You did it! You waded through a slate of applicants, interviewed the most promising, and made an offer to the one who rose above the others. Great! Now you’ve got one more item on your hiring to-do list: the interview follow-up calls.
Why should you reach out to candidates you’re not going to hire? Is a follow-up call one of the necessary next steps after interviews are complete? And what do you say to someone who was interested in your job opening but won’t be filling it?
All good questions! Figuring out how to reject a candidate with professionalism and dignity can be one of the toughest parts of the interview process.
The hiring pros at InterviewPath have decades of experience interviewing candidates for a wide range of industries. We put our collective insight on the process to work to help you navigate the interview follow-up steps that can:
- Protect your company’s brand reputation
- Preserve goodwill among future prospects
- Promote your company culture as respectful and trustworthy
Read on to learn more about why – and how – to make interview follow-up calls that are quick, meaningful, and painless for both of you.
Why Follow Up After an Unsuccessful Interview?
One of the more difficult aspects of the business world is embracing ambiguity. And there’s little more ambiguous than the resounding silence that often follows a job interview. An interview follow-up call or email offers closure for the applicant. Once they know they’re out of the running for that position, they can focus on moving forward with other possibilities.
Following up after an interview that doesn’t lead to a job offer can be uncomfortable in the short-term. But it has long-term benefits for the applicant and your company.
What’s the Benefit of Following Up If I Don’t Want to Hire Them?
It’s easy to see how your company’s success depends on your manager’s interviewing skills in terms of hiring help with staying power. But their ability to courteously and respectfully reject candidates can have an outsized impact on your overall brand identity. How?
Job applicants who get ghosted often feel like they wasted their time with that company – especially if they made it through several rounds of interviews. Those feelings can lead to bad-mouthing on digital platforms that create a sour impression of your company among everyone who sees the posts. And that can snowball into far fewer candidates who are interested in your future job postings, as well as general animosity about your company and overall brand.
So, while the interview follow-up message might be a tad awkward, it’s an important component of creating a culture of accountability that aligns with your brand’s integrity.
How Should I Follow Up?
As with most communication, following up after an interview requires planning to be most effective. You can opt for a phone call or an email, but we strongly advise putting some thought into your company’s interview follow-up strategy well before talking to the first candidate. Having that plan in place will make the next steps after the interview simpler, clearer and much less stressful. Here’s what to consider:
Which candidates should I contact?
Do you need to follow up with every person who applied for the job? That depends on a couple practical factors:
- How many applicants were there?
- How far did a candidate go in the interview process?
- How well did the candidate do on core competency questions?
The decision about whether to reach out to every rejected candidate or only some of them depends on your resources. If there were hundreds of applicants, interview follow-up calls to all of them would likely overburden your staff. But consider some form of candidate communication for those candidates who:
- Progressed through several rounds of interviews
- Had compelling responses to your most important competency questions
- Impressed your management team or came close to being considered for onboarding
What do I say?
It’s most important to maintain a tone of respect and professionalism in the wording of any interview follow-up candidate communication. One reason for how InterviewPath works so well is that we keep all the language clear and well within the boundaries of legal hiring practices. Avoid questionable tactics, like making jokes or revealing any confidential information from the interview.
In general, the best interview follow-up guide includes doing three things:
- Thank the candidate for their time
- Offer a reason for the rejection
- Encourage them to apply for other positions
You can include feedback that promotes transparency and growth – but keep it focused on the competencies of the job, rather than on personal traits or subjective impressions. One of the benefits of InterviewPath is the convenience of having all the competency questions and feedback from interviewers in one dedicated space – so there’s no more chasing down managers or interpreting hand-written notes for specific info on a candidate’s performance.
Above all, keep it short and objective. Here’s an example of a strong, compassionate interview follow-up note:
“Thank you, Joan, for taking the time to talk with us about the digital marketing position at [Our Company Name]. You stood out among a number of strong candidates, particularly in [x and y] competencies. However, we ultimately decided to move forward with another applicant. Based on your experience in [a specific competency], you might consider applying for positions in our [fill-in-the-blank] department. Thank you again, and we wish you the best of luck in your job search.”
Note how the mention of specific competencies from the interview highlights your company’s focused and professional hiring methodology while showing the candidate that they were heard and appreciated.
You may be tempted to include personal comments about the applicant’s performance, but be careful. You don’t want to say anything that could be interpreted as offensive – or worse, grounds for a lawsuit.
When should I do it?
Typically, sooner is better for following up after an interview. If you wait too long, you risk creating a sense of false hope – which can lead to resentment after your follow-up call. The general rule on following up is to do it about a week after the interview or final hiring decision.
Make Your Next Hire the Best Hire with InterviewPath.
Despite the discomfort of delivering bad news, following up after interviews is good for both your company and the candidates you’re not hiring. Help from InterviewPath’s intuitive organizational tools can make this kind of candidate communication clearer, more focused and much easier to manage.
By making interview follow-up calls or emails a part of your process, you’ll buoy your brand image, create a stronger future candidate pool and alleviate stress for both yourself and the unchosen applicants.
Want more useful interview tools that are designed to help your team hire the right fit every time? Contact us today to learn more about InterviewPath’s custom interview guides for a simple, customizable, and ridiculously affordable solution.