Best of 2019: Boss sparks social media uproar after sharing her rule for hiring people

An employer has sparked a furious backlash after she revealed the one "simple rule" she swears by when it comes to hiring people. Photo / 123RF

Every year, we trawl through the archives and republish a few of the standout business stories from the last year. This is essentially a mix of the most popular, topical or insightful pieces published in 2019. Here's one that made the cut. This piece was first published on 8 April.

"If someone doesn't send a thankyou email, don't hire them."

This is the one rule Insider Inc's executive managing editor Jessica Liebman swears by when it comes to hiring potential employees — but it's sparked a storm of controversy.

Having interviewed hundreds of prospective workers, she penned an article arguing not sending a follow-up email is the "number one mistake" an interviewee can make.

"The truth is, the hiring process can uncover only so much," she wrote in Business Insider. "You're often basing your decision on a small sample of data that you collected during a few hours of speaking with them, sometimes not even in person."

She says hiring managers should always "expect a thankyou email", adding "you should never make an offer to someone who neglected to send one".

She says there's two reasons for this — one being it signals the person really wants the job, and the other being how someone presents in interviews may not translate to effectiveness in the role.

"While sending a thankyou note doesn't necessarily guarantee the person will be a good hire, it gives you the tiniest bit more data: The candidate is eager, organised, and well mannered enough to send the note.

"It shows resourcefulness, too, because the candidate often has to hunt down an email address the interviewer never gave them."

The piece sparked a furious backlash after Liebman shared it on Twitter, with many people suggesting it was an entitled approach to take to interviews.

My simple rule: don’t work anywhere that thinks having access to your talent is a bigger win for you than it is for them.

Companies that compete on talent recruit to persuade. Companies that view hiring as merely finding workers worry about thank you emails.

— The Hoarse Whisperer (@TheRealHoarse) April 6, 2019

This is an arbitrary bit of gatekeeping that is both culture- and generation-specific. In doing this you’re also gong to skew results to people who act and think like you, thereby decreasing intellectual diversity on the team. A thank you is classy, but not a disqualifier.

— Scott Hanselman 🌮 (@shanselman) April 6, 2019

You know taking a day off work, going someplace unfamiliar, then participating in ~8 hours of technical and personal interviews is exhausting, right?

— Rebecca (Slatkin) Sloane (@RebeccaSlatkin) April 7, 2019

These employees will be creating value for your company, it’s you that should be thankful. No wonder people leave after few months, sounds like a toxic work environment where only the yay sayers are accepted

— Marijam Didžgalvytė (@marijamdid) April 5, 2019

Many users also wondered whether Liebman sent thankyou emails to interviewees for taking the time to meet with her:

Have you been sending everyone who applies thank you notes too? Signalling goes both ways.

— Nat (@unfortunatalie) April 7, 2019

But others agreed with her approach, saying sending thankyou emails is a professional and courteous thing to do.

It's professional courtesy to send a thank you email. Plenty of people with talent out there who still have manners.

— Melissa Hope (@missyhopez) April 6, 2019

I agree with her on this. The level of effort that goes into screening and hiring a canidate is STRESSFUL, and to not even send a thank-you note or letter shows to me 1. You're inconsiderate, and 2. Your business etiquette is lacking. But most of all you're inconsiderate.

— Justin E Samuels (@ThugDebugger) April 7, 2019

In 2012, Liebman wrote a similar article detailing her expectations for thankyou emails.

She said the interviewee should thank her for taking the time to talk with them, restate they wanted the job and add a quick plug about why they would be perfect for it.

She said if she didn't get an email like this, she would "assume you don't want the job" and "think you're disorganised and forgot about following up", adding "there is a much higher shot I'll forget about you".

News.com.au has contacted Liebman for comment.