[davidgomes]

(OP Here)

I hear you! I think this is all extremely nuanced, and of course, as hiring managers, we must keep in mind that some folks might want to fully disconnect inbetween jobs. As such, we need to "read the room" and not push people to start thinking about their new role too early if that's not what they want. The goal here is not to get people to do work for us before they start! That can actually be counter-productive!

However, there's other people who clearly want to engage a bit more, and to those we can send them a few text messages every now and then. Before I started my first internship, I emailed the company several times hoping to get some stuff to do before I started and I was very frustrated that they didn't respond — I really wanted to be better prepared on my first day. Now, that's not everyone, I know, and that's totally fine!

[DeborahWrites]

Yeah if an applicant/incoming hire is reaching out then definitely respond! But I'd wait for the applicant to initiate it - if the company does, the applicant is under pressure.