Wants to appeal our decision not to interview
njjel
1,235 Posts
We determined we did not wish to interview someone due to the fact that their salary requirements were out of our budget by about $40,000 and due to the fact that they did not have any non-profit work in the background. Now this person wants to "appeal our decision" not to interview him. How would you respond to this or would you ignore it?
Comments
My initial thought may sound harsh, but since I’m sure that you have not discriminated against this applicant, simply ignore him. Think about the absurdity of having to justify all of your interview yes/interview no decisions? If you attempt to justify your reasoning to this guy, many things could happen -- most of them bad. If you are required by law to respond -- respond, otherwise don't let anyone talk you into doing this.
If you feel you must, or someone on this board talks you into it, please limit your response to a simple “…I’m sorry, it is our policy not to respond to such inquirers.”
Geno, SPHR
I have personally been in the position on several occasions. The decision to accept an offer at a rate of pay which is $40,000 off the budget mark should be the decision of the concerned individual. We, last week, made an offer for a proven manager that we could train to do our technical work, but we were $60,000 short of his most recent position. He is holding out on his response to us for a better opportunity. Tomorrow is our deadline and we will withdraw our offer. If he chooses to cut his standard of living and come to manage for us he will have an opportunity that he and his family will not otherwise have after tomorrow.
He is quality and very capable but he wants to stay in this area of the country and his operational experiences producing $100,000 a year as a company VP is simply not in great numbers or great demand in this area at this moment.
This was also my story and I made a counter offer to this company which they missed my expected base rate by $10,000. I came anyway and my family has made the adjustment over time. I wish I had more but having a good secure job with a company that is going to be here is my first choice in life.
I certainly would listen to his appeal of your decision either over the telephone, by written e-mail, or personal one-on-one. You could tell him the company will listen, but will not pay for the transportation or expense for a one-on-one interview. See where he wants to go and then make the decision. His personal circumstance may be understandable and justifiable to take your less paying job over holding out for a better paying one.
PORK
I was taught and learned long ago that when reviewing resume/applications or letters that the one member of the management team that should be the advocate for ruling candidates INTO-INTO the process of interviewing should be the professional HR.
IT IS CERTAINLY YOUR CALL TO MAKE and no one will take you to court and win, because you made the decision to not listen to one last appeal, which might have disclosed the location of this "potential diamond in the ruff" for you to find. I believe you posted that his appeal was by e-mail; where is the significant loss of time to read his point of view or issues and a quick response, if it does not have merit in his appeal.
There are no rules here! It is whatever you want it to be. Where did non-profit's employees and management come from? Normally, from other vocations? This guy could have been a recent lottery winner and could buy your non-profit, but chooses instead to come to work for the organization.
Just a final thought to make the point it does not take a lot of effort to be open to someone's plea for a chance. I have been there and done that!!!
PORK
Your company is not obligated to interview this guy just because he wants you to. Sounds like he's ruled out as a candidate because he does not have the requisite experience. In my opinion, salary requirements are negotiable and IF he had the quals, but the sole basis for the decision was his salary req, then I might reconsider. People make career changes all of the time and have to start low in salary and rebuild. Back to the topic, though, I would just thank him for his interest, and at this time your company declines to extend an invitation for him to interview, and leave it at that. Depending on how the whole dialog began, simply ignoring is an option. Sounds like there's been some exchange, and if there has, as a professional courtesy, I would respond, in brief, one last time. If he continues to persist, I would just ignore.
Gene
If I were willing to accept a position with a much different pay scale than my history, I would make sure I explained that in the letter. You don't have time to second guess everyone, or to call every applicant and ask for an explanation about things that concern you. It is their responsibility to provide you, UP FRONT, all the information you need to decide whether or not to interview them.
Since you responded, I think you responded appropriately and I would just ignore any future correspondence
You have no obligation to respond. But if you do respond, belly up to the responsibility bar and say, 'The decision has been made'. No need to explain it or worry about somebody going ballistic over your decisions. If some dunce asks, "Well then, who can I speak with," your response should be, "You're speaking with her."
With the guy who wanted to appeal the decision to be interviewed, if you offer any response at all to him, simply respond that 'A decision has been made to not advance your candidacy to the next level. We wish you well in your pursuits'. And let that be that.
And I recommend we never tell a candidate that 'a better selection was made' or 'the best candidate' was selected. Simply tell them the position has been filled and let that be that. Never tell a candidate why he was not selected or what he might do to improve his candidacy next time. There is no value to the organization in that and your obligation is to the organization. If you get sucked down into this actitivity, you will never get past this elementery element in the process of staffing an organization.
And as for Pork or others who might criticize your process, I don't recall that your request was for people to tell you how you should have run the process. You made decisions based on the information you had and your frame of reference and, I assume, the mission of your organization.