Handle with Care: Why That Rejected Candidate Might Be Your Future Nightmare Client

Ghost an applicant today? Expect to see them reappear as your most relentless, high-maintenance customer tomorrow. That sales rep you breezed past because they "weren't a good fit"? They’ll remember. They’ll come back — as the client demanding you bend over backward for every refund, return, and coupon they can squeeze out of you.

Think it's safe to ignore a candidate's follow-up email? One day, you’ll find them, grinning at your counter, ready to spend…on your competitor’s products. Ever wondered where those one-star reviews come from? Start with the pile of résumés your team didn’t have the decency to answer.

You may think you’re dodging a bullet by cutting the interview short or skipping a follow-up, but believe this: those same people come back around with an appetite for revenge and a willingness to go above and beyond…to leave a one-star review. That intern candidate you dismissed without a second thought? The next CFO debating whether or not your proposal makes the cut.

It's all a cycle. Today’s "not quite qualified" is tomorrow’s decision-maker on your biggest proposal. Miss the opportunity to treat them like gold now, and you’re funding their grudge match against you later.

Sunipa Dev Milad Alshomary Shruti Rijhwani Christos Christodoulopoulos Heba Elfardy Leonardo Neves (he/him/his) Juan Carlos Pino Vladimir Araujo

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