An email template for candidates frustrated with unresponsive employers • Hacker News Board

Re: An email template for candidates frustrated with unresponsive employers

#71

Post by uncletaco » Wed, Jun 03, 2015, 6:59 PM UTC

Spooky23 wrote: post #38

uncletaco wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm pretty sure laziness would have more to do with not getting a proper rejection than the chance of triggering a lawsuit. If I'm applying to a small to medium sized business in my neck of the woods then nine times out of ten when I don't get a reply its because the hiring manager hasn't taken the time out of their week to get back to me. When I applied to a local company the hiring manager kept emailing me about ho…

Legal/compliance is a significant part of it. That rejection letter has zero upside to the employer and offers many opportunities to screw up. If a company has: a mature HR process, people who know wtf they are doing, and give a crap, they'll do rejection letters. Most lack at least one of those things. The guy at your SMB example is some jack of all trades, and dealing your resume is a priority-2 in a sea of P1's. H…

What you said about my resume being priority-2 in a sea of P1s is spot on in my opinion. However the OP's assertion about fearing a legal reprisal on the grounds of discrimination is farfetched to me. People don't just go around trying to sue people who send them nasty rejection letter. If the candidate could afford the legal fees then they probably wouldn't be looking for a job.

Re: An email template for candidates frustrated with unresponsive employers

#72

Post by greggarious » Wed, Jun 03, 2015, 8:04 PM UTC

I think it also depends on how "cool" the company is.

Obviously, this comment should be taken with a grain of salt since I was not selected (so I'm probably biased), but I felt like Google's hiring process was pretty haphazard. I had actually assumed I wouldn't be interviewing further when they told me about my on-site.

Re: An email template for candidates frustrated with unresponsive employers

#73

Post by rfrey » Wed, Jun 03, 2015, 9:20 PM UTC

eli wrote: post #46

rfrey wrote: post #11

Fun read! I'm having the opposite problem. I'm trying desperately to get people to apply for mobile dev positions... and of the FIVE applications I've managed to lure in, none of them replied to my phone calls or emails back. I was considering asking for an address in the application so I could go wait on applicants' doorsteps, but maybe a letter like this is a less litigable idea.

I frankly believe there are candidates applying for jobs based on the title and maybe skimming the ad, and then waiting for a response before considering if they actually want to work there.

You're probably right, and my responses probably could be improved. In which case I sympathize even more with job seekers who get silent rejections, and don't know what went wrong. :)

Re: An email template for candidates frustrated with unresponsive employers

#74

Post by mcguire » Wed, Jun 03, 2015, 10:55 PM UTC

drauh wrote: post #47

peteboyd wrote: post #40

We are hiring right now for a new bookkeeper, actually they start Monday, so we just finalized the hiring. We regularly post ads for designers, developers and content writers too. Probably every other month I am reviewing resumes, so I have a bit of experience in responding to applicants. Typically any given job posting gets around 50 to 100 resumes depending on the category. It takes time to read through everything.…

FWIW, I have, in the past, applied for jobs at colleges and other research institutions which all have their own resume input system. All different from each other, of course, so it takes 30--45 minutes to completely fill one in. Yes, they have a semi-smart parser that will take a .DOC or a .PDF and pull out the relevant info, but they are more often wrong than right, so it's easier to just manually key in every fiel…

"The most annoying one was a phone call from one institution, that I received [...] 6 months after the application was submitted."

Was that institution the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, by any chance? (Or possibly another federal entity?) I've heard that story and have reason to believe it several times.

Re: An email template for candidates frustrated with unresponsive employers

#75

Post by mcguire » Wed, Jun 03, 2015, 10:57 PM UTC

jerf wrote: post #67

joshka wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great superhero/villian name! Meta Man never solves the problem at hand. Instead he/she/it/they obliquely solve the generalized case. Meta Man Sees a mugger stealing cash from a victim, works on legislation to make BitCoin the default for all transactions.

JRPGS have had quite a few of those. "In my past, I suffered from $SOME_PAIN. It made me realize that the path to end pain was to END ALL LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE so there would be no more pain." Particularly hilarious if $SOME_PAIN fails to connect with you, so the villain from your point of view essentially leaps from "chosen last to play kickball" to "DESTROY EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE" (and on occasion "EVERYWHEN").

You say that like it's a bad plan.

