, that is a given. But what about those that do not make the grade? Do they really matter? – YES!

As the economy is tough, it is very much an employers market. We think we can have the best, and only the best. And that is correct(at the time of writing). BUT there is a problem.

Sure we may get 100s of applications for just one post. But those that are not successful may be customers, or future customers, or suppliers! We need to give recruitment feedback of some form

A sad trend – no recruitment feedback

Recently there has been a trend not to acknowledge applications, and worse not to send reject or turn down letters. Even worse some get interviews and then never hear from the employer again.

As many firms now use electronic application systems, it is easy and there should be no excuse for not sending a “Dear John” turn down letter. Just think for a moment, what is the impression we are giving that person about our business? What impact will that have on their future decisions:

Imagine their next role is

• purchasing and they have a choice of your or your competitors service?
• providing a quote to supply your business

A case study in recruitment feedback

Pay close attention to the right hand column in her note book, it shows if she received an acknowledgement or reply. On the pages shows, it is lucky to see one out of dozens of applications. See the full piece: Recruitment feedback and communication

Listen to her tone, its that lack of respect of not getting acknowledgements or replies that she seems to find most demoralising.

Recruitment feedback – excuses

With large employers, there is no excuse for not acknowledging receipt, nor for not sending a rejection letter at any stage in the process.

For firms that use recruitment firms – what are you paying them for? again there is no excuse – remember these people are acting as YOUR BRAND in the market place.

For very small firms, I know it can be very hard. But for me the cut-off is, when a firm has a person in a full or part time HR role – then there is no excuse for not responding to EVERY application properly

Recruitment feedback is marketing

Like it or not, human resources are a part of the marketing and PR function in any business. As HR people we deal with people from outside our business. What we do and say IS their experience of our brand. Failure to communicate, even at this simple level, show that customers are not important.

Recruitment Feedback has to change

The reality is that HR and recruitment agencies have been providing an inconsistent service at best for some time. Now we are directing a young generation. this generation has access to media like never before. People move jobs more than ever before. Handle the wrong person, in the wrong way, and the consequences for your business are for a life time. Hoe many of us avoid one company because of a previous experience?

HR is marketing. We need to realise this and businesses need to wake up to the potential damage poor recruitment practice is doing to their reputation – often this is hidden and you will never know the losses you experience as a result – but rest assured, with generation Y and generation Z it will matter more than ever

Time to get professional about recruitment feedback – 

What are your experiences of feedback from a recruitment process?

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