You may have spotted the recent press coverage of a woman who attended an interview for a job waiting tables and was shocked by a text message she received after the interview, telling her that her application had been unsuccessful.
Megan Dixon was interviewed by the assistant manager at a Miller and Carter steak restaurant.
Apparently, the following texts were sent to her in error:
I can see why she wasn’t too happy with the ‘informal’ feedback she received. The crying emoji really rubs it in!
As an employer, hopefully you’ll not fall into the trap of giving feedback by accident, but it is a useful reminder that giving good feedback to unsuccessful candidates can be important and may help protect your business.
Here’s why:
1. Explaining the real reason for someone not getting the job will help reduce the risk of them claiming it was for a discriminatory reason (e.g. because of their sex, race etc.)
2. Giving someone a certain amount of useful information may mean that they don’t request chapter and verse from you and save you time overall!
3. Although giving feedback can sometimes involve a difficult conversation, candidates generally appreciate it and it will often improve the perception of your employer brand.
4. It might just help them improve next time!
However, this is still a difficult area and if you can’t deliver this type of message in an emotionally intelligent way, you may be better keeping feedback to a minimum.
Failing that, just send them a text with your favourite emoji 😉
(For the avoidance of doubt, that last point is a joke 😀
For more information on this or any other employment issue, please contact Nic Elliott on 0115 9 100 253 or click here to send an email.
Posted on March 2, 2017