Re: An email template for candidates frustrated with unresponsive employers

#76

Post by mcguire » Wed, Jun 03, 2015, 11:03 PM UTC

darrenmc wrote: post #36

ghaff wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My impression is that rejection letters are fairly common but they're almost universally in the form letter "no fit at this time. Will keep on file" vein. Maybe some companies do more personalized responses but I've never seen it and I would think it would often be difficult. As with many other things, say picking talks for conferences, you're usually not so much rejecting as you're picking some other person or thing…

At least that is some form of response. My experience with big tech firms is either a request for a phone screen or tumbleweeds. I'd prefer the courtesy of a one line email rejection instead of the application disappearing into a black hole.

As for me, I'm still waiting for a response from the SouthWest Research Institute. I know, I know, most people would have given up by now, since it's been 25 years, but the initial interview went so well....

[Edit] Holy shit, I'm old.

Re: An email template for candidates frustrated with unresponsive employers

#77

Post by curun1r » Wed, Jun 03, 2015, 11:09 PM UTC

peteboyd wrote: post #40

We are hiring right now for a new bookkeeper, actually they start Monday, so we just finalized the hiring. We regularly post ads for designers, developers and content writers too. Probably every other month I am reviewing resumes, so I have a bit of experience in responding to applicants. Typically any given job posting gets around 50 to 100 resumes depending on the category. It takes time to read through everything.…

I've always liked the tactic of requiring the applicant to follow some sort of instruction. Something like, "begin your cover letter with 'My favorite flavor of ice cream is .'" Once they've followed your instructions, they've earned the right to be informed of all changes in the application lifecycle. This will allow you to ignore a surprisingly large number of applicants who couldn't be bothered to read and comprehend the instructions but gives any well-meaning applicant the respect they deserve.

I also like questions like the above because it lets you know something about your new hire. I've used the question I listed above before, and then followed up by having a pint of their favorite flavor for them and their new team at the end of their first day. For a few bucks per hire, it's neat positive experience that let's the new hire share something, albeit superficial, that they wouldn't normally share until much later.

Re: An email template for candidates frustrated with unresponsive employers

#78

Post by jerf » Thu, Jun 04, 2015, 12:03 AM UTC

mcguire wrote: post #75

jerf wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

JRPGS have had quite a few of those. "In my past, I suffered from $SOME_PAIN. It made me realize that the path to end pain was to END ALL LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE so there would be no more pain." Particularly hilarious if $SOME_PAIN fails to connect with you, so the villain from your point of view essentially leaps from "chosen last to play kickball" to "DESTROY EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE" (and on occasion "EVERYWHEN").

You say that like it's a bad plan.

Please post to HN if you discover one wing growing out of your back. Let us help you before it's too late. When my min-maxing ways [1] are put into motion and I've worked out how to rip the very moon from the sky and drop it on your erratically-floating head for the low, low cost of 0MP (which, fortunately, will have no other side effects than to cause you precisely 9999 points of damage), it'll be too late for you to decide that you could have just settled for a cup of hot chocolate, enjoy curled up in a blanket sitting next to a roaring fire.

[1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9652105

Re: An email template for candidates frustrated with unresponsive employers

#79

Post by jakejake » Thu, Jun 04, 2015, 12:36 AM UTC

darrenmc wrote: post #39

jakejake wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Thank you for your application, unfortunately the position has been filled." That doesn't say anything that can be misconstrued as discriminatory hiring. Sadly as an employer you are sometimes rewarded for being considerate with an argumentative or nasty reply.

Can't you just redirect any response to /dev/null? At least that way you have given the candidate an ack and they can move on.

Interesting idea, it seems a bit harsh! I just ignore any negative response - figuring they are showing their true colors and that I made the right choice.

Re: An email template for candidates frustrated with unresponsive employers

#80

Post by Spooky23 » Thu, Jun 04, 2015, 2:57 AM UTC

uncletaco wrote: post #71

Spooky23 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Legal/compliance is a significant part of it. That rejection letter has zero upside to the employer and offers many opportunities to screw up. If a company has: a mature HR process, people who know wtf they are doing, and give a crap, they'll do rejection letters. Most lack at least one of those things. The guy at your SMB example is some jack of all trades, and dealing your resume is a priority-2 in a sea of P1's. H…

What you said about my resume being priority-2 in a sea of P1s is spot on in my opinion. However the OP's assertion about fearing a legal reprisal on the grounds of discrimination is farfetched to me. People don't just go around trying to sue people who send them nasty rejection letter. If the candidate could afford the legal fees then they probably wouldn't be looking for a job.

People do.

Also, you don't need to sue. You can file an EEOC or similar complaint to your state/local Human Rights Commission. The process is designed so that you do not need an attorney. You get assigned a hearing officer, they perform some sort of investigation and issues a finding, which can include a variety of remedies.

It's not something to be paranoid about, but when you're a bigger company interviewing alot of people, you want to tie up the loose ends.