There's a conversation we're not having loudly enough in fashion.
Candidate experience.
Over the past few months, through my work with Santalan Coaching and as we build Red De Moda, I’ve had more honest conversations with candidates than ever before.
And one theme keeps coming up.
The worst part of working in fashion… is trying to get a job in fashion.
Think about that.
Not the hours. Not the pressure. Not the pace.
The hiring process itself.
The imbalance we’ve normalised
Historically, recruitment has always been an uneven dynamic.
The employer decides. The candidate waits.
And somewhere along the way, that imbalance has – for too many – led to something else creeping in:
No feedback
No timelines
No closure
False hope
Or worse, complete silence
We’ve normalised ghosting people who gave up their time, prepared for interviews, and trusted the process.
This isn’t an HR issue. It’s a brand issue.
Here’s the part I think most businesses are still underestimating.
Every candidate who interacts with your hiring process forms an opinion about your brand. And that opinion doesn’t stay private.
The numbers are stark.
According to a CareerPlug report, 72% of candidates who had a negative experience told others about it – compared to just 38% who shared positive experiences. Talent Board’s latest research found that 58% of job seekers shared poor candidate experiences publicly on platforms like Glassdoor and LinkedIn. And 61% of candidates will sever all ties with a company that ghosts them.
Perhaps most striking, research from the Human Capital Institute found that 55% of candidates avoid companies entirely after reading negative reviews – and 88% say they would reduce their purchasing with a company after a negative hiring experience.
Read that last one again.
Candidates are also customers. And when you treat them poorly, they vote with their wallets.
The Virgin Media wake-up call
One of the most famous examples of this comes from Virgin Media – a case study that’s become widely cited in recruitment circles since it was first shared on LinkedIn’s Talent Blog.
A few years ago, Graeme Johnson, their Head of Resourcing (now leading recruiting at BT), decided to examine how rejected candidates viewed the brand. One survey response stood out – from a hairdresser in Manchester named Louise.
Louise had been excited about her interview. She arranged childcare, bought a new outfit, and prepared thoroughly. But the experience didn’t match her expectations.
It started with a grumpy receptionist. Then her interviewer left the room to take a phone call – and returned ten minutes later to say he’d “heard everything he needed to hear.” She was rejected on the spot.
Louise later wrote that she would be cancelling her Virgin Media subscription and switching to Sky. And so would her sister.
That one response sparked a deeper investigation. What they found was alarming:
18% of rejected candidates were also Virgin Media customers.
When they calculated the cost of negative candidate experiences – lost subscriptions, cancelled services, damaged brand perception – the number came to $5 million per year.
Five million dollars. From how they treated people who didn’t get the job.
A story closer to home
Recently, a friend shared a story about a company she interviewed with here in the fashion industry.
The process didn’t go well. The interactions felt off. The leadership didn’t represent the brand in the way she expected.
She didn’t take the role.
But that’s not the point.
That story has been shared more than once. And each time, it shapes how that brand is perceived.
You can invest millions in marketing. You can carefully craft your brand image. But if your hiring process undermines it… that’s the version of your brand people will remember.
Why this matters for fashion
Fashion is a relationship-driven industry. People talk. Networks are tight. Reputation travels fast.
When a candidate has a poor experience with your brand, they don’t just tell their friends – they tell their industry. And in a world where 72% of people share negative experiences but only 38% share positive ones, the damage compounds quickly.
The brands getting this right understand something important: every touchpoint matters. The interview process is not separate from the brand experience – it is the brand experience.
What we’re doing about it
This is exactly why we’ve been building something at Red De Moda.
Today, we’re launching the Red De Moda Jobs Charter on our website.
Because if we want a better industry, we need to celebrate the recruiters and brands already doing this well – and help the rest raise the bar.
The charter is our commitment to fairness, transparency, and respect in the hiring process. It’s a standard we believe the fashion industry should hold itself to.
We’re not just talking about change. We’re building the infrastructure for it.
Over to you
Have you experienced this? What would have made a difference?
I’d love to hear your stories – the good and the bad. Because the more we talk about this openly, the harder it becomes to ignore.
Dalbir Bains is the founder of Red De Moda and Santalan Coaching, building community and raising standards for people working in the fashion industry.
