From an HR perspective, what employers perhaps don’t realize is that there is more than just their reputation at stake.

Every interviewee, successful or not, upon walking out the company’s doors becomes a source of reference for the company. Be it to future applicants or to other firms in the industry. Take for example, a consulting firm looking for clients, a firm looking for suppliers or a firm lookng to outsource.

Point being, and to reiterate what Verne said- what they hear about you matters.

1. Outsource these calls to 3rd world countries.
2. Calls are made placed automatically using a pre-recorded “Thank you, but we found someone better” message.

Personally thought, I’ve never gone through a post-graduation job hunt, mainly because I’m still a student, but in all honesty, as long as they inform me of the verdict in timely fashion, I don’t care how it’s done. But then again, I’m a believer of the ideology that you’ll never know how you really feel till you experience it. So I’ll be saving this post, and if I ever go through something like this, you’ll find a follow up post somewhere on the net.

At least the company told you that they don’t want you. The worst is the company doesn’t send you any notification at all. You, as the candidate, have to constantly email and leave messages on the HR’s machine only to have them unanswered. Then 2 weeks after the date they said they would get back to you, you get a hold of the HR person and they say they found someone else with better qualifications. Ya, thanks for telling me 2 weeks late.

The message is also directed to a larger audience than just the culprit in this specific case, not that it has much reach right now. ;P