To my surprise, I've recently been getting more and more thank-you messages from applicants to whom I send a personal rejection. Now, I've actually always done that – giving someone a motivated rejection – so I started wondering what has changed?
I believe that nowadays applicants usually either: hear nothing at all or receive a (more or less) automated 'standard rejection'. So a personal rejection really stands out! In a good way, of course... Okay… okay: I’ll admit that there have been times in my career when I’ve also been guilty of the standard rejection. When I had one of those beautifully automated systems in front of me and could reject 10 people at once with just two mouse clicks. Very personal of course, because the system at least made sure they were 'addressed' by their own name. And yes, I’m sure I still get it wrong sometimes. But it’s also quite tempting for a recruiter when your brain is overheating from all the challenges you're juggling. Still, it’s just not right! Because the person you 'forget' to reject or who receives that standard message:
- might be the perfect candidate for another vacancy tomorrow;
- might be your client next month, giving you their vacancies to fill;
- receives no meaningful feedback to help them improve;
- may have an incredibly relevant network – and might (not) recommend you.
And last but not least:
- is also just a human being who applied with enthusiasm and is waiting anxiously for a response.
And of course: among applicants there are also 'spammers'. People who search the internet for as many 'apply' buttons as possible and just click away. Basically the opposite of the standard rejection, but from the applicant’s side. That’s when automation should step in to do something useful: to filter out this last group of 'spammers' with a smart algorithm and instantly send them a standard rejection, for example. Let’s allow machines to do what they’re good at, but keep human contact – even if it’s via email – as personal as possible. Raymond te Veldhuis CheckData & DataJobs.nl