Mike Ruddle recently posed the question: “Is it time we treated candidates as consumers?”

Not long ago, Lauryn discussed extending an organization’s culture beyond the internal team to vendors and customers. Now consider the flipside.

What if we treated candidates like customers?

No (smart) sales team would ignore an inquiry from a potential customer, so why do companies ignore job applicants? The internet is rife with candidates complaining about specific companies’ application processes—from false promises to inappropriate questions to plainly a lack of any response. They can be found everywhere from Glassdoor to Quora to open forums.

Stories like these can be disastrous for a company’s employer brand.

With the increasing importance of online applications, candidates have an abundance of companies to which they can apply. The best talent isn’t going to waste their time applying to a company infamous for not even sending a courtesy rejection email (70 percent of hiring companies don’t bother).

We know word-of-mouth is important. Promoting the best features of an organization doesn’t need to be difficult, and it can start with the application process.

Automate the first step

If sending individual emails is too cumbersome, set up an auto-reply for applicants. This may be the first direct line of communication you establish with the candidate, so make it count!

One way to make a positive first impression is to include some useful content in that initial email. For example, you could include:

• A video about how great it is to work at your company
• Team member testimonials about how awesome your culture is
• A thought-provoking blog post
• Media detailing “an insider look” at your culture

These added pieces of employer branding content build your organization’s image in the candidate’s eyes. They give the applicant a sense of who you are as an company.

Oh, and the candidate won’t feel totally snubbed—plus one for you.