Question on turn downs

[Incognito]

I'm not sure that there is a legal issue with this but would love some input from HR professionals. You all have been a great source over the years (I kind of miss the old board) and I know you will steer me straight.

We have an MSA with a company that states we cannot recruit any of their current employees or contractors. We just put out a new ad and about 1/3 of the resumes are from said company so we cannot pursue them.

I would like to send a tailored turn down telling these candidates just that as this has absolutely nothing to do with their experience or skills. Although I wouldn't state this, we actually would've considered most of them. I can't think of a reason not to do this yet am concerned I may be missing something that could invite more questions or potential issues.

Having recently enough being in that position, I'd like to keep them from becoming discouraged during their job search. There are just so many things that are a mystery in this process and it would be nice to say "it's not you, it's me"

Thanks all!

 

[mightymoose]

Applicants for jobs are accustomed to no response from many companies.
No response is perfectly legal. Proceed with the applicants that meet your requirements.
If the excluded ones should contact you then you can offer them an explanation if you want. By then your answer might be a simple answer that the position has already been filled.

 

[txls]

If you just want to be super nice you can send a letter, but then you probably should send one to all applicants and keep the response very vauge.
"Thank you for your interest in our company, best of luck in your search, blah, blah." Is it really worth your time?

You might want to check the terms of your agreement. Recruiting their employees (to me) is more like directly seeking them out. Are you sure that
you are prohibited from hiring someone who responds to an ad?

 

[cynthiag]

I agree with txls that "recruiting" generally means actually seeking them out, and would not necessarily include those who came to you and applied after seeing a position advertised. I've seen this type of agreement before where it specifically stated that it did not apply to those who came to you in response to an ad. So I would clarify that detail before automatically turning down any applicants from that company.

 

[Incognito]

Yes, I want to be super nice and send a response . Seems this is one of the biggest complaints from job seekers (didn't bother me, but I understand the cogs in the background) and it's a push of the button to send so it doesn't require much on our end.

As for agreement, it personally doesn't make sense to me if someone passively applies to our ad versus us recruiting them. But that's what TPTB are telling me, so I have to work around it.

 

[ferretrick]

I would never send a candidate anything that said the choice not to hire them was made based on anything other than their experience and skills. It encourages them to draw their own conclusions about what you did base the decision on-their skin color or gender for example...

And if you actually tell them about the MSA, well, if I heard that an agreement between your companies meant I couldn't apply for a job with you, I would be FURIOUS. And it sounds like their employees can't be all that happy to begin with, if you got that many resumes and that many of their people are looking to jump ship.

A response is always nice, if for no other reason than it tells you you can cross that one off your list and keep looking, but keep the reason to the standard "pursue people who were a better fit" or something like that.

 

[Incognito]

Thanks Ferretrick. That is good feedback.