Providing Feedback to Job Candidates

When you post a job advertisement, you may get several hundred applications from qualified people. After narrowing the applicant pool based on skills and experience, you may interview several excellent candidates. Providing candidate feedback to those who do not make the cut is an important part of building positive relationships with candidates. By learning to manage job application rejection effectively, human resources professionals can maintain good relationships with candidates who may be qualified for future openings at your company.

Although you are not required to send a job application rejection letter, doing so is a positive step that establishes your company as a fair employer. If a rejected candidate receives a letter instead of hurried phone call or no response at all, that person is more likely to speak about your company in a positive way. When writing a candidate rejection letter, explain that the position has been filled. If the candidate seemed to be a good fit, you can provide additional candidate feedback and encourage the person to apply again should a similar position open up with your company. Always thank each applicant for the time invested in the application process.

You should always be honest when providing candidate feedback. If the candidate did not seem to be a match for your organization, do not try to make him feel better by suggesting he apply for future positions. Encouraging an unqualified applicant to continue applying for open positions is a waste of the applicant's time. If the unqualified applicant continues to apply for openings within your company, it is also a waste of your time as a recruiter. End the rejection letter with some personalized candidate feedback and a friendly closing.

If you have the opportunity to give a candidate feedback in person, make sure your comments are constructive. Give the candidate advice that she can use to tweak her resume or improve her interviewing skills. If an applicant lost out on a job due to weakness in a particular area, let the candidate know about that weakness. Providing this type of feedback has two benefits. One is that the candidate is more likely to form a favorable opinion of your company. The other is that the candidate knows exactly what to do to have a better chance of landing a job. Providing this type of candidate feedback also has a hidden benefit. Josh Tolan says that one of the biggest challenges facing recruiters is the dearth of skilled employees in some industries. If you provide constructive candidate feedback, rejected candidates might invest in education or training to close that skill gap.

Mary Nestor-Harper says that constructive feedback should be achievable for the candidate. Recommending that a fifty-five-year-old candidate go back to school for a master's degree is not very constructive, as going back to school represents a significant commitment of time and financial resources that not all candidates can afford to make. Nestor-Harper says you should also make your feedback useful. If a candidate has weak writing skills, suggesting that she take a course in word processing would not help her fix this weakness.

If you must inform several candidates that they have not been hired, it is important that you do so in a professional manner. Always give candidate feedback that is constructive, as constructive feedback can help candidates improve their skills and identify their areas of weakness. Taking the time to give constructive candidate feedback can also make your recruiting job a little easier, as you may be able to convince unqualified candidates to consider other employers or different lines of work.

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