To think I've been unprofessionally rejected

[teomama]

Hi, I'm planning to go back to work after a mat leave and currently interviewing. After passing two interviews with a company and receiving really good feedback, the other day I got an email from them from a no-reply mailbox with just a generic rejection template. I appreciate there might have been a better candidate, but AIBU to think the recruiter should have provided a short personal note and potentially some feedback? Receiving that after couple of rounds really felt very rude. Is that a standard practice? Grateful for any intel.

You're lucky to have received an email, even though it was a bit generic. Most companies don't even do that. You could contact them to ask for feedback on your interviews, but I suspect they'll just say there was another candidate with more experience.

Hi
Sorry this is pretty standard
People are rude
You can chase it looking for feedback if you like but this is standard

My DH has been jobhunting for ages and has found this a lot.
I myself interviewed was told I would need to come back and present to the board, that they were keen and they haven't even bothered to get back. I have since taken another job.

It does seem strange to me that you weren’t at least emailed by a person! Maybe see it as a lucky escape as clearly they don’t treat people very well. You can write an anonymous review about your interview experience on glassdoor which might prompt them to have better systems.

PS sorry that this happened. Know it feels really shitty esp if you are coming back after mat leave
Please don't let it affect you- sure you are great

Ooh yes good call on glass door
I am off to do that for the other rude company

I’ve worked with candidate management systems in recruitment where it’s basically a drop down option that generates an email with a generic message at each stage. For organisations with large recruitment it’s an efficient option but I agree it’s an awful candidate experience. Generally after an interview there will at least be a level of personal contact but not always.

For a second interview I agree it’s poor practice.

Agree with PP’s though that’s it’s normal earlier in the process - if I acknowledged every applicant these days I’d never get any work done.

Deguster but can't the applicants be a part of your job ? With all the automation available to big firms it would be easy to send a quick and friendly thanks but no thanks. It's much better for the candidate where the whole process can feel like a horrible slog and also for the company's brand as an employer of choice.

Not to drip feed but I am a solo self employed recruiter. I respond to all applicants with a quick but personalised rejection email. Not perfect but definitely better than no response. I was applying for jobs a while back and it was a complete eye opener including one company who apologised for the delay in getting back to me but could I now answer some screwing questions. It had been two years FFS !!

Screwing 🤣🤣🤣 I meant screening

We have on average 99 applicants for every role we advertise, no way could we spend time personalising emails at each stage.

Standard unfortunately. You could ask for feedback.

I think am automated email is fine for candidates who are rejected at the shortlisting stage. Some roles have upwards of 200 candidates applying, and it would be an absurd waste of time and resource to personalise each and every one. Lots of the applicants will have put very little effort into the application in any case. A generic "thanks but no thanks" email is fine imo.

For candidates who have actually taken the time to attend an interview, I think it's different. Personally, I always make a point of calling each unsuccessful candidate to let them know the outcome and offer them some feedback. I think it's common courtesy and they deserve that much.

Holly but you could. Presumably you have an ATS. I have the same levels of response and I will cut and paste message but use the applicant's name. A little bit of time on the other side of this would give you an idea of how negative it feels.

I wouldn't expect any personal attention at each stage, however, I've been through two interviews at the company.

@TheDogsMother i don’t formally reject applicants who apply through job sites like Indeed (for example). I have to log in to the site just to view the CV’s, most of which are generic and scream “just apply for everything” with nothing bespoke to the role. I’d have to import all the data to even produce an equally generic email, so I don’t bother. After an interview/second interview then I would absolutely call/write. Recruitment is something I have to fit in on top of my operational role so it’s impossible to do more - we’re not even allowed to recruit until the team is maxed out, which doesn’t help!

How many would you take to second or third stages though?