I spoke to the head of Talent at Johnson & Johnson recently who told me one of the easiest things employers can do to improve their candidate experience is to rewrite your communication templates within your ATS. Especially your REJECTION templates, to sound less dreadful so that candidates don't head to Glassdoor and rant about you not hiring them.

At J&J they actually have 8-9 different templates they use depending on the type of candidate it is and how far they advanced in the hiring process.

So if J&J cares so much about the rejection email shouldn't your company?

I was thinking about this very topic last year when I began formulating the idea for REJOBIFY, a free service to employers that helps them add value to their rejection emails by helping those candidates find other jobs and get some great job search advice.

J&J actually partnered with content site, The Muse to add specific career advice content to their candidate experience and that is essentially the idea behind REJOBIFY.

When it comes to creating a better candidate experience that should apply to those you can't hire in addition to the ones you do.

By actually thanking them properly (and consistently) you will create more goodwill around your employer brand. Candidates are customers too so it's in your firms best interest to embrace them even up to the point of saying "we cant hire you".

So go back to your ATS and take a hard look at those communications. If they don't sound good, improve them. It's a simple, no cost way to make your candidate experience just a little bit better.