Approaching Candidate Rejection As A Recruiter

Telling someone they didn’t get the job is not something people want to hear but can be the grounding for a positive future. 

When you take the emotive side out of it, delivering bad news is part and parcel of being a recruiter. What matters is how feedback and resilience play their part in future opportunities. 

Let’s share from our experience what matters when you turn rejection into optimism and drive. 

Harriet Wilson, Assistant Operations Manager, shares that this is a conversation that forms part of a relationship, “To me, it’s not about delivering uncomfortable news. We have two main goals and that is to serve clients and also candidates. Receiving feedback from a client and then sharing helps to identify improvements and areas to work on and think about. A candidate needs to feel valued and know that the team is with them. That way it becomes a shared experience.”  

According to LinkedIn, 78% of job candidates believe the way they’re treated in the hiring process is a clear indicator of how a company will treat their employees.

Rachel Syms, Commercial Manager, recognises that compassion goes a long way, “You have to identify future strengths and provide advice and support that will help with forthcoming opportunities. It can be these delicate situations where a consultant knows how to manage and be seen as a trusted source. You still want to create that sense of goodwill and rapport.”

Kimberley Best, Recruitment Consultant, believes in being specific, “When it is a role someone has their heart and soul on, it can be upsetting for a person to hear they were not successful. To address that, it helps to be specific and not too generalist. It’s the reasons ‘why’ that help. You can’t just say, ‘you showed a lot of self-awareness’ you have to show where. It’s the constructive insights that help on from disappointing news.”

A positive candidate experience shouldn’t just be measured in the build-up to an interview, it’s what happens when dealing with the news that people might not want. 

Not all candidates can deal with rejection with a pinch of salt, which is why support, advice and genuinely being on the candidates' side to succeed and be happy in their career, is why having a recruiter on your side can be a very smart move.