Phoning people up to tell them they didn't get the job?

I would say email is standard (with offer of a feedback call if they want one).

EDIT; ..and feedback call, if offer was taken up, would probably be with an HR/"People"/Talent Acquisition person (or whatever they are calling themselves this week)

I would say if you interview someone then a call is a nice courtesy.

If someone applies and you don’t give them an interview then an email rejection is fine.

Always a phone call, email is a cop out...it's always been this way in the sector's I've worked in.

I'd say you should if they have got through to interview. Obviously easier not to, but easier is not always better.

With wfh I listen to my wife doing this often - she is flipping awesome at it. Shit sandwich with plenty of praise and thanks for making the effort - a sorry and a why - and a do you want us to keep you on file or a please do consider applying again. She often gets thank you emails for how she delivered the news - I'd get hate mail!!

My last employer was shite at this sort of thing - they had a policy of not even sending decline emails to people who applied but didn't get shortlisted - pointing me to their adverts that say if you haven't heard by such and such a date to consider that a decline. Claimed that with 'only' a team of 6 and 'upto' 2000 applicants a year they did not have time. So that's 5 or 6 template emails a working day - don't know how you sleep at night. As a line manager I took it on myself for all my hires and shamed them into changing the their ways by B'ccing the head of HR into every one and them pointing out the sent time of the first and last of every batch. Manners cost nothing very little.

I haven’t had many interviews, and none in the past 15 years, but I have always had a call if I got to the interview stage but wasn’t successful. I would have thought it very bad form not to receive one to be honest, but perhaps I am behind the times. On the three occasions I was in your position I did call to explain as a matter of courtesy.

I would have thought it very bad form not to receive one to be honest, but perhaps I am behind the times. On the three occasions I was in your position I did call to explain as a matter of courtesy.

This is only the third time I've recruited anyone too. And for much of my career I was self-employed so I've not had many interviews either....

In the past I've had a mixed bag of calls and emails. I'm not bothered by which as long as I'm actually told and given feedback (even if it's just that there was someone more suitable or I'm just not suitable for the role).

Id say its the right thing to phone.  don't stress about it tho.  You don't need to say much Steal converts better half's technique

Wouldn't bother me in the slightest if I didn't get a call, in fact I'd probably prefer an email.

I always phone people that I have interviewed - they've taken the time to apply, (usually!) prepare, present etc. Most people aren't able to take much in when it's a disappointment, so I also offer personal feedback and thoughts on career goals etc if they want (especially internal candidates). It's why recruitment takes up so much time for me!!

Bothering to inform people at all already puts you well ahead of the game compared to academia where it’s standard to promise to tell the candidates you’ll let them know the decision in N days and then just ghost the unsuccessful ones. Bunch of rude ****s, and that’s across multiple institutions and years so not just an odd case.

I actually once had someone contact me a full year later asking me if I was still interested, apparently the person they employed had been and gone. By then I had a job elsewhere, perhaps a shame as it was Chile but perhaps lucky as it later got hit by a big earthquake that destroyed the lab.

Kudos to you for ringing people.
I think it's really valuable to have feedback either by email or a call.
It's courteous and the right thing to do.
I can understand how hard it must be but know that you're doing a positive thing.

I reckon I’ve done this more than most on here, 20 years in recruitment makes you somewhat hardened to it. I’d be well into the 1000’s of calls made.

Personally I think if they’ve invested time in the interview they deserve a call.

The first thing to remember is that most people are grateful for the call, even if it’s a negative outcome.
The second thing is that no-one wants any “fluff” if it’s a no. A concise, factual and objective call is much better than a load of faff around “how did you think it went?. Tell then they’re a no, give a couple of brief factual reasons why and wish them luck. Offer more detailed feedback at a later date if you’re feeling very conscientious and they want it. Sorted.
Finally, no-one likes making these kids if calls, but if done well they paint you (and your company) in a very good light.

I always phone people, I don't enjoy it at all. I am of the opinion that the stress of the interview is a lot less than having to make the call so I do it out of courtesy. I don't know if the candidates prefer it or not, I expect some do some don't. I think it's up to the individual hiring manager though. If it's internal candidates it's more awkward not to call so I just do it for them all. I do try and offer some encouragement and make them feel like we appreciated them applying, which we do. Some are harder than others to be positive about though it has to be said!  Same as above really - no need to be horrible to them.

I got a knock back email yesterday for a promotion with my current employer. Bog standard, auto-generated type of thing. Second "feedback" email basically said I'm ****ing incompetent! I'm actually wondering if the feedback was intended for me! 🤣🤣

So I'm trying to say that a phone call seems over the top to me. Too personal! At least for an international mega-bank...

I had to do one in person a few years ago.

That wasn't much fun. (Funnily enough, it was a neighbours wife. Less said about that the better...)

My last company, HR reckoned giving any vaguely detailed feedback might leave you open to inadvertently saying something that could be taken as biased/etc, so we had a send a very short email, basically "I'm sorry, but you have been unsuccessful on this occasion. Best wishes for the future." and nothing more.

Would it be better to do it the Lord Sugar way and bring them all at once?

Hr tell us no personal details about the person apart from their name so even if we wanted to call we couldn't. Unsuccessful candidates get an auto generated email from the hr system. It does say they can ask for feedback if they want, most don't

I've been to interviews and not heard anything more from them. Don't really care too much how they get in touch, but some kind of response is nice...

I would say if you interview someone then a call is a nice courtesy.

If someone applies and you don’t give them an interview then an email rejection is fine.

