In Looper Movie, the loop should always be closed. When it does not get closed, things turn ugly for people involved.
Imagine you are talking to some one and abruptly the other person hangs up the phone or walks away. How would you feel? It would suck, isn’t it?Probably you would want to avoid that person in future.
If we ask a founder / hiring manager, one of the important issues in hiring is, candidates who stop responding during the course of the process. If we ask candidates, one of the issues in hiring process is the hiring managers / the organisation stops responding mid way.
Well, the issue is similar on both sides and sometimes people who are at the receiving end of one are equally guilty of creating one at the other end.
Impact of Not closing the Loop for Startup?
Here are some reasons a startup hangs up midway.
- Mismatch in core skill set of candidate
- Mismatch with expectation of candidate
- Assumption the the outcome is clear for the candidate
- Too Many Candidates / Over Load
- Hiring Process is put on hold
- On the fence regarding a candidate
- Budget Constraints
- Change in strategy
- More Priority or Urgent Tasks
Candidates are potential hires. When a hiring process starts with the candidate, the candidate invests good amount of time and effort as well. The startup is also enthusiastic in getting the candidate to commit time. For any reason along the way, when the organisation does not update the candidate or does not respond, it has effectively left the candidate in lurch.
Now, if the candidate was good fit and was not updated on time then a good hire is lost. If the candidate was not a match, still it has left a bad impression about the startup. A chance to get a reference for hire is lost forever. Even worse the candidate might have been a future hire in a different role. Believe it or not, small things matter as much as elaborate strategies.
Either you lose a hire or you lose a brand ambassador.
Founders / Hiring Managers need to check if they are closing the loop every single time. If not, identify why it is not happening. If it is an assumption that negative outcomes need not be communicated, then challenge that assumption. If it is for other reasons, great, you are still in control. Work out a plan to factor the final communication as well.
It does not matter if a candidate is hired or not or is put on hold . But it is important to let the candidate know about the decision. It could be through any means an automated process, standard email or through hiring partner, but still it need to be done. The process does not complete without this step.
Impact of Not closing the Loop for Candidate?
Here are some reasons a candidate stops communication,
- Loses Intrest In the Process
- Mismatch in Role / Other Aspects
- Has Better Offers
- Was not serious in the first place
- Got caught up with current work
- Undecided
- No longer looking for new opportunity
For an organisation, once the hiring process has started, there is lot of investment that happens. Multiple people right from External Recruiters, Hiring Managers, HR, Founders are involved in a lifecycle of the process. When for any reason, the candidate goes offline, all the effort from multiple people goes for a toss. The silver lining would be, most likely the startup would consider it as a bad sign and might take it positively that the candidate was not hired.
If the role was a match, candidate loses a potential job opportunity. Even otherwise, it reflects very poorly on the attitude and might lose a potential referral.
If you get an email, send a response. If you are called, call back and update. It is important to communicate the status even if you are not interested. It goes a long way and you would never know how it might help later.
Always Close The Loop
In Looper, not closing the loop turns real ugly and chaos ensures. In hiring, not closing the loop is not that dramatic. But it says a lot about the startup or the individual. It can have a cascading effect albeit rather slowly.
Do not let any prior bad experience come in the way. Always close the loop simply because it is the right thing to do. Happy Hiring.