I posted a job on a popular job aggregation website to test it out.

I received 28 profiles within the first 6 hours, and it was pretty clear that nearly all of them skimmed the job title and fired off their resume without reading what my client was seeking. The first response came one minute after the posting went live!

After reviewing and selecting only one to contact, I emailed back every single applicant and explained that they were not a fit (either they lacked the industry or functional experience my client is seeking). I typed up two separate rejection emails and sent it to the 27 rejected candidates. This took maybe 10-15 minutes out of my day.

When I shared this experience with our intern, she said “it’s pretty crazy that you responded to everyone.” Then she quickly added, “actually, it’s even crazier that recruiters responding to rejected applicants is considered crazy!”

I hear this far too often. If you are a recruiter, OWN it, be proud, and spend that little extra effort to elevate the standards of our industry. If you are a leader, show your new employees that ignoring candidates is NOT how recruiting works. The recruiting industry has some really great folks, and I know we are capable of doing much better. Time to elevate our game!