A love letter to recruiters, talent acquisition leaders, and hiring managers

Dear hiring folks,

Every connection matters. Whether you reach out to a candidate or they reach out to you, the conversations, the exchanges, and discovering what you could build together are worth having.

Over a career, you meet truly talented, dedicated, and passionate professionals on both sides of the table. That part genuinely makes this whole experience worthwhile.

So here’s a stance worth taking.

You represent your company. You are on the front line, searching for people who will commit and give their best once hired. You are your company’s first ambassador, the face of its culture to every potential candidate.

Job searching is a full-time job. One that requires patience, determination, and a whole lot of resilience.

You connect, everyone is excited, the first call goes well, you say the candidate will hear back within a few days, and then… nothing. That silence says something. About you, and about the company standing behind you.

✋🏻 Please stop ghosting. That’s disrespectful and frustrating.

Ask yourself this: what would happen if you applied the same behaviour within your own company? It would not fly internally. So why should it fly here?

Candidates are not leads in a pipeline. They are people who invested real time, energy, and trust into a process you started. Thirty seconds to say “we moved forward with another candidate” means everything to the person on the other end.

You shape your company’s culture before anyone is even hired. It starts with how you treat the people who never make it through the door.

This is said with respect, and yes, with love. Rejections make people better. Not despite them, but partly because of them. Candidates reflect. They adjust. They come back sharper. That is what professionals do, and that is what they bring to any team.

Warmly, Jonathan.

🌼