To wonder why they can't send an email

[Confusdworriedmum]

My DD is working now as an apprentice. In the run up to her current job she was out of work for six months. She applied for so many jobs. Some she never heard back from. Others she had an interview but never heard back.
If you make the effort to go for an interview why can't they be bothered to send a quick email saying sorry you were unsuccessful instead of making people wait around for days wondering if you got the job or not?
It's not a new thing but it's so rude and pretty unprofessional. At one time people would actually send a letter saying sorry, now they can't even be bothered with a two second email.
My friends DD is applying for jobs and it's the same, people giving an interview but then not bothering to get back to her.
AIBU to think companies should make the (very small) effort to email unsuccessful job candidates?

No, you aren't bu, it is just rudeness and a sign those companies don't value others time. When I used to be responsible for hiring people, I would always let them know if they were unsuccessful, usually by phone or email if I couldn't get through. It would give the applicant an opportunity to ask for feedback which I would have prepared before reaching out. It's an awkward call but I think it is important.

Totally agree, I also think they should be obliged to provide feedback to the unsuccessful candidates if requested. It just shows how little they value their employees and potential employees imo.

I know it’s no consolation, but not sending an email to people who have interviewed is a big red mark for the company and I wouldn’t want to work for them.
Does your DD send a follow up email after interview, thanking them for opportunity to discuss role, good to meet them etc. etc., if she doesn’t she could start doing this - it might increase her chances of getting the job and at least makes her into a person that they may feel more inclined to respond to.

My last employer had a fully automated job application system, and this was some years ago. You'd think if a system can be programmed to send out emails inviting people to interview it could also be set up to generate a short email thanking applicants for their time but saying on this occasion they have been unsuccessful at gaining an interview. It absolutely should be set up to notify the results of interviews and other selection tests. Just plain rude not to do that.

Now that so many organisations "Outsource" their recruitment to agencies, I can easily imagine them "assuming" the agency would tell unsuccessful candidates, but as those of us at the "job hunting" end of recruitment agencies, we know how crap they are. Not being told that I'd not got a job by recruitment agencies was common when I was last job hunting in the 1990s! Hardly ever any feedback confirming I'd not got the job and reasons unless I asked them.

My experience was very different with organisations who did their own recruitment in house, where I can't remember one occasion where I didn't hear back virtually the day after interviews, either by phone or letter.

My son went through a couple of years of trying to find, firstly a sandwich year job whilst at Uni and then a graduate scheme job for when he graduated, and he had a nightmare with recruitment agencies and organisations that outsource their recruitment. Some places didn't admit they outsourced it, but he said it was obvious that the agency was using "white labelling" as the web portals were identical, as were some of the questions/tasks, just with different branding. He constantly had the same problem of simply not knowing where he was, never any real "personal" feedback after interviews which were online and he never really knew if he was being interviewed by the organisation's own staff or agency staff. He said there was only one firm (out of I think 28 applications he made) that did their own internal recruitment via their own in-house HR department - there was constant contact throughout the process, and it was the only place where he had an "in person" interview when he was asked to go to their head office for the final interview - and got a phone call the very next day from one of the managers!

Yet these are the people assessing transferable skills, such as communication. I've seen too many bad interview practice.

Completely agree.

Fair enough for an application if they’re getting hundreds of emailed CVs (if you have to apply through an online portal I’d expect it to send an automated email if they clicked reject on an application).

But surely they only interview a handful - it is not an onerous task to send a few “thanks for coming in to interview, unfortunately at this time you have not been successful etc” emails.

This is standard now - I think it's because so many placed us AI to scan CV's before they are even considered for interview. Uni leavers blanket bomb all companies with CVs so they have to filter them by machine to save time, so no personal touches any more.

But surely if you get to the interview stage they could let you know one way or the other. DD says she will never leave this company because it's such a pain not hearing back from interviews (she might change her mind as she's only 19).

I agree it is very rude. I also find it rude when companies don't state the salary because it is clear they will go with whoever they can pay the least given half the chance.

This can be part of the problem, though. The function probably will be there, but too easy to mess up because of the reality of the process that it takes for someone to be hired. Or perhaps so 'templatey' that it needs to be treated with care.

Example: there are 3 that could be hired with 1 the stand-out candidate but 2, the plan B.
Nobody receives an email (possibles or non successfuls) at this point. You could programme the 'Thank you but strong competition....' message for 3 days' time, but then this carries on:
Stand-out 1 gets a phone call offer. They ask to think about it over the weekend because the offer they really want might be around the corner.
If on Monday they say no, phonecall goes to Plan B. They accept the post but it's subject to references.
(Yes, this is the point when, really, everyone else could plausibly get an email).
One reference takes a week to chase up, and the person should be able to start in a month's time, but in the meantime, the company has an alarm bell or 2 about something else - for example, a working visa situation that wasn't clear prior to any offers.
So until there is a contract and it's all above board for the hire, it is wise not to send emails as there may be reasons that the hire would not be possible.
Admin or Manager is more concerned with logging the references and any legal work processes (and this is important), so the rest of the interview stage completion of open end things is now a long way behind.

Something like the above happened quite a lot when I had use of such a system.