companies, beware of frustrated job-seekers.

a negative job-application experience may hurt a company's sales and reputation among customers, according to a new study from the talent board, a nonprofit organization founded by human-resources consultants to study and improve recruitment.

as part of the group's annual "candidate experience" survey, heads of recruiting at 57 primarily large companies completed an extensive questionnaire, and job candidates from 24 of those companies were asked—via email blasts or a button placed on the companies' career websites—to complete a survey about their job-application experience. negative comments far outnumbered positive ones among the nearly 12,000 candidates who ...