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Bad Manners follow this blog post

posted by on June 1, 2006
Sometimes this profession really needs a hard kick in the @ss and more specifically, so do the people doing the recruiting. Let me explain.
 
A few weeks ago, I received a call from a Recruiting Director (RD) of a small but very interesting technology company and was asked to come in to talk about a contract assignment. I've really enjoyed these types of environments and from my research, this one was smokin'. Had a very productive chat and demonstrated some techniques that the RD was not utilizing - hey, we can all learn from each other. He was excited, I was excited, he asked for references, and we left with the RD going to make arrangements to have me come back in very soon to speak with one of the key VPs.
 
I contacted them my references, and let the RD know that he was free to call. Even sent a few more teasers to the RD.
 
The weekend passed as did quite a few more days - I sent the RD an email; the RD replied with a position-on-hold-nothing-to-do-with-you email. The RD asked for forgiveness and I replied back with "So each of us has a fair perspective on time, just how long do you expect to be on hold?" Could I be any more reasonable? 
 
Another 10 days passed, and having been around the block several times, I knew the signs. So I left a wassup VM, and finally got hold of the RD at 4:15 PM EST several days later (today, 6/1) asking if it was too much trouble to just email back a simple, "Sorry not interested" rather than let this situation fester (the RD knew from the start I'm a blogger and we even joked during the first - and only - meeting about the bad manner exhibited by many in our profession).
 
Naturally, the RD became defensive and said - and I'm paraphrasing - "While I might of hired you before this call, you're showing yourself to be selfish and not the kind of person we want here."
 
I'm fine with the RD's decision. Call me selfish if it means wanting better communication between recruiter and candidate.
 
How many other recruiters out there ask for references and tell you they want you back in to speak with the higher ups - only to never offer closure? Frankly, and I cannot believe I'm actually sounding like Karen Mattonen, how many ambassadors of ill will do people like this RD send out into the world every day?
 
The bottom line is that you know who you are - don't worry, unless you respond to this blog no one will ever know your identity but me - but this didn't have to come to the edge. I'm disappointed in this person because they elected to attack rather than introspect.
 
Recruiters can - and should - do so much better...
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9 comments

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  • 1 point 3 years ago

    Bruce-

    Always great to hear from you!

    The Bell Curve is a fault here - not everyone can be in the upper right tail and not everyone in the lower left one; most companies, in fact, are hopelessly average unless some great epiphanny occurs. Or training.

    There's a thread in Rothberg's College Recruiting group wherein a few college career center directors have been sucessful at becoming part of their school's business curriculum - a requirement for graduation. We need more of this stuff - and the right stuff b/c we need to be honest in our assessment of many career centers: they're out of touch with the reality of job search and what they teach is very, very old school.

    As job seekers become better consumers, they'll put the pressure on those who are deficient. Word will get around...

  • 1 point 3 years ago

    Good article Steven. Reminds me of exactly the situation I've gone through with a prospective client the last month. Somewhere between "we love you" and "I'm away for the weekend but will set things up as soon as possible when I get back" the wheels apparently fell off of the deal.

    No communications. No response to calls, emails, shouts, rocket launches past their bow, etc. This half-a-giga-buck annual sales company has lost their ability to communicate. Or so it seems.

    Then I got to thinking maybe I shouldn't have told them that in doing my research on their firm prior to discussing the assignment I found some disturbing employment issues on an employee-dedicated forum on the web. Stuff like "nobody in management gives a sh*t about us"; "we're trying to get a union started so that we can finally get our demands met"; "the HR managers seem to be constantly changing"; "the morale at the operations are so low, and those stupid motivation posters, no one pays attention to anyways! Is the company serious?"; "I can make more money at Wal-Mart", etc., etc., etc. I had also commented that from what I could gleen their people turnover was quite high and why was that? Of course, finding out that my first point of contact with the company had only been with them six months and the HR Director for a little over two months, I'm not surprised by the lack of professional in getting back to me about the assignments. Why would I expect them to be any different than I had already learned about them?

    Finally, I take comfort in the fact that like Claudia has stated above, this prospective client likely treats their employees/job applicants/vendors et al the same or worse than I got treated - so why would I want to work with them after this? I'm trying to bring good people to good companies, not good people to a disasters.

    I feel like emailing a copy of your blog to them although I doubt it would dawn on them that they're like your "RD client".

    Cheers

    Bruce

  • 1 point 3 years ago

    Claudia, would you mind posting the response rate and response profile for this research - I have a feeling that this may be just as interesting as the info you posted.

    So if "54% said they believe that companies treat their employees either about the same or worse than they treat job applicants" what did the other 46% say: that companies treat their employees better than they treat applicants?

