MHRSD Reminds Employers: Job Applicants Must Be Notified of Interview Results Within 30 Days
The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (MHRSD) has reaffirmed, via its official beneficiary care channel, an obligation that many establishments in the Kingdom overlook: employers must notify job applicants of their interview outcome within 30 days of the interview taking place. The Ministry also confirmed that failing to do so — along with related breaches in how vacancies are advertised and interviews are conducted — is a violation of the regulating Ministerial Decision, and can be reported directly through the Ministry’s application.
The reminder applies broadly to every establishment operating in Saudi Arabia, regardless of size or sector.
1. The Core Obligation
Per MHRSD, the employer is required to:
- Notify every applicant for an advertised vacancy of the result of their application
- Do so within 30 days of the job interview
- Conduct the interview itself, and advertise the vacancy, in line with the ministerial decision governing job vacancy announcements and interview procedures
Failure to notify job applicants of the interview result is a violation of the regulations and bylaws, and non-compliant establishments can be reported through the Ministry’s app.
This turns candidate communication from a courtesy into a compliance requirement — establishments that routinely leave applicants without a response after interviews are exposed to a regulatory violation, not just a reputational one.
2. What Counts as a Violation
MHRSD’s guidance groups reportable breaches into three categories:
| Category | What It Covers |
|---|---|
| Labour Law Violations | General breaches of labour law provisions |
| General Obligations | Broader employer obligations under MHRSD regulations |
| Vacancy & Interview Non-Compliance | Failure to follow the regulations for announcing vacancies and conducting interviews, including the 30-day notification requirement |
The third category is the one most directly triggered by silence after an interview — including cases where an applicant is rejected on grounds unrelated to the advertised role’s requirements, such as age or experience, without a formal, timely response.
3. How Reporting Works
MHRSD has built a dedicated reporting flow into its Ministry application, allowing individuals to report non-compliant establishments in a few steps:
- Select the establishment type
- Choose the report type
- Select the relevant sector
- Fill in the facility’s data
- Describe the violation and submit
Reports can be filed by any applicant who believes an establishment has breached the vacancy or interview regulations — including the 30-day notification rule.
What Employers Should Do Now
With MHRSD actively directing jobseekers toward its reporting channel, establishments should treat this as a live enforcement risk rather than a procedural footnote. Recommended actions:
- Build a 30-day SLA into your hiring workflow — every interviewed candidate, successful or not, should receive a result within 30 days
- Standardise rejection communication — a simple, documented notification (email or SMS) is enough to demonstrate compliance
- Audit interview practices — ensure vacancy announcements and interview conduct align with the ministerial decision, particularly around criteria used to reject candidates
- Train hiring managers and branch staff — front-line interviewers are often the point of failure, and their conduct is now directly reportable by candidates
Establishments with high interview volumes or distributed branch networks are especially exposed, since notification gaps are easy to miss without a centralised process. For businesses without dedicated HR headcount to own this end-to-end, this is exactly the kind of gap a PRO or HR compliance partner can close — Beyond Borders’ PRO services cover hiring process compliance among other government relations and labour matters, so it doesn’t fall through the cracks.
Source: Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (@HRSD_SA) on X. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.