Recruitment agencies were told jobseeker feedback is crucial to recruit and retain the best candidates, during a Recruitment Society event in London last week.

Sally Emmett, partner at Cranleigh Recruitment, said candidates should be treated with respect, despite candidate feedback being well under 10% in the industry. Emmett said: "At our peril will we start treating candidates as numbers. If you have a commitment to respect candidates, they will offer you respect and loyalty."

She said Cranleigh uses questionnaires via email, phone and text messages to update candidates on jobs progress and providing feedback. As the market slows Emmett says the best way of finding the next good candidate is about maintaining relationships with candidates even when the client fails to deliver.

Ian Ruddy, head of people services at O2, told the meeting that customer service was becoming more innate in society and listening to candidates was a crucial part of strengthening recruiters' brand values. "We have set up a careers portal where we explain the whole recruitment process and more importantly a timeframe," he said. "We also send e-cards to candidates who refer others to the portal. We have found that candidates prefer to reply via a more personal text. It only takes one person to have a bad experience to give a recruiter a bad reputation. You cannot underestimate the power of word of mouth."