    Do you have an trend data on your numbers?

  • 1 point 3 years ago

    Steve, earlier this year our company did some market research about job seeker experience and expectations for company feedback. After reading about your experience, I thought you might find some of the stats interesting:

    Only 31% of the respondents had been asked to give feedback to a company about its selection and hiring process. That's a whopping 69% who had never been asked by a company how their experience was.

    In ranked order of importance (most to least valuable), job seekers said they would appreciate the following types of feedback from employers: 1. Closure when not moving forward in the process; 2. What they could have done better in the interview; 3. Iformation about next steps; 4. Updates during a quiet period when it seems like nothing else is happening; 5. What they did well in the interview; 6. A reply to acknowledge the receipt of a resume.

    54% said they believe that companies treat their employees either about the same or worse than they treat job applicants.

    That last one was the most interesting to us; job seekers have no trouble at all assuming that if they were treated poorly as applicants they'll be treated poorly as employees. As they say, perception is reality for the beholder, and that's a whole lot of free employment branding for the company.

    Hope your job search is going well,

    Claudia

    *** ImprovedExperience.com Business Intelligence for Smarter Recruiting

  • 1 point 3 years ago

    whats the RD's name? ...i'll take it from there .o0.

    teehee STEVE CALL ME BRO 949.872.2328

    ~jer www.o0.typepad.com

  • 1 point 3 years ago

    Hi Steven,

    I love your story because it captures the essence of "bad recruiting" at its best. I'm a former "head-hunter", now corp recruiter and candidates always seem amazed and so appreciative with my letdown callbacks. Reason being because recruiters rarely have the decency to call these people back. From a recruiter's standpoint I am baffled by this lack of professionalism. Every recruiter should know that you NEVER burn your bridges, and you could use that person in the future position or for referrals- DUH! From an applicants standpoint, this infuriates me- I've had it happen to me once this year by a well respected recruiter in my area from an awesome Corporation. I lost all respect for him and the HR Department there. Candidates take the time out of their busy work schedules and are taking a huge risk of being caught by their employer. Come on recruiters, SHOW SOME RESPECT and APPRECIATION for the people who will ultimately meet your bottom line!

    As for the legal comments regarding reference checking, I agree in theory with Karen. People should not be conducting background checks without written permission from the applicant. I live in the tiny state of Rhode Island where EVERYONE knows EVERYONE. Every time I have applied for a recruiting position within a Corporation, the internal recruiters have called my former employer which is a well known staffing firm in RI. This has happened two or three times already (major companies)without any verbal or written consent and it really concerns me. What if one of my former employees didn't like me? You never know what type of personal agenda someone may have against you. I try to keep this in mind going forward. I think it is inevitable that some recruiters will do this.

  • 1 point 3 years ago

    There was absolutely nothing that this RD did that was illegal (nor should anyone feel bad for me). Karen, I give you a rare public compliment and you turn it into a legal issue. Thanks for being consistent - folks, with Karen you always know what you're getting - but this is a public relations issue and a communication issue.

    Sometimes yes, sometimes no - the slate of mixed messages that is seemingly standard with both two to four year olds and many recruiting amateurs. Naturally it smacks of someone who is uncomfortable being the bringer of bad news. The bad news never bothers me and it is never taken personally. The mixed messages proffered by someone who does what I do is the issue as is how it reflects negatively on a company's employment brand.

    Remember, I love this profession (I also love Marty's comments which is why I posted back on ERE). I suppose I even love Karen's passion.

    lol

  • 1 point 3 years ago

    Some people have a really hard time with saying no or exploring negative subjects. People also like to keep options on the table as long as possible- at your expense of course....and who knows what the RD really was thinking or what his VP's were really saying to him ? Some folks also have a hard time with turning intention into action.

    If someone is giving you some no, and taking some concrete action (with or without the results you want) and letting you know about other people's possibly negative input, you can bet you are dealing with a real opportunity. If all you are hearing is yes, yes, yes, and there is no action, and nobody has anything even questionable to add, then you can bet that you are looking at a dead letter.

    IMHO--

  • 1 point 3 years ago

    I can truly emphathize. I am experiencing the exact same situation as we speak. My last communication was a polite recap of where I "thought" things were; and I asked for a status update. Was told well, we ended up doing a lot of initial hiring on our own; would definately keep us in mind, etc., but avoided any mention of the candidates we had already sent them and they had acknowledged they would interview for temp to perm. I think most people don't mind if someone points out bad manners in a passive way, ala Ms. Manners in a newspaper column, because they never have to apply the rules to themselves. They can just shake their heads and tsk, tsk at the rudeness of "others."