“I sent my resume and never heard a thing.”

“I left a mes­sage and no one called me back.”

“They said I would hear feed­back on my inter­view in 2 weeks and it’s been 4.”

These are the com­ments fre­quently heard from job appli­cants and can­di­dates. Sure, it’s an employer’s mar­ket and a gazil­lion peo­ple apply for every posi­tion out there. Many of those who apply have no applic­a­ble expe­ri­ence and you feel they have wasted not only their own time but yours as well.

Sign of the times, peo­ple are des­per­ate. They think if your com­pany is hir­ing for that posi­tion maybe one is com­ing up they would qual­ify for and they’re doing the smart thing by get­ting their resume to you now. You know, being proac­tive, beat­ing the crowd, show­ing ini­tia­tive. Most peo­ple who aren’t recruiters don’t know how it really works and that secretly (or not so secretly) you are curs­ing them, call­ing them idiots for apply­ing to jobs they’re not qual­i­fied for.

It’s often bru­tal on the job seeker’s end; the hunt, the wait, the rejec­tion… and I have observed on many occa­sions, a holier than thou, I’m in charge here and your future depends on me atti­tude - from recruiters, that is far from pro­fes­sional. We could be on the other end of an ATS in a heartbeat.

We should always remem­ber that…

Yes, it is highly irri­tat­ing when some­one overkills with follow-up to the point of being within 1/10 of an inch of being an offi­cial stalker. It’s hor­rid when some­one files an unfounded EEOC claim of dis­crim­i­na­tion because they were not selected. It’s wor­thy of haz­ardous duty pay when a can­di­date didn’t deal well with being turned down and becomes ver­bally abu­sive or goes off the deep end of des­per­a­tion and con­fronts you loudly in pub­lic, keys your car, or any num­ber of ille­gal acts of vengeance (which always pro­vide ample val­i­da­tion of your deci­sion mak­ing skills).

But, none of that should desen­si­tize us to the point of dehu­man­iz­ing a process which should be just the oppo­site; engaging.

Here are 5 sim­ple cus­tomer ser­vice tips to help ensure you’re not hurt­ing peo­ple or the employer brand you’re representing:

Screen­ing calls is fine, if you don’t want to speak with the per­son, send an email — but send the email.

In your com­mu­ni­ca­tion use time lines so appli­cants know when they’ll hear by and that if they don’t it’s because they weren’t selected.

Be orga­nized enough to use cal­en­dar reminders, post-it notes — what­ever — to remind you it’s time to make those updates you promised.

Tone — Don’t ever show or express frus­tra­tion or irri­tabil­ity with applicants.

Remem­ber to thank can­di­dates for think­ing of the com­pany as a prospec­tive employer.

Check out what Microsoft does to make can­di­dates feel spe­cial when they come in for an inter­view in their can­di­date expe­ri­ence lobby. Just imag­ine how relaxed and psy­ched for an inter­view one must be after a hands on expe­ri­ence play­ing with all the toys. Granted, not every com­pany has that to offer. But, even a warm greet­ing and scrap­book of good times in the lobby to pro­vide a glimpse of the cul­ture is bet­ter than star­ing at 4 walls.

What can­di­date expe­ri­ence tips do you have to share?