# Candidate Care – how good are your recruitment manners?

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2012/02/10/candidate-care-how-good-are-your-recruitment-manners/
- Published: 2012-02-10T11:40:37+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

Charities often talk about donor care and rightly so – building and maintaining 
relationships with supporters makes sense. A happy donor is a loyal donor who will
hopefully give long term support and may well encourage others to come on board 
as well. So why don’t charities apply the same logic to their recruitment process?

Today I spoke to a great fundraiser (whom for the purpose of this tale I am going
to call Jane). Jane has spent the last few months working as an unpaid intern for
various charities trying to get as much experience as she can so she can get her
first paid fundraising job. Recently, Jane applied for a job with one of the largest
and most recognised charities in the UK. Jane did not receive a response to her 
application. She then followed up with another email asking if the position had 
been filled and if the charity could provide any feedback to her application – still
no response.

Now it is likely that this charity will have been inundated with applications, but
is that an excuse to not respond in some way? Each application represents an individual–
someone who will go on to tell others about their experience with your organisation,
good or bad. They are also potential or existing donors, and if it is an entry level
position they are possibly future leaders of the charity sector. So next time you’re
recruiting staff, ask yourself if you are happy with the message your charity is
sending out.

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