I’ve got three mates out of work for a while who’ve recently applied for jobs. It’s been a big deal for them and they’ve all been treated like shit.

People put themselves through an emotional wringer applying for jobs. Those of us lucky to have them need to treat them better.

The worst stories I hear are often from organisations who say they care about people and want to change the world. A friend of mine applied for a job with a charity, invested so much and was told that it had gone into spam, hadn’t been read and the interviews had already happened

It’s not hard or time-consuming to acknowledge applications, however many you receive.

Set up a google form and ask applicants to register their email when applying. It’s a tiny extra step for them but it gives you an instant spreadsheet so you can bcc email everyone.

That way you can confirm receipt of the application when the closing date has passed and tell those not shortlisted they haven’t been put through.

Oh and you can say thanks for the (often considerable) time and emotional energy it takes for people to apply.

If you want you can also say what the successful candidates demonstrated - it might help some people with future applications if you can’t give individual feedback.

A while ago I suggested a standard theatre personal details/education/training/employment form so that people only had to maintain one form rather than re-write every time. We should do that now so if/when we recover it’s ready to go.

There’s loads more of course. But these would be a simple start. We should be grateful for every application we receive and mindful of the investment required to make one.