I have known Gerry Crispin for more than 25 years, and he is a talent acquisition legend.

A founder of the CareerXRoads talent acquisition community, Gerry has spent his career advocating for candidates and pushing the recruiting profession to hold itself to a higher standard.

He had a hand in developing several of the early SHRM human-resource standards, including work involving cost per hire and quality of hire. He was also instrumental in creating the CandE Benchmark Research and Award Program (which was briefly part of ERE Media before being acquired by Survale), which conducts candidate-experience benchmarking that recognizes employers who provide strong candidate experiences.

Gerry is now leading the development of a proposed Baseline Standard for Applicant Closure, a document intended to establish the minimum that an organization owes every person who applies for a job.

The basic obligation is simple: Tell applicants when they are no longer being considered.

This type of closure would be required for 100% of applicants, regardless of application volume or recruiting stage.

“We're trying to draw a line in the sand. Above this line there's lots of opportunity for best practices," Gerry told me. "Below, it's unacceptable and you should be called out."

What counts as closure?

The standard defines applicant closure as a clear, documented communication telling someone that they are no longer under consideration for a specific position, and it should be issued promptly after a disposition decision has been made.

Ghosting is prohibited, and the classic recruiting response “we will contact you if we are interested” is insufficient to meet the standard.

To document that every candidate receives closure, the standard calls for every employer’s system of record to be capable of recording timestamps for:

• The initial submission

• Automated screening, assessment, or AI-based evaluation

• Human review

• The final disposition decision

• The closure communication

Where the standard could have an impact

A “dirty dozen” recruiting experts spent the first half of 2026 developing and revising the proposal through six iterations before the group reached agreement.

They want the standard to influence three groups.

Recruiting technology vendors. Most applicant tracking systems already provide tools for sending individual or bulk rejection messages. Yet employers can configure those systems in ways that allow applicants to remain unresolved indefinitely.

The recruiting profession. The standard’s authors see a need for recruiters and TA leaders to hold peers accountable. They want new recruiters entering the field to be taught that ghosting is not an acceptable byproduct of high-volume hiring.

Government. The standard aims to  define a practical baseline before governments do so. Ontario, Canada already requires certain employers to notify interviewed candidates of hiring decisions within 45 days; if there is a widely supported professional standard, it could serve as a model for future legislation.

What can you do?

The drafters are now seeking broader support from within the talent acquisition profession, with a short-term goal of 100 signatures by the end of July and 1,000 by the end of the year.

The level of support from the recruiting profession will determine whether this remains a thoughtful proposal or becomes something more.

— David

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Featured Story

Why Second-Chance Hiring Belongs in Your Talent Strategy

I’m proud to share this piece by Deborah Williamson about a topic that we don’t discuss much in talent acquisition - hiring the formerly incarcerated. Everyone deserves a second chance, and this is not charity, but a practical talent strategy. By widening the funnel, partnering with re-entry organizations, and supporting development after hire, employers can reach motivated workers while strengthening retention, mobility, and local labor pools. (ERE)

More Recruiting Insights

In AI-exposed jobs, only the youngest workers are losing ground. Evidence continues to build that employment opportunities have fallen sharply for young workers in the jobs most exposed to AI, while hiring has continued to grow for older workers and young people in less-exposed roles. (Stanford Digital Economy Lab)

EU delays high-risk AI rules for hiring and employment. The EU has delayed its high-risk requirements for AI systems used in employment, which were set to go into effect next month, until December 2027. (Council of the EU)

HR.com is for sale. Debbie McGrath, founder of HR.com and an industry stalwart, is retiring and looking for a buyer for the HR.com domain and media business. Separating the domain from the rest of the business is an interesting move - I’m wondering how valuable the business is without the domain to support it. (Debbie McGrath)

The U.S. labor force participation rate fell again. The U.S. unemployment rate fell to 4.2% in June, but largely because 720,000 people left the labor force, pushing participation to 61.5%, its lowest non-pandemic level in 50 years. (CNBC)

Webinars

Quality of Hire and Employer Branding in the Age of Social Media and AI

July 15, 2026 | 2:00 PM EDT | 1 Hour

Discover how modern behavioral signals can help you move beyond the resume to protect your people, strengthen your employer brand, and build a safer, more resilient workforce. In this session, FAMA CEO Ben Mones will walk through how younger generations and the age of AI are changing the hiring landscape, and explore how we can adapt to protect our teams, brand reputations, and quality of hire. (ERE)

Tech Demo Tuesday: Discover the Hottest Tools in Recruiting

July 21, 2026 | 2:00 PM EDT | 1 Hour

Get an inside look at the technologies reshaping how teams attract, evaluate, and hire top talent. From AI-powered tools to automation platforms and everything in between, you’ll gain practical insights and proven strategies to elevate your recruiting game. Whether your goal is to speed up hiring, improve candidate experience, or future-proof your tech stack, Tech Demo Tuesday delivers the clarity and inspiration to make it happen. (ERE)

Hiring Changed. Recruiting Didn’t. How TA Teams Can Level Up Now

August 4, 2026 | 2:00 PM EDT | 1 Hour

Hiring has changed dramatically since 2020. Most recruiting models haven’t. TA teams are being asked to act as strategic advisors, market analysts, and operational problem-solvers – often with fewer resources and higher expectations than ever before.

Mike Rasmussen will an honest look at why more tools, more activity, and more reporting haven’t automatically produced better hiring outcomes. He’ll show what it looks like when TA teams stop managing requisitions and start shaping decisions. (ERE)

Conferences

ERE Recruiting Innovation Summit

San Diego, CA
November 10-11, 2026

Talent acquisition is moving fast. The best leaders are not just chasing trends. They are comparing notes, testing new approaches, and learning from practitioners who are already deep in the work.

This November, the ERE Recruiting Innovation Summit comes to San Diego for two days of practical insight, honest discussion, and peer-to-peer learning. You’ll hear real examples from recruiting teams tackling today’s biggest questions, from AI and automation to candidate trust, quality of hire, hiring manager alignment, employer brand, and recruiting at scale.

Experience the future of talent acquisition next month. We hope to see you there! (ERE Recruiting Innovation Summit)