3 tips for dealing with candidates who don’t get selected

It’s not always easy to tell candidates that they haven’t been selected for employment with your company. You need to be astute and empathetic. Managing these situations is one of our primary areas of expertise at St-Amour. We take special care to ensure that those not selected don’t feel resentful. We want them to bounce back quickly and come away with a good impression of your company. After all, your reputation is important to us. So, what do you need to do? Here are three tips.

Make sure all conditions are clear at the outset

Remind candidates about the process and criteria that informed your decision. Share your main reasons for turning them down. If necessary, specify that the choice was made unanimously by an experienced team. Make sure they fully understand the situation so you can have a constructive and objective conversation. Set time limits on the meeting in advance so it doesn’t go on for too long.

Avoid communicating only in writing

For candidates rejected before the first interview, a written response is acceptable. Otherwise, we recommend that you organize a meeting, either in person or on the phone. Thanks to this sign of consideration, they will retain a positive image of your organization. One day, they might be interested in another position at your company.

Stay positive

Throughout your discussions with unsuccessful candidates, stay positive and describe things as they really are. Consider providing ideas or solutions that could help them in future interviews. When speaking with finalists in the final stage of the selection process, highlight their applications’ strong points so they leave more confident and less disappointed.

At St-Amour, as soon as we are given an assignment, we post the position. Following our initial analysis of the CVs received, we only meet with the candidates who match our client’s criteria and show promise. We then present our client with our recommendations. If our client decides against meeting with our recommended candidates, they are considered rejected. At this stage, we are responsible for informing them of our client’s decision. We also contact those candidates who don’t pass to the next level after their initial interview with our client to explain why they have not been selected.