What bosses in Malaysia can do to recruit more senior staff

During job hopping season, it is unsurprising to see the HR department get hit by a wave of applications.

While organisations are not obliged to respond to each and every one of these applications, should employers wish to recruit new top performers, a new survey found that it is best to at least acknowledge these applications.

The survey by TimesJobs found that 55% of applicants who did not receive a response to their previous job applications will never apply to the same organisation again.

Additionally, 54% revealed that they will only consider applying again if some kind of acknowledgement to their previous application.

This is especially so if recruiting mid-level to senior employees is your main concern.

While the survey found that 60% of junior level employees will continue to apply again even if there was no acknowledgement,  that percentage decreases to 55% for middle-level employees.

Decreasing even further, only 41% senior-level employees will apply again only if the company responds to their previous application even if they have been rejected.

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"A rejected job-applicant is like a spurned suitor - and must be dealt with tactfully and quickly. We live in an era where job seekers have real-time information access," explained Vivek Madhukar, COO, TimesJobs.com.

"Not receiving feedback on their applications is not what these well-informed professionals expect from organisations today. You may not just lose their personal interest, but in turn, they may spread their disappointment among their peers with negative word-of-mouth about your company."

The survey also analysed its results gender-wise and found that about close to 60% of male and 48% of female employees will apply again if the company acknowledges and responds to their applications, even if they have been rejected.

This makes it even more important for organisations that are trying to increase their headcount of women to respond and acknowledge to job applications.

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