Quick note on candidate rejections:
I'm not going to delve into the argument about timing of when you, as candidates, get the rejection notices. But I am seeing lots of continuing questions around why the boilerplate response, why generic emails, why the rejection comes two hours after application or two months after application, and so on. Here's why:
🔔 Most importantly - companies don't want to get sued. That's why you get generic feedback. Most of the time it's chosen from a dropdown list of scripted responses, all of which probably had to be approved by their legal department. So when you're told they "identified a better qualified candidate" or you "were not optimal" for the role, just know they aren't actually talking about you. The position was filled / closed / canceled, and the person in charge selected one of the dropdown options.
🔔 Why were you rejected two hours after applying? There are two possible reasons - one, the job closed and you got a reply (see above bullet). Or two, they really did review your resume and didn't think you were qualified, and sent a generic response (see above bullet). YES, recruiters work on the weekends and in the evenings, quite often.
🔔 Why were you rejected two months (or a long time) after applying? Main probability is that you were qualified, but for whatever reason, the person reviewing resumes felt others were slightly better. They didn't want to reject you because they might have gotten to your resume. But they did end up filling the job, eventually, and then sent the generic email to the remaining candidates (see first bullet point above).
🔔 Why didn't you hear anything at all? Again, see bullet point one above. Hard to sue for discrimination if no one says anything. I'm not defending the practice, but it is what it is. Also, not all ATSs are set up with easy auto-email functions. Furthermore, some recruiters have seen the complaints about auto-emails and have decided just to not notify applicants when they are not selected.
I am not justifying any of these practices. For the record, I think it's virtually impossible to personally email every single APPLICANT about their candidacy. A generic email is more reasonable to expect, or no email at all. If you have interviewed, however, my personal belief is that you deserve a personal email, at a minimum, or a phone call. You may not get any actionable feedback (see bullet one above), but you should at least hear from someone. Not doing that is inexcusable, in my opinion. Now people make mistakes and miss letting people know - it happens. But as a practice, you should be personally notified if you have interviewed.
Also, phone call vs email when you did not get the job? I used to always call, and instructed my team to do the same. However, I have polled people and from anecdotal data, found that a preference for email is there for rejections due to the emotional response.