How to Follow up on Candidate Rejections during Recruitment? - Jobsoid (2024)

Rejecting candidates can be made easy. During the COVID-19 era, many candidates expressed their grievances about the hiring process. Most of them complained about the poor hiring process.

Around 54% of candidates complain they don’t receive feedback after the interview. Where does it all head? A poor candidate experience. While rejection isn’t easy, following the right approach can make it possible.

This blog highlights some of the ways to make candidate rejections easier. So, let’s get started.

How to make candidate rejections easier?

Candidate rejections are never easy. Therefore, making the candidate rejection process as smooth as possible is important. Some of the key ways to make candidate rejections easy are as follows:

1. Communicate within time

   Always keep the candidates informed about the progress. It is important to inform them, too, if a particular candidate is rejected during the process.

   Timely communication about the rejections is important in ensuring the candidates are ahead. This also contributes to streamlining your hiring method. Furthermore, it also allows the candidates to move on and not keep hanging.

2. Provide constructive feedback

   52% of candidates have to wait three months or longer for a response to their job application. Even after the candidate is rejected, you should make it a point to inform them about their shortcomings.

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   You may inform them of what changes they can make to their approach. Detailed feedback also allows the candidates to improve themselves.

3. Be transparent in your process

   Candidates always look for feedback after their interview. Often, candidates are under the impression that their interview went well. In reality, they are turned down by the companies.

   Maintain transparency and set the expectations straight during the first stage. It’s a small step but goes a long way, especially ensuring the candidate is informed. Moreover, it also helps to improve the candidate experience.

4. Personalize your communication

   Personalizing your conversation with the candidate will help them feel light. Irrespective of the mode of communication for rejection, always converse with the candidate. The more you converse with them on a personal level, the higher the chances of the candidate feeling satisfied.

   Be courteous to them, and thank them for taking the time to interview with you. This is far better than waiting a long time and makes the candidate feel valued.

5. Offer them the required resources

   Always be open to offering resources to rejected candidates. This may be a gesture of gratitude for their taking the time to interview with you.

   Offering resources to the candidates encourages them to move on and look ahead for more opportunities. Always make sure to encourage the candidates to take bigger steps.

5 ways of candidate rejection

Adopting the right measures as a recruiter makes the candidate rejection smooth and seamless. Feeling disturbed while providing a candidate with rejection feedback is common. If you’re not able to provide in-person feedback, here’s how you can reject the candidates:

1. Send them a candidate rejection email

   After deciding not to recruit someone, send a candidate rejection email. After you’ve received confirmation about the rejection, send an email. In the email, you can provide the reasons behind the rejection and what they can do going forward. At the end of the email, thank them and wish them good luck.

2. Provide them with a candidate rejection letter

   In today’s digital age, only a few companies turn in candidate rejection letters. However, these letters are quite helpful. They can only contain information about the rejection and good wishes about the candidate’s future endeavors.

3. Reject a candidate over the phone

   Many recruiters go the extra mile to ensure the candidate doesn’t feel too bad. Therefore, they take it upon themselves to reject a candidate over the phone call interview. A phone call is a more personalized approach and allows the candidate to sense empathy.

4. Send selected another candidate email

   If your company has selected another candidate, inform the other candidates the same. Therefore, you may send a selected another candidate email to others. At the end of the email, you may encourage the candidates to apply for future open positions.

5. In-person rejections

   In-person rejections rarely happen. However, accept it graciously if you’re ever in such a situation. Be very formal and empathetic while rejecting the candidate. Discuss their shortcomings and what they can improve. This goes a long way toward ensuring that the candidate does well later on.

Why is rejection feedback important for candidates?

Rejection feedback is crucial, especially regarding professional courtesy. Some of the major reasons why it is important to give feedback to candidates include:

1. Makes candidate future-ready

   Interview feedback helps the candidate grow professionally. The candidates are 4x more likely to apply for future openings when you provide constructive feedback. When you help a candidate improve, you’re also benefiting the future pipeline for your company.

2. Provides a better candidate experience

   Studies have shown that 72% of candidates will speak about their bad candidate experience online. If you provide feedback after the interview, it is likely to improve the candidate’s experience. This can help establish a strong employer brand, which will likely grow your goodwill.

3. Improves the overall hiring process

   Providing feedback to rejected candidates is a sign that you have a structured hiring process. This can be extremely beneficial in ensuring that the right candidates make the cut, and eventually, it can help strengthen your hiring process.

Summing Up

Candidates should never take rejections to heart; they are part of the recruitment procedure. However, you should also keep your candidates informed. The more you streamline it, the more it will show how good the hiring process is.

With the help of advanced software like Jobsoid, you can streamline the hiring rejection process with built-in templates. So, book a demo today and get started.