So many C-suite security company leaders fail to understand that disorganised, unprofessional HR practices during recruitment processes damage a corporate reputation as effectively as operational incompetence. It is not just failing in service provision that hurts a reputation; the people who have applied to join your company and have come away with a bad experience don’t just disappear, never to be seen again. They will circulate in the security or FM sectors, speaking to potential customers or service partners about how they wouldn’t touch your company due to the unprofessional way they have been treated.
Not unreasonably, the leadership of security companies are focused on keeping clients happy and ensuring KPIs are looking great. All that hard work can be undone in an instant if the FM manager responsible for signing off new supplier contracts at a big potential new client is someone that your HR department couldn’t be bothered to get back to after they had an interview at your company a year before. Or even if they applied for a job with you and never had any kind of response.
HR Admin Mistakes That Hurt Your Brand
Yes, I know that these days HR may receive hundreds of applications for positions, but failing to act professionally during security recruitment leaves a bad taste in the mouths of those who have been ignored, misled, or ghosted anywhere along the recruitment process. These people will draw conclusions about your entire company based on these bad experiences, and no matter how well you think you look after your current clients, when your HR admin team are dropping the ball dramatically, a lot of people will come away with a horrendously negative view of your organisation.
In a nutshell, your operations team are striving to produce service excellence, rowing the company towards an enviable business reputation, while your HR department is busy drilling holes in the hull of your boat because they’re too busy to deal professionally with company recruitment.
Recommended Reading: Common Security Recruitment Challenges
The Basic Dos and Don’ts of Professional Recruitment
Do:
- Email all unsuccessful candidates promptly.
- Inform applicants of the delay if an application deadline has been extended.
- Take down all ads on recruitment services promptly if a vacancy has been filled early.
- Stick to the original interview schedule. If you invite a candidate for a job interview, they may have had to cancel important meetings or rearrange their lives to attend. So, if the original interviewer is not available, find another manager who can do it.
Recommended Reading: Common Job Ad Mistakes
Don’t:
- Fail to acknowledge receipt of an application. The poor candidate may think that the application hasn’t been received, and waste their time repeating the process.
- Leave the ChatGPT prompt that you used to generate a rejection letter in the text of the letter! I hear about this a lot, and it screams lazy or incompetent.
- Ignore any follow-up email or telephone enquiries from an applicant. Responses do not need to be long-winded, but an honest and polite response will always be appreciated.
- Fail to inform anyone who has been interviewed that they have been unsuccessful, and if possible, provide basic feedback in the letter/email.
- Ignore any dates or timescales that you have put in place for responses or results of a process. I have been told to expect a call with the outcome of an interview within 48 hours, heard nothing, accepted a job with another company, only to have the original company reach out 2 weeks later, asking when I wanted to start! No, thanks very much.
Every Candidate Interaction Counts
All of this takes time and is a drain on HR admin resources, but every application is made by a human being. Someone who has taken the time and effort to apply to your company. Their time may be just as valuable as yours, and they deserve to be treated politely, professionally, and with respect.
If this is too much for an HR department to cope with, then you’re going to deserve the damage to your corporate reputation that this contempt for the men and women who apply to your organisation creates.
Protecting Your Brand Starts With Better Hiring
The reputation you’ve worked so hard to build with your clients can be quietly eroded by poor candidate experiences—sometimes before they even meet your ops team. GuardPass helps security companies protect their corporate reputation by streamlining every part of the hiring process—from job ads to candidate communication.
With pre-vetted candidates, fast CV matching, and video intros, you can ensure your recruitment reflects the same professionalism you bring to the field. Don’t let sloppy HR undo your brand—get started with GuardPass and protect your name where it matters most.