I was speaking with a friend in the UK and she was asking about the general rule on company feedback etiquette. She explained that she had applied for a position with a well known European company but didn’t get the job; the feedback she received was actually from the candidate who ended up getting the job and not from the hiring manager? Anyway this person called a few weeks later and invited my friend in on a Friday evening to meet his boss as there was a position open he thought my friend would be perfect for.

So after cancelling her Friday night plans, in she goes meets both gentlemen and came away feeling confident, she explained that she was about to go on a holiday and would be contactable by email. But nothing, no call, no email not a thing, until a couple of days ago (a month after she had been in and numerous phone calls) when she saw the same position advertised. She explained that she thought this was amazingly rude especially after dropping plans to come in on a Friday evening and that in her opinion it put this particular company in a less than favorable light, even a polite email to say no thanks and she would have been ok.

But you see it doesn’t stop with my friend, now she has a low opinion of this company and as with most of us, won’t keep that opinion to herself. When talking to friends or colleges she is going to recount that story, and then her friends will recall the story when they talk to their friends; one person tells two, two people tell four, four tell eight….you see where I am going with this.

As with any part of your business, when recruiting you are putting a public face to your company, how people perceive you and your company will depend on the treatment they receive. If you don’t have the courtesy to reply / call a candidate even with a polite email to say thanks but no thanks and this is why; then you cannot expect people to like you, and what happens when people don’t like you? They talk about you, a lot, and bad news spreads fast!

Recruiters this goes for you as well, don’t forget that you need to communicate with your candidates constantly; they need to know that you are working for them and not against them. If your candidate did not get the job for a specific reason then tell them the truth, don’t dilute it, constructive criticism can help candidates in future applications and will gain you a committed candidate.

If you have a client who is dragging their feet or giving zero feedback you need to pull them to one side and explain that by not doing so it is creating a bad impression of their company and whilst you will do your best to paint a positive light on the situation to your candidate you are not willing to put your reputation on the line because they can’t communicate effectively.

So why is communication with your candidates important?

In the age of social media word spreads fast, so if you ignore them they won’t reciprocate by going away quietly; they will stand atop of the highest building and yell about how bad you are, how you don’t care about your employees or applicants and how basically; you suck!

I have said it before and I’ll say it again - one minute of positive communication far outweighs the time you save by not communicating effectively. It works both ways, if you treat your candidates well they will talk about you in a positive light. The only people to benefit from your lack of communication will be you competition. So be you recruiter or hiring company talk to your candidates or they will talk about you.