To think employers could at the least have the common courtesy to tell you you’ve not been successful?

[AlternativePerspective]

I’ve lost count of the number of jobs I’ve applied (and interviewed) for where I’ve just never heard from them again.

In fact on indeed there is often an update which states how long it will likely be before you hear back, and I’ve seen one or two which state “based on our experience, you’re unlikely to ever hear from this employer again.”

TBH, if we were in the days of paper applications I could see how writing a letter to each applicant could be problematic especially if you have several of them.

But given everything is now done electronically, and there are generallly systems in place to acknowledge your application/invite to interview/confirm the interview time etc, I fail to see why there can’t also be something in place which generates a rejection email when the applicant is rejected on the system.

It would save a lot more angst when people are applying for jobs and just hoping that they will hear back about one of them, only for it to appear that their application has disappeared somewhere.

i interviewed for a job recently and have assumed I wasn’t successful. But it would at least be nice to have been told so I could ask for feedback.

Yep, this drives me nuts. I work in a sector where it's extremely common for the job ad to say, quite openly, that they won't be informing unsuccessful candidates. However, I applied for something just over a month ago that said 'we will inform all candidates after shortlisting'.

Usually I find out by googling the website a year or so later to see who the new person they've hired is.

YANBU There is absolutely no excuse for this.

It’s literally a 1 min thing to do.
And it could be automated.
But mostly people are lazy as fuck, and they don’t care as you’re not going to work there! So I wouldn’t get offended

Absolutely, it's so so rude and like you say given that the vast majority of large employers will now have an automated recruitment system, it's literally a push of a button to send a generic notification out to all candidates - I actually think that's pretty rude too and where people have made the time to come and interview (possibly taking time off work, sometimes travelling quite long distances etc.) you should actually do them the courtesy of a personal call or at least an email with feedback, but certain employers seem to think it's fine just to leave people hanging .

I'd honestly love to hear from someone that does this to understand why, I do plenty of recruitment myself and agree that it's very difficult to give personal feedback after shortlising where you may have had 100s of candidates, but we do a 'thanks but no thanks' generic email to the not-shortlisted ones and then I build in the time to do personal feedback to every candidate after interview stage, I get that it's a pain sometimes but I honestly don't buy the 'we're too busy' excuse - just interview one less candidate and use that time, it takes maybe 5 mins per candidate? Basically you are just saying you value your time very highly as you are very busy and important but your candidates are pieces of shit who should freely give you their time not even in exchange for a polite rejection email in return???

Agreed. What a lot of these companies forget is we are often their customers as well, so it’s hardly a great look for them.

Yes!!! Not hearing back from applications isn’t too bad but I find not hearing back from interviews really rude!!
I went for one two weeks ago and have heard nothing back. He even said he was only interviewing 3 people for the job so wasn’t like it was a long list of people to ring/email!

I rarely hear back after interviews. It's very disappointing but that's the way it is.

Very rude. I was long term temping he hadnt manners to contact me after covid. Was left hanging. Rude.!!

I agree OP. This sort of employer always says they get so many applications they couldn't possibly reply to everyone. Yes they can. And definitely after interview stage.

I disagree with needing a reply to an application but agree with a yes or no after an interview (especially with a reason WHY you weren't successful this time so you can work on it if you need to)

@sparepantsandtoothbrush

I disagree with needing a reply to an application but agree with a yes or no after an interview (especially with a reason WHY you weren't successful this time so you can work on it if you need to)

I disagree with needing a reply to an application Why - if I have gone to the bother of completing an application why is it too much trouble to send a "thanks but no thanks" e-mail. Why is that so hard?

Totally agree. I'm self employed and can sometimes engage in an exchange of messages, information sharing with prospective employer, online or in person meeting to never hear anything again. Rude! If I decide not to take a job I reply ASAP, so everyone can move on. I get the sense everyone's hanging on until the last minute, in case their first choice doesn't work out.

I agree. I had an interview a few weeks ago which I felt was very successful and positive. Not heard anything from them since so I assume I didn't get the job. It would have been good if they could have just sent a quick email to tell me this.

I think thanking you for your application and warning you about no further contact if you have been unsuccessful is the best for everybody.

Contacting everybody after interviews is much trickier than it looks in many cases, but I agree, once someone has attended an interview, it should be done.

But if you haven't had an interview, it's not useful for anyone, but they can still be polite and should warn you.

At application stage i wouldnt expect a response.

But at interview stage, I definitely would.

Do people claiming Jobseekers still need to get an answer?
When I claimed it a bazillion years ago I could get sanctioned if I didn't have proof I'd been rejected for jobs I'd applied for - how does this work when no company can be arsed to respond?

Dropping a quick email after an unsuccessful interview or even just an application is just common courtesy. I definately think worse of a company that can't be arsed to send a 2 line email saying thanks for your time but unfortunately...blah blah.

Why - if I have gone to the bother of completing an application why is it too much trouble to send a "thanks but no thanks" e-mail. Why is that so hard

because that's hundreds of applications, that's why.
An automated "thank you, if you don't hear from us within xx weeks, you haven't been successful" is much more efficient and more than enough.

@Replica99

At application stage i wouldnt expect a response.

But at interview stage, I definitely would.

At application stage i wouldnt expect a response. Why not - why is your application not even worth a reply?

@fashionablefennel

Why - if I have gone to the bother of completing an application why is it too much trouble to send a "thanks but no thanks" e-mail. Why is that so hard

because that's hundreds of applications, that's why.
An automated "thank you, if you don't hear from us within xx weeks, you haven't been successful" is much more efficient and more than enough.

But it takes seconds to send an "no thanks" email, even to hundreds of applicants - why is that not possible?

I chase them up after a week purely for closure - I know by then I'm not successful but I like to think it reminds them that they should be contacting you.

I'm like a dog with the bone - I had one a few years ago that I chased for 2 months before they finally confirmed! Sad thing is they've had a couple of roles since and I've not applied based on that experience

@fashionablefennel

But many employers don't have an automated reply for rejected applications, so people are left in limbo after applying.

But it takes seconds to send an "no thanks" email, even to hundreds of applicants - why is that not possible?

because people have a job and other things to do!

You don't realise how time consuming it really is, even for recruitment agencies whose job is literally to manage recruitment.

[quote GraduallyWatermelon]@fashionablefennel

But many employers don't have an automated reply for rejected applications, so people are left in limbo after applying.[/quote]
an automated reply when they receive your application is enough, why do you need an automated rejection?

Unless you hear from them, you have not been selected. What's the problem with that?

@fashionablefennel

Why - if I have gone to the bother of completing an application why is it too much trouble to send a "thanks but no thanks" e-mail. Why is that so hard

because that's hundreds of applications, that's why.
An automated "thank you, if you don't hear from us within xx weeks, you haven't been successful" is much more efficient and more than enough.

That's absolutely fine - the problem for me is places that don't even bother to do this.