How to Turn Down A Job Applicant -The Right Way

Do you turn down job applicants professionally and appropriately during your recruitment process?... In today's Information and Technology Age staying in contact with your job applicants is easier and more important than ever. Yet it seems as if few employers do this. Here are some steps the website the balance recommends:

Your rejection process starts with your first meeting with you job applicants. Whether this is at the phone screen or at the first interview, one of the goals of the meeting is to explain your selection process to each candidate.When employers provide this information, applicants feel less in the dark and more positive about your recruitment process. The telling should also let the applicant know the points at which you will communicate with them about the status of their application.

When to Call and Turn Down a Job Applicant

The hiring manager or the HR staff should call the applicants you are rejecting just as you call the applicant to whom you want to make the job offer - if not sooner.

You want to leave each applicant with a positive view of your organization which simple, timely communication will achieve. This positive impression may affect your candidate's application to your organization in the future.

Or the impression he or she takes away may affect other potential candidates for your jobs. Candidates do talk and often, like birds, flock together to pursue an employer of choice.

When to Reject an Applicant

Many employers may disagree with this,  but I also recommend that you call each applicant as soon as you determine that he or she is not the right person for the job. Many employers wait until the end, even as long as it takes for a new employee to start the job, before they notify unsuccessful candidates.

This is disrespectful and not congruent with the actions of an employer of choice. Let candidates know as soon as you know.

Otherwise, candidates wait, fret, and feel as if their candidacy disappeared into a dark hole. Trust me; their feelings about you as a potential employer did, too. Gone are the days when a disgruntled job searcher told ten friends about his or her bad experience with your firm.

An estimate on a recruiter's group on LinkedIn was that a recent study estimates that this number is now 1,374 people. Welcome to the world of social media and sites like Glassdoor and Indeed.com where people comment on their experiences with your recruitment and employment.

Additionally, as an employer, if you've decided that the candidate is not the right person for the job, retaining the applicant tempts you to settle for an under-qualified, or less than you had hoped for, staff person.

The only caveat here is that if you have determined a person is both well-qualified and a good cultural fit, call the applicant to let them know the status of their application.

Tell the applicant that he or she is still being considered for the position, but that you also have several other qualified candidates to interview.

In this way, you have not rejected an acceptable candidate and the candidate is not left in the dark while you consider your other options. This is courteous and respectful and it may help you avoid restarting your recruitment.

A candidate who is not updated about your process may accept a position elsewhere. Plus, by staying in touch, you continue to build a positive relationship with a potential employee and his or her network.

It is never appropriate for an employer to fail to respond to a candidate with whom the employer has had contact. It is not candidate, employee, potential employee, or company image friendly to fail to let a candidate know his or her status. Say, yes or no, but say something - in a timely manner.