You will hear plenty of excuses from employers about why they don't let applicants know about the status of their job application - there are too many, they are too busy, it's too hard to manage - and not following up with job seekers who have spent the time jumping through hoops to apply seems to be the norm not the exception. In fact, there are some companies who don't even let candidates who interviewed know that they were rejected.
However, even if you throw out courtesy as a good reason, the impact on your company's bottom line is worth thinking about. CareerBuilder's Applicant Experience study found 44% of workers who didn't hear back from an employer when they applied for a job said they have a worse opinion of that employer.
In a separate study, nearly one-third of job seekers (32%) reported they are less likely to purchase a product from a company who didn't respond to their job application. Depending on the business you're in that can hurt.
What can hurt even more is if the applicant talks about how they were treated badly. 78% of respondents said they would talk about a bad experience they had with a potential employer with friends and family. 17% percent said they would post something about their negative experience on social media and 6% they would blog about it. It doesn't take much for a tweet or post to go viral, especially if it's something quirky or catchy or nasty.
Plus, even things like broken links and a job application form that zaps out can cost your reputation. Here's more of how treating prospective employees badly can hurt both a company's brand and the bottom line from the CareerBuilder survey.
Many of the job seekers who have shared their stories about why they don't like employers with us have mentioned that lack of follow-up from employers. It can be really frustrating not to hear back after you spent time and effort applying. How about you? Have you had a bad employer experience? Here's how to share your story on the About.com Job Search site.
Read More: The Resume Black Hole
I’be actually been on both sides, the candidate looking for a job and the recruiter. And from personal experiences at the interviews, I’ve learned to answer back to each candidate I had interviews with. If you want something done, especially since it’s your own reputation as a HR person at stake, then you find the time to do it. My worst interview without follow up was for a (ironically) an executive search company. Went to 3 interviews, a testing day and when it came to getting an answer from them, i got the usual: “we’ll call you”. Never got any answer back. Not to mention that during the testing day, one of the people there asked surprised: “I didn’t know we were even hiring”. The good thing about follow up is that even if the person you had the interview with is turned down, other opportunities might arise at some point in the future and you get to do business together (real case, happened to me).