Tell me why I suck

Looking for work can be an extremely tedious and tiresome task. Especially in the last couple of years. Depending on the type of work you’re looking for, you may have even sent out hundreds of résumés to potential employers, most of which you’ve never heard of.

You know what bugs me most? It’s not being turned down. It’s not being told WHY I’ve been turned down. If you’re fortuitous you might receive a reply. You know, the discursive emails telling you why you’re not suitable for a position. They usually go something along the lines of “Thank you for applying for position x, unfortunately you have not been successful..”. These type of emails have been known to ruin days.

I’m not saying companies should welcome employees because of this reason (You know, not wanting to ruin their day), but I am saying if you plan on rejecting a candidates application, tell them why you’ve rejected it. I guarantee 9 out of 10 people will suck up your response and may even be hit with a Gung ho effect.

I realize this wouldn’t work with everyone. Unfortunately employers can reject candidates for fatuous, unfathomable reasons. Reasons which probably shouldn’t be disclosed. I also realize some candidates might be outrageously out of their league. It happens.

But if I apply to a position I’m confident about (which is usually the only case), I’d love to know why I didn’t get accepted. Was it my lack of SVN knowledge? Was it because I told the interviewer Haskell rocks and giggled a little? Was it because I had food between my teeth? These might be some absurd questions, but without any answers, you’re left questioning everything.

Large companies may be exempt from this rant, because sending feedback to potentially hundreds of candidates is a massively time consuming task. But small companies? C'mon guys, it doesn’t take all day to drop by a brief summary of “Thank you for your submission, unfortunately you weren’t successful. Here’s why:”. I mean, surely companies wouldn’t be embarrassed by what followed this statement?

I’ve never come across a company that does this. Am I just being mindless and susceptible?

EDIT: There’s some great discussion regarding this on Hacker News.