When the Candidate asks..."Why didn't you call me?

Some days, don't you wish you could just say it out loud? When the company business is hopping, and things get hyper busy, time becomes a rare commodity. Time is golden. One day, I had one of those candidates that was extremely persistant (I have caller ID, they really did call 4-5 times in one day), and it took alot of energy not to respond in a fashion that would have probably cause trouble with my boss. Let me share the scenario:

The Candidate: "Why didn't you call me"? "I applied to your position, I followed up with three phone calls, an email, and I still haven't heard word from anyone." “The least you can do is call me...”

Me: At this point, is there really an answer I can give that won't get me fired? I have about 30 seconds or my schedule is off for the rest of the day. I am tempted.

In my imagination this is what I would say: " Well, candidate, let’s take a look at my day. I have 10 different hiring managers who all believe their opening should come first, and I have 45 interviews to schedule, two new job descriptions to write, an offer to negotiate, and about 200 new resumes to review, including yours. I will get through reading all 200 resumes. Yes, I really did scan through them all. I forward to the hiring manager the top 20 out of that group, and wait to get some feedback. They decided they want to speak with about six of those. (That part alone could take days, by the way) Unless you made that top six, you are probably not going to hear from me, at least not directly. You might get one of those generic emails from the Applicant Tracking system generated when your resume was turned down, or not selected for that particular role. At the pace I am going, if I actually called the other 194 resumes that were not selected at this point, I would have to work the next seven hours straight, just getting on the phone, or typing an email.

"This is a picture of a typical day, in the typical life of a corporate recruiter. This is just a snapshot. Now, let's do a little more math. Now, imagine if you will I am also working on 30 other positions with anywhere from 20 to 200 resumes to read per posting”.

"You wondered why I didn't call you back. I tell you this, "If you are selected to move forward and there is an interest in your resume at that time, I will most certainly be calling you." Otherwise, in my world, on any given day, you are right; I did not or probably will not be calling you back”.

Instead, I just simply have to say, "Thank you for your interest. I see that the manager has decided to pursue other candidates at this time..."

What would you say?

Comment by Jacob S. Madsen on March 27, 2013 at 10:47am: @Elise

I live in a household with two job seekers, myself being one. We are both highly accomplished senior professionals who only e v e r apply to roles where there is at least a 85% match with job spec. Having over a period of 8 months and 6 months tried to get response from recruiters (be they agency and/or in-house) and a record of 15%, yes I repeat 15% that e v e r come back, follow up, acknowledge or respond to attempts of contact

I am by now seriously upset about people that are working in the recruitment business that cannot show the mere decency of responding, coming back and/or display any level of professionalism. I can write a book about my 'Candidate Experience' I have seen and experienced it all and let me tell you it aint pretty. It is as if indifference is what prevails.

Good recruitment (and I know to great depth what that looks like) is about a 'mind-set' and about 'where there is a will there is a way' appear that for the majority of folks in the business that simply not there (those that display understanding and decency here excluded) Never has there been more tools and opportunities available for engagement and follow up, never has it been so bad and treated with such contempt.

For you guys in the US, look at: http://www.thecandidateexperienceawards.org/download-the-2012-report/ for more insight.

Comment by Gerry Crispin on March 27, 2013 at 10:50am: K, your frustration is evident and most of the comments empathize with your 'math' but don't sympathize with your lack of solutions. As a former corporate recruiter, among other things, I can appreciate that there are few challenges worse than balancing a high req load with the SLAs you've likely got for meeting the needs of hiring managers, candidates and the projects you are assigned that have little to do with either.

And yet, there is no excuse.

The definition of professional demands that you establish some expectation- in advance, with the candidate...then deliver on it.

Sage, for example embeds in their automated 'Thank you for applying note' a promise that you will be contacted by a recruiter within 20 days. An automated inquiry is configured in their system to be sent to every applicant on the 20th day asking whether a contact has occurred. the response goes directly to the desk of the head of recruiting.

The president of Chase, for all his problems, told his Staffing organization that when anyone anywhere applied who was a veteran, the standard was 48 hours for a recruiter to personally call them and advise them on openings. He wanted a weekly report that specified how many veterans applied in that week and how many times that standard was NOT met. Leaders at Chase did not believe this was possible (they lead an industry effort to attract and hire 100,000 veterans in 5 years.). Not doing it was not an option. They found solutions.

Rob Dromgoole at Pacific Northwest National Laboratories was among the first staffing leaders in the US to actually list a series of 'promises' on his corporate career site about how a candidate who applied would be treated. When they fall down on those promises he will call the candidate and apologize.

I'm not suggesting that these are solutions (or others suggested in the comments) are the best for you to adopt. I am saying that those who focus on solving the challenge have many ways to do so.

