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.