Job Candidates:

The Case

A few days ago, I posted a position for a new Administrative Specialist to join our team. Within the first few hours, I received 287 job candidates. 

I reviewed every single resume. There were 73 applicants who either met our minimum requirements or were close enough to progress.  

I emailed all 73 applicants with some follow-up questions. 

The Follow-Up Questions

I am one of those hiring managers who feel attitude, passion, and the desire to learn are more important than hard skills and competency. My ultimate goal is to hire someone who has hand-selected our position because it resonated with them. And the best way to assess someone’s true desire is to ask! 

Therefore, the first pre-interview follow-up question I always ask is “What made you most interested in this position versus others?”

I also ask if they have any specific schedule requirements and even though I typically post the compensation range in the job description, I like to confirm their compensation expectations. 

Pretty basic questions…right? But these questions help me gain into each candidate’s interests and needs before meeting with them. 

The Response Rate Was Abysmal

There will always be some candidates who don’t want the position badly enough to respond to my questions. But I only expect a small percentage of candidates to fall out at this stage. 

However, only 21 candidates responded to my email. 

That is only a 29% response rate. 

Less than a third.

Why would you apply for a position and then not respond when the hiring manager contacts you? 

So, for all of the job seekers who feel their applications go into a black hole, I think we need to dig into this. Did the candidates even see my email? Did they know I was interested?

Do you regularly check your Spam, Junk, and/or Clutter?

Most folks don’t think to check their spam, junk, and/or clutter folders. But if you are a job candidate, you should check these folders several times a day. 

Even when you identify or classify an email, sender, or domain as safe, don’t assume future emails won’t get classified as junk.  

Not all email domains are equal.

Some email domains have horrible deliverability. Our statistics show that Yahoo emails are the worst, followed by AOL. Research agrees, also citing Hotmail as one of the biggest offenders. 

The issue goes further than emails being routed into your junk folder. Their filters keep the email from even making it to your box. The net is that they get quarantined somewhere ‘out there’ in email land.

The two best domains for deliverability are Gmail and Outlook. If you aren’t already using one of these domains for your job seeker email address, consider switching. 

Make sure you don’t have filters or rules set up. 

If you have set up email filters or rules, make sure they are functioning the proper way. Rules that are too loose are likely to route emails that you didn’t intend to route.

Don’t put all your trust in platforms like Indeed. 

I used Indeed to post this Administrative Specialist position and it was a nightmare. The emails I sent through the system were extremely delayed…some of them by as much as 4 days. 

If you use platforms like Indeed, tailor your resume instead of using their standard format. Add your contact information and LinkedIn profile to your resume so there are multiple ways recruiters and hiring managers can contact you. 

The Interviews

I scheduled interviews with 8 of the 21 candidates who responded. 3 of the 8 were no-shows. I feel that one of those no-shows was due to Indeed’s platform and the email delays I experienced. But that means 25% (or 2 out of 8) just didn’t bother to show up to their scheduled interviews. 

Again, I have to ask why.  In a job market where job seekers are begging for opportunities, why would someone schedule an interview and then miss it?  

Those time slots could have been given to other candidates.

I understand that things happen. Maybe you had a meeting run over, experienced a personal emergency, or received another offer. But if you couldn’t make the interview or decided you were no longer interested, you should have alerted me…before you missed the appointment. 

Being professional and considerate will keep the door open for future opportunities. 

In Conclusion

I extended an offer this morning and feel that the gal we hired is perfect for us. Perhaps the entire situation was Divinely orchestrated. But, I wanted to blog about my experience because I feel that job seekers should know that perhaps hiring managers are reaching out. Maybe there is more interest in your candidacy than you are aware.

Maybe the hiring manager’s email is the one going into a black hole.

Have questions or stories? Contact us; we look forward to hearing from you.