Many charities have professional teams of marketing communications experts who plan, execute and evaluate activities and the impact they have on organisational reputation and income. Budgets are set aside to enhance and reinforce external profile and image and, in those charities large and complex enough to need dedicated internal communications staff, much time, energy and money are spent on ensuring that everyone receives and communicates the same messages to their various audiences.

Alongside all this, recruitment is a key activity across the organisation to seek and engage new staff, volunteers and trustees. Charities face a recurring challenge to attract the right people without spending too much of their hard-won funds on expensive advertising or recruitment agencies. The responsibility often rests with the HR team (in larger charities) or with the line manager. For the most senior posts and in the smallest charities it will be the trustees who play an active part in attracting and selecting the best candidate.

It’s during the recruitment process when inadvertent damage to brand image and reputation can be done. Trustees and staff involved in recruitment need to be sensitive to the effect their behaviour can have on candidates who are poorly treated during the recruitment process. Focussing entirely on the organisational short term need to keep costs down can lead to poor communication which leads to negative impact.

Imagine the scene – a small high profile charity seeks to recruit an interim CEO and uses its various networks to advertise the vacancy and attract applicants. The work is carried out by a small group of Trustees who need to act quickly and select from a small pool of well qualified applicants. Within a few weeks a successful appointment is made. However, along the way, some of the applicants do not get notified that they have not been shortlisted. Unsure whether this lack of communication is an oversight or deliberate policy they are left with the distinct impression that this particular employer is either incompetent or callous, and certainly unprofessional. These are senior people who now have a very different image of the organisation to the one it wants to project.

All too often charities make the statement in their recruitment advertising that only successful applicants will be notified (the usual excuse is that this costs time and money). This may be considered a convincing argument in cost terms but it is not justified in human terms and even in the case of large numbers of applications it does not take much planning to arrange a system to notify unsuccessful candidates by email. It shows that the charity cares about the people who have applied and demonstrates courtesy and good communications. It reinforces the charity’s reputation as a professional and respectful employer. After all today’s unsuccessful applicant might be tomorrow’s major donor or service user.

Here are my top tips for behaving well in recruitment:

1. Communicate clearly the job description, criteria for selection and the application deadline; interview date(s) and likely start date.
2. Contact the shortlisted candidates and arrange interview time and place (give sufficient notice of any assessment tasks to allow time for preparation).
3. Contact the unsuccessful candidates and let them know that they have not been shortlisted.
4. After interview let the shortlisted candidates know when they will hear your decision (and stick to it!).
5. Let all those who attended for interview know the outcome as soon as you can. It’s unfair to keep people hanging on and unsuccessful candidates deserve your time and respect.

These are all about communication and good manners. Think about how you would feel in the shoes of the applicants and how it might make them feel about your charity. Even in the present job market where there are far more candidates chasing far fewer jobs it is still vital to treat people well if you want to protect your organisation’s reputation.