Paying it Forward

It is good to see that in this tough economy, people have not lost their ability to sympathize with those who are conducting a job search.  Great post by Kelly Dingee on Fistful of Talent on this subject.

That said, I am amazed at how many recruiting departments are OK with continuing to let candidates sit in the “black hole” of recruitment.  This “black hole” is created by not communicating with candidates outside of the original “we got your application” email that is sent by the ATS.  I estimate that anywhere from 50% – 85% of the candidates that apply each year to Corporate America hear NOTHING after this acknowledgment! 

Now back to “paying it forward”.  Recruiters don’t want to deliver the “no thank you” message for fear that they will be inundated with calls from candidates asking “why not?”.  These are long held beliefs that seem to be driving business process decisions even though it is unfounded.  I know of several F100 companies who communicate with ALL candidates after the initial aknowledgement and close the loop with 100% of the applicants – WITHOUT this imaginary call volume.  They simply give the candidate information that they are longing to have AND are offering them help in continuing their job search.

Pay it forward is as simple as choosing to communicate with your candidates and giving them information about their application.  Really, it is very simple.