How do I automate more without making candidates hate me?
What’s in this issue?
🧠 Using automation without harming candidate experience
🤝 What candidates really think of automation in hiring
📊 Useful resources for you to read in your spare time
💡 Automation templates I use every day (that you can borrow)
Hey, I’m Mike 👋
I lead talent at Pinpoint, and after years of experience in hiring and recruiting, I’m excited to be officially taking over Dear Recruiter.
We’ve given this newsletter a bit of a refresh to make it something you’ll actually want to read.
Each edition will focus on one question that recruiters are asking, shaped by real challenges and conversations happening across the industry.
You’ll get my take as someone who’s currently in the thick of it (hi 🙋), a few useful resources, and some thoughts on how it all ties back to building a more strategic, thoughtful approach to hiring.
This week, we’re starting with automation. Recruiters rely on it more than ever, but candidates don’t always have the best experience, and it’s on us to close that gap.
Enjoy your new Dear Recruiter!
— Mike
💡 Submit your own question here for the chance to have it featured in an upcoming edition.
💭 Balancing automation with the candidate experience
This week, I’m starting with a question I’ve heard from both other recruiters and customers: How do I automate more without making candidates hate me?
It’s a fair question. The relationship between candidates and recruiters is strained right now.
In fact, if you want a glimpse into how candidates feel, scroll through r/recruitinghell.
More than 1.2 million people use it to share stories about job applications that disappear, rejections that feel cold, and hiring that seems to be driven by AI.
Automation can actually solve many of those problems when it’s done right. It helps recruiters stay consistent, keep communication steady, and give every candidate a sense of structure, even when things are busy.
So, despite the posts on r/recruitinghell, I really believe the problem isn’t automation itself. It’s how we use it.
Candidates are expected to jump through hoops to land an interview, and in return, they’re getting cold, disconnected messages that are completely impersonal (except for maybe their name, if they’re lucky).
In 2025, recruiters can do better. We should be using automation to restore faith in the recruitment process and in ourselves as recruiters. If you use it to make the process smoother and more reliable for everyone involved, nobody will hate you.
Below, I’ve shared data that shows candidates don’t hate automation; they hate being ignored. And who can blame them?
👂 What do the candidates think about automation?
At Pinpoint, we’ve seen that customers using more automation often have higher candidate NPS scores. It’s only a correlation, but it makes sense. When people get clear updates and predictable communication, they trust the process more.
Recent research supports this, too. The World Economic Forum found that well-designed AI tools can make hiring feel fairer and more transparent, even when the outcome isn’t what a candidate hoped for. The AIHR 2025 Trends Report also showed that teams using automation responsibly see stronger candidate feedback and less recruiter burnout.
📚 Resources worth your time
- World Economic Forum: How responsibly designed AI can make hiring fairer, more transparent, and more respectful, even in rejection.
- AIHR HR Trends Report 2025: How teams that automate communication see better candidate experiences and lower recruiter stress.
- Universum: How AI is Transforming Recruitment in 2025: Practical data and examples of AI improving recruiter efficiency without losing humanity.
🧠 Real automations I use every day (feel free to borrow them)
At Pinpoint, we’ve built automations that handle the routine updates so recruiters can focus on the moments that matter most. These are tried-and-tested automation templates that I use every single day to keep candidates engaged and never ghosted.
Here are a few automations I rely on every week:
- Engagement alerts: Sends a reminder to the recruiter or hiring manager when a candidate hasn’t had any activity after a set number of days. It’s a simple way to make sure nobody slips through the cracks.
- Application under review: Automatically updates candidates when their application is still being reviewed. If someone’s been in the “application” stage for a while, this email lets them know they haven’t been forgotten.
- Rejection feedback emails: Moves unsuitable applications into a rejection workflow and triggers a feedback email based on a “rejected” tag, so nobody is ghosted.
👉 Read, save, attend, watch
Guides, reports, events, and more that you might enjoy this week.
🎥 Webinar: Earlier this month, I sat down with Creed Comms to discuss how to make candidate journeys smoother. Watch the webinar →
📖 Article: There’s no reason to start your hiring search from scratch every time, and this article shares how to keep past candidates warm. Read the article →
⏩ Report: I found Ravio’s Compensation Trends 2026 Report incredibly insightful. It includes data on how European tech companies are managing compensation, plus hiring trends and pay equity strategies. Check out the report →
🤝 Event: Pinpoint is teaming up with The Talent Community for a UK-wide recruiter meetup on November 13. Join us in London, Birmingham, and Manchester to network, share ideas, and take the ‘Recruiter Kindness Pledge.’ RSVP here →
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