This ^^^

If it makes you feel better you can call me to tell me I got the job I interviewed for on Monday...

If you call me after an interview, I will assume you're offering me the job! Bit of a disappointment to then be told it is a no. I doubt many rejected people will be in a place to listen to feedback.Rejection should be an email imvho.

Feedback - it's difficult. Sometimes you just don't like people. Sometimes they just don't know enough. Sometimes the other candidates were better. My work prohibits giving feedback and tbh when I have given it in the past the candidate came back twice to ask for more. It's a no!!!

I always phone. I will always have thought why they didn't get the job and be prepared to share some basic feedback.
They put the effort in to prepare and attend interview, it's only polite.
They've come to check us out as much as us interview them. I want them to leave with a great impression of our company - and a personal, professional call can help do that.

I would expect a call after an unsuccessful interview and an email if my application was rejected.

I send an old school letter on company headed paper, not IT roles though. I don't think I'd email as I wouldn't really want to get into correspondence.

Having been interviewed many times, the least you can do is say no + the reasons why. Long term, it's better for the candidate to be told why they weren't right (or someone else was), even if it's harsh at the time.

We call all interviewees.
First call is to successful candidate to offer..

if they accept we will call the unsuccessful candidates and offer feedback. They are then encouraged to contact everyone on the panel for there views. This is only a suggestion.

if the first choice declines we’d go to also suitable with a call as well.

TL:DR we call everyone who we interview

edit..

we actively encourage candidates to contact the panel members before the interview as well, anyone else do this??

I think it’s right to call them - however difficult a call it may be. If they made the effort to take time off to travel or come in for an interview, it is the least you can do.

A pet peeve of mine is if you apply for a job and hear nothing back, not even an acknowledgement of recept of application. The applicant may have gone into a bit of effort to prepare an application and then receive zero acknowledgement!!

HR today isn’t what it used to be….

It's the worst bit of the process, but I call back as I would want to be called for feedback in that situation.
Just a few points, you aren't looking to assassinate their ambitions, they made it to interview after all.
Have the points written down and don't deviate into anything personal.
Occasionally it goes in circles and you have to end the conversation, but that just helps confirm your decision.

we actively encourage candidates to contact the panel members before the interview as well, anyone else do this??

No, that's nuts. The panel members will start assessing the candidate before the interview, and without the presence and knowledge of the other members. That's less transparent.

A pet peeve of mine is if you apply for a job and hear nothing back, not even an acknowledgement of recept of application. The applicant may have gone into a bit of effort to prepare an application and then receive zero acknowledgement!!

This too.
We always email every applicant with a standard 'Thanks for applying. We are not interviewing you. We can't offer feedback.'

My last company, HR reckoned giving any vaguely detailed feedback might leave you open to inadvertently saying something that could be taken as biased/etc, so we had a send a very short email, basically “I’m sorry, but you have been unsuccessful on this occasion. Best wishes for the future.” and nothing more.

This is what I’ve been told too, especially for written comments. If it’s a phone call you can always deny that you said “cos you’re a roadie” or whatever.

I would say phoning to say they didn't get the job is exceptional - usually it's an email.

The ones that grind my gears are where you get no response - even after they say you'll hear in a couple of days and you chase them for feedback. If they gave accurate timescales in the first place or replied to the chasing email with "oh we've not made the decision yet but you'll hear from us in x days"

I would say email is fine.

Anything is better than nothing. A few recruiters have just ghosted me recently and I think that's a disgrace.

An email is fine - you shouldn't be stressing yourself out/making yourself feel crap for something that has no expectation for you to do. I'd prefer to receive such news via email anyway, constructive criticism via a follow up call might be a nice option but realistically it's unlikely to happen (and as said above, probably wouldn't be you directly involved anyway).

Wow, I'm amazed how many people expect a call if unsuccessful.

In my experience it's very rare (like once in the last five years of job-hunting).

Email with genuine, meaningful feedback is best IMO. If only because they'll be expecting the call to be good news when they answer (because it's a call) and you'll be crushing their dreams.

We offer the option for constructive feedback on interviewees if they want it. Surprisingly, to me, most don't take it up and many could really use it. In particular on interview technique, despite HR sending out a primer on what the interview will cover, and links to interview technique (STAR, etc.) we see a surprising number who have given seemingly no thought to structuring answers and consequently just ramble on.

But the feedback offer can rebound. We were interviewing for a relatively junior role and had an applicant that was way over qualified - but their CV was so good that we decided to interview and if they were as good as they seemed then we'd look to carve out a role for them. It turned out their CV was absolute BS and they unravelled against the higher level questioning that we aimed at their 'capability' (we hadn't hidden that we were considering them for a higher level, and were only asking them about stuff that they should have known based on the CV)

When we rejected them, they asked for feedback and got honesty. And from there it went sour. They absolutely refused to accept the rejection as 'they hadn't had the same opportunity against lower level questioning' as others. They complained to HR that we hadn't been honest in the interview as they'd have then opened up that the CV was just 'to get them the interview', and demanded another shot at the lower level which HR obvs refused (even if they had been any good, by now they were clearly going to be a nightmare as an employee).

Then because we use Teams for VOIP, it was easy for them to start calling me and the other lead interviewer directly time and again and to start to become frankly a bit abusive. Finally they went on Glassdoor and left hideous and somewhat personal reviews of 'the experience' which others could read.

One of our team later met one of the interviewees PhD supervisors at a conference (it's a small world) and over a beer mentioned the above. The words 'not with a bargepole' and 'dodged a bullet' may have been used, so at least the interview process did its job!