I would also state unequivocally that what you described is far from unusual and, in fact, represents the vast majority of US recruiters fail miserably at setting and delivering on expectations (there are several countries in which this would never happen). The vast majority of US corporate recruiting leaders have not addressed the candidates legitimate needs systematically in support of their staff. But all that is changing (another discussion).

But just because it is so common doesn't excuse the behavior and folks who have spent their lives in this profession (a few of whom have offered comments here) take pride in how they solve these challenges and would love for the entire profession to be held in higher esteem by candidates. Some day.

The fact that you've written such an honest account of your 'day in the life' suggests to me that you know what it takes to have a day that makes a difference in the lives of others. I'm hoping next year you write an article about why the candidate doesn't ask 'why didn't you call me'.

If you get a chance there is a [free whitepaper] on www.thecandes.org detailing what some US companies are doing to change the image of how candidates were treated and prove what many of us believe- that it has a downstream impact on performance. (In the UK in February, one of the 10 companies who won the Candidate Experience Award was actually represented by a 3rd party and acknowledged as the partner responsible). Feel free to contact me if you would like to talk further.

Comment by Jacob S. Madsen on March 27, 2013 at 10:54am: @Gerry, appear that our comments crossed each other.

If anyone knows about this stuff it is you Gerry, good to see you inn this discussion :)

Comment by Leah Olsen on March 27, 2013 at 10:56am: Haven't you heard of an email merge?! :) I'm sure you have, and that there's one in place. If not, I'd talk to my boss about THAT before anything. If you guys are all running around like chickens with your head cut off maybe you need to rethink your process a bit.

Anyway I'd be thankful for 200 resumes in my database. THAT is what is gold when you are a recruiter. Even if they don't fit the current role, you just never know...

Maybe you need to tighten up the requirements on job postings, or even add a few--I said a few--questions to give people a score along with the resume. Or better yet, try a different approach than post & pray.

Personally if someone bothers to call I'd give them the time of day. I would say, "I'm so sorry I haven't had the chance to call you, what role was it you applied for? OK...well why don't you tell me in a few sentences why you think you're perfect for the job." Put them on the spot!!! Maybe if they have the guts to call they are not psycho but ACTUALLY truly interested in your company enough to have found your desk number and to be persistent. I think you're missing the boat.

Comment by Daren J. Mongello on March 27, 2013 at 10:58am: @Elise: There are companies that do handle the applicant process correctly. And there's no reason given the technology available, every candidate isn't getting some type of auto response.

Here's the typical problem that most QUALIFIED candidates are unaware of: Some corporate recruiters put together slates of candidates from the applicant pool. Once they get the hiring manager 5 "send outs", the corporate recruiter moves on to the next role, regardless if there are better candidates in the pool or not. He or she will dig deeper into the pool if the first 5 "send outs" are rejected. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Comment by Jacob S. Madsen on March 27, 2013 at 10:59am: The president of Chase, for all his problems, told his Staffing organization that when anyone anywhere applied who was a veteran, the standard was 48 hours for a recruiter to personally call them and advise them on openings. He wanted a weekly report that specified how many veterans applied in that week and how many times that standard was NOT met. Leaders at Chase did not believe this was possible (they lead an industry effort to attract and hire 100,000 veterans in 5 years.).

Not doing it was not an option. They found solutions.

If the president of Chase can do this, so can e v e r y b o d y, and with the words of Einstein:

Einstein famously said that if given an hour to solve a problem, he'd spend 55 minutes defining it and 5 minutes on the solution

Comment by Elise Reynolds on March 27, 2013 at 11:00am: K, I agree with Gerry.

Thanks for bringing this up for discussion. There are a lot of practices out there that although common should not be as acceptable as they are right now. So it is great that you are putting yourself out there and willing to discuss this.

Comment by Elise Reynolds on March 27, 2013 at 11:05am: @Daren, I know it is not difficult to find technology that works for you. I am not making excuses for the employer. What I am saying is that people when they don't hear anything are not secure that the communication was actually successful. If you think your emails and other communications are in some sort of black hole then you are more likely to keep trying.

When talking with a friend if they see a position they like I would never suggest that they just assume their email or resume submittal "made it" if they did not get some kind of response. I would suggest they reach out again. Sometimes communication actually does fall through the cracks.

Comment by Jacob S. Madsen on March 27, 2013 at 11:21am: In reference to Elise's comments, I know and have worked with an ATS at Microsoft where we had on average every 30th submittal never reaching us, and not a single thing that could be done about it other than put it down to 'system issues' For that reason every single attempt to make contact was a l w a y s responded to and as also being a region 5 year running number 1 in Great Place To Work ranking is was the bare minimum that was expected. Was personally severely told off by HRD when sending out 'thank you for applying, in case not heard from us within 2 weeks you have not been successful' that was simply not an acceptable way of responding! Taught me some lessons of how to provide candidate experience at highest possible level.