Applicant Woes

A personal acquaintance of mine recently applied for the same job with four different competing companies. All four companies have these jobs listed as accepting applications on their website. The results over the first week were: Company 1) Phone call requesting an in-person interview. Company 2) Radio silence. Company 3) Electronic notification that the resume is in the system, and you will need to log in for ongoing status updates. Company 4) Radio silence.

After the second week the results were: Company 1) In-person interview completed and possibly two branches are interested to move forward. Company 2) After using a direct email follow up tactic (to someone they haven’t met but research indicated was involved with hiring), they received a reply email indicating they are not moving forward due to being short staffed. Company 3) No status change. Company 4) After using a LinkedIn connect + note tactic to a hiring manager to point out a broken hyperlink on the company’s website, they received a reply in LinkedIn acknowledging the broken link but nothing about the part of their message that they recently applied for an open job.

I’ve had multiple conversations with this person over the past two weeks. Here’s what I’ve heard, with strong opinion.

• I hope I get the job from Company 1; they seem great! I got a great impression from “John Doe” and the company seems very professional. I researched the company further after talking to “John Doe” and found out they are a market leader in this region. I also learned I know someone who works for the company and that person loves it!
• Why did it take Company 2 so long to follow up? Would they even have done so had I not sent them the direct follow up email? Why are they not hiring if they are shorthanded? Did you know when I spoke to the person (I know at Company 1), I learned that several employees from Company 2 quit and now work at Company 1. I can see why!
• Why does company 3 use third party software if all my application does is sit in a virtual mailbox and no one ever checks it? Will they ever get back to me? Should I write them off?
• Why would Company 4 reply to part of message and not let me know about interviewing? I don’t think I’d want to work for them if they did get back to me.

I postulate Company 1 has a culture of accountability and follows policy & procedure to maximize first impression and brand consistency. If Company 1 hires this person, they will be elated and most likely refer people they know to apply too. If Company 1 decides not to move forward, the residual mindshare will be positive. It will resonate with something like, “I almost got hired and hope they consider me down the road”. The ripple affect effect anytime the company comes up in future conversation will be brand endorsement. The other three companies will receive varying degrees of poor impression with something like, “I wouldn’t work there. Don’t waste your time applying. You should apply to Company 1 instead.”

My latest recollection on how many people share negative experiences with others compared to positive experiences is double. On average someone shares the positive event six times and the negative event 13 times. Finding high-performing talent is already difficult. If you are not behaving like Company 1, review your hiring process and find opportunities to bridge the communication gaps that lead to an excellent candidate experience.