24/08/2026
MUSINGS ON REJECTIONS đ
About once a week, I set aside time to go through and contact every single unsuccessful applicant. Itâs not an activity that is exciting or brings us any revenue, and it isnât always a quick task, either, but it is important that I do it.
Gemma and I both do it, because not replying to each applicant just feels wrong to us.
Most of the time, people donât feel the need to reply (which is perfectly reasonable and appropriate), sometimes people ask us to re-consider the decision, or point out something we might have missed, and some just want to argue with us or express their distate for our decision and hit send on a one-word response (the most memorable being a simple, classy âb*tchâ in response to my quite kind rejection email).
HOWEVER, sometimes we receive responses like these (below) from Mark and James. Messages that are lovely but also make us a bit sad. What weâre doing should be the norm, not the exception. Itâs a reminder that even when we donât get a response, weâre probably doing the right thing by letting people know the outcome of their application.
Itâs what we both want if we were in the candidateâs shoes, after all.
Gemma and I are both passionate about retaining a humanity in our work; especially in the face of crap service standards across our industry and the rise of AI and automation in the job-hunting processes.
Because if we let ourselves forget that there is a real person with hope on the other side of that CV on screen, then weâre losing touch with what it is to be human; to show respect, empathy and professionalism in our work. Thatâs not a recruitment landscape we want to be a part of.
Yes, hiring is part of business and business is tough. In the words of drag queen superstar RuPaul on their famous talent competition, the eponymously titled âRuPaulâs Drag Raceâ, âthis isnât RuPaulâs Best Friendâs Raceâ. Weâre not here to baby our candidates or become professional besties with them, but we can be friendly, show empathy, and communicate effectively. We SHOULD be doing these things across our industry. We might have a slightly better rep then, too.
