By Michelle Boyde
Source: Universum Quarterly 2010, Issue 1

Do you work in a recruitment team or a rejection team? It’s possible that you have not considered your role in this light before. Many employers decline far more candidates than they ever hire. The world’s most popular employers will always have to deal with declining large numbers of candidates. However, due to the impact of the global economic crisis, employers of all sizes, from small start-ups to multinational conglomerates are facing the issue of declining candidates in large numbers. Today’s rejects are possible future lateral hires and potential customers or business partners – do your processes protect your employer brand against this threat?

The phrase ‘rejection machine’ was coined by Charles Macleod, head of global resourcing and mobility at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). This is a very fitting phrase as PwC receives 20,000 to 25,000 applications for 1,000 jobs in the UK– they certainly do much more ‘rejecting’ than ‘recruiting’. This expression prompted Universum Quarterly to take a look at an aspect of the recruitment process many employers are reticent to discuss.