There are few things less satisfying for the prospective graduate than a stubbornly empty inbox, after numerous and repetitive overtures to company after company, for scheme after scheme, for placement after placement. It is unlikely that you will be offered interviews, let alone graduate jobs, with a fraction of those to whom you apply for work. However, so often, instead of a sympathetic if faceless rejection email, there is nothing but echoing silence.
Disclaimers on websites protest that applications are many, positions few, and replies unlikely. But this established order, an application sent seemingly into a vacuum, is frustrating. When an applicant has crafted a covering letter and CV, it seems churlish not to at least send a rejection email. Instead, the candidate is prostrate in limbo, still savouring an optimism that perhaps this application has been successful, whilst knowing secretly and uncomfortably that this is unlikely. This optimism delays plans, they may be reluctant to accept one position, as they sit and hope that another will play off as they dreamed.
These cries might seem petty, an emotional reaction that has no place in a business or professional context. However, there is an implication for companies: one that pertains specifically to their selection process. Lack of feedback breeds stagnation. Candidates will recycle cover letters, rather than tailor each to a specific position. They will send emails without checking spelling or grammar. This disadvantages candidates, yes, but it also makes it increasingly difficult for employers to siphon off the best candidates. If everyone grows morose, disillusioned with the application process, then fewer candidates will try and the selection process within a crop of seemingly homogenous applicants will grow more difficult. Applicants applying for the same jobs are likely to have similar credentials on their CVs. Cover letters inject the application with a personality. Here the problem of the graduate employer intersects with that of the university admissions tutor: how to distinguish between similarly able candidates? Universities have the personal statement; employers the cover letter. If this text becomes dessicated of all personality, then what use is its inclusion.Employers should expend time now to avoid having to spend it more tediously later.
Phoebe, GRB Journalist
