There is nothing more frustrating for a candidate then taking the time to fill out an application form, submitting it and then hearing nothing. How long do they wait for before assuming they haven’t been successful then start the application process all over again somewhere else?

A variation of this is when a screen comes up once you’ve applied, telling you that due to the high number of applicants, they will only contact you if you’ve been successful.

Looking around, it’s incredible how little a simple thing of letting a candidate know they have been unsuccessful, happens on company career sites.

I understand that when you do not have a system such as an Applicant Tracking System in place, that sending out emails to all unsuccessful candidates would be extremely time consuming. But you assume that if there is not a system in place, then the volume of applicants is not high enough to warrant one. So therefore, putting all unsuccessful candidates into a folder, having a stock regret email and clicking ‘send to all’ doesn’t seem to me to be too much trouble.

However, most companies with a high volume of applicants do tend to have an ATS or something similar in place to ease the unnecessary ‘sifting through CVs’ workload on HR departments. In which case, setting up something as simple as a regret email should not be difficult, no matter how high the volume of applicants.

Even with an automatic regret email in place however, some companies forget that this correspondence should still be well represented by employment brand. Although you are regretting the candidate and the response is automatic from the system, you are still communicating with a potential customer or a candidate who might reapply to another job within the company. In my previous post about the importance of branding, it is vital that companies do not forget this last area where they need to be maintaining a strong employment brand.

In this screenshot of an email from a company, there is no logo, the font is low standard/not well set out and altogether this email looks like a last minute job.

The email layout should be well set out, there should at least be a company logo and even simple things like font type should be thought of, to make it look more professional and in keeping with your company’s high standards.