To think companies should at least let candidates know if they've been unsuccessful?

[earlyriser3]

AIBU?

I'm not talking about the application stage (although it would be good to get a response) as I appreciate most companies don't have the time or the resources to respond to every single applicant, but what about after an interview?
Surely companies should at least let candidates know if they've been unsuccessful, given the person has spent time and money travelling there and back. A quick email would be enough.

I only ask because I went for an interview on the 14th. Interview went well. It was for a role that I have lots of experience in but I knew she had other interviews lined up the same week. She told me she'd let me know within a weeks time, but I've heard absolutely nothing and it's now been 2 weeks. I emailed the person who booked me in for the interview yesterday morning (and also CC'd in the person who interviewed me) and I haven't had a response. I'm not too bothered as I have a couple of other interviews lined up next week anyway, but surely it's just common courtesy to let people know if they've been unsuccessful or not?

The job advert has been taken down as well. It's not a large company by any means and their recruitment team is quite small by the looks of things. I worked in recruitment years ago and we always use to update candidates with feedback after their interview, successful or not, and if we hadn't made a decision yet we would still let the candidates know.

I think it’s extremely rude not to contact people you’ve interviewed with the outcome.

Agree with you. I work for a multinational and when my DH came for interview, they didn’t get back to him. Incredibly poor approach. Feels very rude to me. I expected more from my company as the waffle a lot about values etc but couldn’t even bother to send him a brief email.

YANBU but this has been asked and answered before and just results in people in recruiting roles making whataboutery comments about candidates who ghost them and failing to see the difference.

We always email candidates after interview, regardless of the outcome. It’s only fair. We usually try to offer a bit of feedback as well (in the nicest way possible!).

I'm glad to see I'm not the only who thinks it's rude! I couldn't care less that I've been unsuccessful as I know what the job market is like. I'm more annoyed that they couldn't be arsed to let me know. It only takes a few minutes to send an email and most companies have basic rejection templates anyway. She was quick to reply to a query I had before the interview but it's radio silence now!

Absolutely. An email or text message at least takes very little time.

Yes, I do a lot of recruitment and I consider it common courtesy to contact candidates after an interview. People often spend a lot of time preparing for interviews, and they may have taken time off work to attend etc. The very least you can do is contact them to let them know the outcome.

I usually check at interview how they would prefer to be contacted. My preference is to make a personal phone call if they are open to this, as that affords the opportunity for me to offer some feedback if they want it.

Giving people the silent treatment and just leaving them to conclude that they have been unsuccessful is terribly rude.

I think it's appallingly rude. I wish there was a website where we could out these companies. If I knew about them I don't think I'd bother to apply because if they can't be bothered to let people know after an interview that they haven't got the job, then they probably won't care much for their employees.

After all, someone who's been to an interview has probably spent some time prepping for it, has taken the day off work and spent money attending the interview. To not even get basic feedback after that is very poor.

YANBU it’s fucking rude (or at best incredibly unorganised) when you’ve given up your time and money to interview for them. It’s happened to me and after that happened, I don’t think I’d want to work for that company any more in future.

I agree it would be great if employees would let candidates know but its not always possible if there are a lot of individuals.

I was carrying out interviews late last year and interviewed around 20 per day for nearly three weeks ( huge recruitment drive for a new site)
So at the end of each interview I told them if uou haven't heard back from me by X date you have been unsuccessful. If you would like feed back please get in touch after the aforementioned date

No excuse. If you've got time to contact them to come for the interview, and to take part in the interview process, then you've got time to send a standard email out afterwards.

Just rude.

Yeah there's no excuse for it in my opinion.

Recruitment was part of my old job and I once recruited for a role that required I interview 200+ candidates, to hire 5.

I still sent an email to all the unsuccrssfuls. It was just a canned response, but it did specify "if you would like more detailed feedback, please get in touch". Very few people asked for that but still did it for the ones who wanted it.

There's just no reason not to draft a quick "sorry you've been unsuccessful on this occasion" template and bash it out to anyone who didn't get through. It takes 2 minutes.

Poor form. You could have sent a generic email at the very least. It only takes a few mins.

I totally agree. I had a second interview for a COO role nearly 3 weeks ago, so a number 2 role, in a well respected organisation,

I was told they were moving extremely quickly and I would hear either way in a couple of days. After not hearing for 2 weeks I contact the company only to be told that there had been an email glitch so emails with outcomes hadn’t gone out. Yeah right! I emailed back saying I was looking forward to receiving the original email.

I am still waiting. Utterly unimpressed and have no qualms about sharing their lack of professionalism more widely. Sill thing to do at any level but for a #2 with people well known in the sector, even more dumb

Completely agree, it's RUDE with a capital R! I got to final two for a job last year and it took them a MONTH to tell me I wasn't successful. I gave the HR person some 'feedback' on their lack of communication. Because I work in a very close industry I heard through the grapevine that the person they appointed gave back word. Serves them right.

There ought to be a publicly accessible list of companies who don't. Assuming it would not identify individuals who have been treated this way.

It pisses me right off and there is no excuse for it. I work in HR but obviously not everyone thinks the same as its happened to me a few times.

In my personal experience, housing associations are the worst for this, and there are several I would now never apply to. Firstly, because it pisses me off. Secondly, if their HR team is so incompetent, I don't want to be part of it.

Looking at these replies I can see I'm not the only that this has happened to. Just so bloody rude!

I went to an interview about a year ago, for a role I was well experienced for. Was told in the interview that they always give feedback within a week whether successful or not. Didn't hear anything. Sent an email and heard nothing back. A year later I get an email saying that they've decided to recruit for the role again and do I want to re-apply

I got to a second and final interview where it was me and one other person up for the job. I am still waiting three years later to find out the outcome 🙄

I did phone and email but to no avail.

The job situation is seriously DISMAL and depressing.

So far I've had.....

• Huge UK wide company - applied online. Received a telephone screen interview. Progressed to a Teams interview (with line manager) for one hour. Second stage interview with line manager and member of board. Barrage of questions for over one hour. All answered well if I do say so myself! Was told I'd hear their decision within 3/4 days - then NOTHING. Radio silence. Months later I discovered by online snooping that they cut the job I was applying for altogether.

• Another UK wide company - applied online. Invited to interview and deliver a presentation and answer questions on it. 2 interviewers. Over one hour of questions. Told I would hear within a month. NOTHING.

• Another global company - applied online. Invited to interview. Then invited to second interview where I had to do a presentation and answer questions. Told they went for a lesser experienced applicant as I was clearly overqualified. ALL of my education/experience was clearly displayed on my CV which they presumably saw when I applied! The mind boggles.

• I've also had recruiters contact me via job sites, ask some questions, ask for a copy of my CV then completely ghost me!

My CV is professionally written by a specialist company. It clearly outlines all of my education and experience. I've won awards in my previous roles and have excellent references. However so far I've been looking for 4 months. It's brutal out there.

Sounds like you dodged a bullet tbh. Any company that places so little value on the effort that you must have made to attend and presumably prepare for two interviews probably treats its staff like shit in any case.

You either value people or you don't, in my experience.