IES Blog

Respond to job seekers or risk reputation harm

Posted on January 11th, 2012 Read time: 1 minutes

Applying for any position – whether it be full-time, part-time or as a temporary worker – can be strenuous, and the associated stress can be compounded if an applicant never hears back from the company he or she applied to.

According to a recent survey from Startwire, 77 percent of more than 2,000 respondents think less of a company that doesn't respond to a job application.

Furthermore, 90 percent of those polled said getting some sort of feedback would make the overall job application process less frustrating. Despite this, only one-third of Fortune 500 companies provide follow-ups through job application systems.

"It is easy to understand job seekers' frustration when they submit resumes but never get a response," says Chris Forman, CEO of StartWire. "But what most companies don't realize is that not providing feedback can really hurt their image. Those potential hires may also be customers, and how a company manages job applicants can really travel fast through word-of-mouth."

Alison Green writes for U.S. News Money that one of the main reasons companies fail to respond is a lack of resources to address the amount of applications they receive. Having an intern send out a form letter via email can solve this problem.  

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