Category: Jobs, Work & Careers

Follow-up with candidates after job interviews is a great practice. As a headhunter in the IT vertical, I made it a practice to follow-up with all the candidates that I had interviewed for a job.

Apart from the fact that it is just common courtesy to follow-up with interviewed candidates after a job has been filled, there are 2 very practical reasons an IT headhunter, or any headhunter or recruiter, to do so – namely finding new candidates and being introduced to new clients:

1. as an IT headhunter I was constantly on the outlook for quality candidates to fill jobs and one of the best ways to find quality people is through referrals;
2. as an IT headhunter I was constantly looking for new clients who needed help finding a great candidate to fill a job. It is not easy to connect with hiring managers when they are constantly being bombarded with phone calls from headhunters. Referrals are golden. Just because a candidate wasn’t a fit for the job you interviewed for doesn’t mean that they aren’t a quality candidate. My best source of referrals was from candidates that I had follow-up with.

Glassdoor, one of the world’s largest job and recruiting site, says that following up with every candidate who applies to your company–whether you’re going to hire them or not–is a crucial part of your recruitment process. But why? Is it really that important?

Glassdoor provides 5 great reasons in their article “Why it’s important for employers to follow up with candidates after job interviews” that appeared on Fastcompany.com.

1. candidate follow-up up after an interview closes the loop
2. replying and responding to candidates after an interview is respectful
3. it says volumes about your brand
4. candidates are going to talk
5. candidate follow-up and responses help drive better talent

Read the article.

“Are your inspirational social media posts hurting your career?” According to Judith Humphreys the answer is a resounding ‘YES”.

As the founder and Chief Creative Officer of The Humphrey Group, a premier leadership communications firm headquartered in Toronto, whose business teaches global clients how to communicate as confident, compelling leaders I suspect that she knows what she is talking about.

Humphrey says:

“Your Inspirational Social Media Posts Are Hurting Your Career.
It’s a lot harder to sound thoughtful and articulate than to tweet a Mark Twain quote. Real leaders don’t sound like tear-off calendars.

If you’re a leader or trying to become one, some degree of ongoing “personal branding” activity is inevitable. That often creates pressure to post something new to your social channels on a regular basis–and therein lies the risk.

The easiest thing to do might be to share pithy slogans purporting to deliver quick hits of inspiration. After all, it’s your job as a leader or aspiring leader to motivate others, right? Right! But your #MotivationalMonday tweet or Instagram post with a Gandhi quotation might be backfiring without you realizing it. Here’s why, and how to avoid those fluffy expressions.

Read her article Your “Inspirational” Social Media Posts Are Hurting Your Career where she explains clearly that:

It’s a lot harder to sound thoughtful and articulate than to tweet a Mark Twain quote. Real leaders don’t sound like tear-off calendars.

Find her article on Fast Company.