Dear Liz,
I understand why you write so often about unprofessional recruiters and job interviewers.
I've been an HR person for a long time and I have seen some terrible instances of candidate abuse.
Over the years I have met too many job-seekers who were ignored, mistreated and disrespected by third-party recruiters and company recruiters, and it's totally unacceptable.
In my company we treat job candidates like valued contributors. We believe that when we're interviewing someone for a job, we're selling them on our company every bit as much as we are evaluating them. They are evaluating us, too. Most of our interviews are awesome conversations, but unfortunately some of our candidates fall short in their professionalism, too.
We have had candidates call us ten minutes before a scheduled interview to say "I just realized that my schedule is crazy today. Can I come in tomorrow, instead?"
No, you can't come in tomorrow because it took us forever to get the correct peopled lined up for your interview today.
We've had candidates arrive for their interviews totally unprepared, with no idea what our company does. We've had candidates show up for an interview two hours late, saying "I was really busy earlier today but my afternoon is wide open."
Is there any way to weed out unprofessional candidates earlier in the process, to save everybody's time?
Do you have any other suggestions for streamlining the process so that we get to meet the best (and most professional) candidates rather than wasting time with the wrong people?
Thanks Liz!
Yours,
Sean
Dear Sean,
Whenever you deal with large numbers of people you are going to run into the same phenomenon. Most of the people you meet will be awesome. Some of them will be a pain in the neck.
It is hard for me to get too riled up about impolite job applicants when I see evidence every day of how abysmally job seekers are treated by employers.
Some job seekers may not know the ins and outs of polite job search behavior and so for their benefit here are five ways to forget your manners and blow your chances at getting a job:
1. Agreeing to an interview time and place and then cancelling without a really good reason (your own or a family member's illness or injury is about the only good reason) at the last minute.
2. Showing up for a job interview dressed sloppily or inappropriately for a professional meeting (in flipflops, for instance, when you're interviewing with a bank).
3. Showing up for a job interview unprepared, without knowing what the company does or which job you applied for.
4. Showing up late for a job interview.
5. Accepting a job offer verbally and then disappearing from sight, never responding to the written offer letter or returning email, voicemail or text messages.
Keep in mind that for every item on this list, there are equally or more appalling recruiter/interviewer/hiring manager behaviors that get foisted on job applicants every day.
Most job seekers are accustomed to being treated badly by employers. They are used to it. No wonder some of them decide to slack off, themselves.
It's easy to forget that you could lose out on a good job merely by sinking to the same low level of professionalism you've watched recruiters and hiring managers display toward you.
The best way to attract great candidates is to have a terrific, trusting culture in your organization. Then you'll be able to hire new people as fast as you need them without even running job ads. Your employees, vendors and customers will spread the word for you. You'll have a fan club. That's the nirvana state for HR and Recruiting leaders, not to mention CEOs!
Don't stress about the small number of job applicants who forget themselves and waste your time. Be happy you didn't hire them. Spend your energy working on making your recruiting process and your company overall as friendly and human as they can be. That's where the win is!
All the best,
Liz
