I have been helping a client to recruit a new team member over the last week and it’s reinforced how important it is to manage your brand the whole way through the recruitment process. One of the leading candidates came very close to us rethinking our decision by not thinking through an email in the closing stages of the process.
We had completed the interview and were keen to let them know they would be going through to testing and reference checking. We had sent an email asking they contact us. They could then talk more openly as I am always conscious in open plan work environments it’s not that easy to taking personal calls, let alone one about a potential new job! Within a short time I had a reply to my email that stopped me in my tracks. The email started out telling me if they hadn’t got through to the next phase of the process I was to advise them by email. If it was good news they of course where happy to speak with me.
I expect it was not the intention of the candidate but it certainly gave me the impression they were not resilient to bad news. Not a good sign for a role that required resilence and was client facing. There was the flash of “are we making the right decision” racing through my mind. I decided to reply with a simple “you will want to call me”!
When we spoke about an hour later I pointed out to the job candidate that their email didn’t do their personal brand any favours. Although initially a little surprised the person agreed with me it wasn’t a smart response. The person had decided they hadn’t interviewed well so had decided they were no longer being considered for the role. Moral of this story is take care in how you communicate with others especially when emailing.
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