Jobseekers face rude reality

Dec 13th, 2005 | By Bill | Category: Employment News



Jobseekers face rude reality :

In their never-ending quest to hire the best and screen out the rest, it is no secret that far too many employers are often less than considerate to the runners-up.

Of course, as CJJ recently reported, employers do not have a monopoly on rudeness. A growing number of inconsiderate jobseekers are ditching job interview appointments without even a repentant phone call. 

To one CJJ reader, such conduct was merely payback for all the indignities he has suffered:

“Regarding the article about the MIA job applicants, it kind of made my day actually. I can’t count how many times I’ve gone in for an interview and been told by the employer that they’d get back to me or give my resume to the boss for further review or some other half-baked excuse,” griped jobseeker William. “On the phone they would sound very excited about my resume, but when they get me in their office and find out that I’m over 50, they do some rather serious backpedaling. All of a sudden the person in charge of hiring has to ‘show my resume to the boss’? Give me a break. Usually, when they say that, I figure that it’s over. I wish that I could get back all the gas money I’ve wasted driving to interviews. Good for the younger generation for not showing up. I wish that I could have that luxury.”
The Waiting Game

Many of our readers can probably relate to his complaints. Certainly anyone who has ever been on the job-search trail – especially for a prolonged time – knows you have to develop a thick skin if you are going to survive. 

A common complaint with other jobseekers centers around the lack of timely feedback from prospective employers.   

Jobseeker Tiffany told us that she was interviewed by seven people for a lab position. The process took four hours – and the company never let her know the outcome. “I had to call the CEO to get an answer about the job,” she complained. Her message to companies: “Be on top of things, be organized, be professional and just let me know.”   

Tiffany and other jobseekers also stressed that they do not wait for follow-up phone calls when they apply for work. They call the companies to try and schedule an interview themselves. Tiffany’s experience so far: only one in about 50 companies has acknowledged her application on their own.   

Jobseeker Jo also wishes companies would respond more quickly if she is not in the running so she could move on to other openings. Her message to employers: “Put more information in your ads, [be] more specific. It would save a lot of time.” 

She also wishes hiring managers would look at her accounting qualifications rather than her age. “Interviewers look at me like I am too young.”

Certainly, the hiring managers could at least be more discreet. 

Jobseeker Jaclyn, who just began her search, encountered an experience that started out positively. She had a pleasant two-hour interview for an administrative assistant job, after which she was thanked for applying and told she was someone they were very interested in. After three weeks of hearing nothing, she finally called. A decision is still pending.
Plan of Action

So what’s the answer? In the long run, the looming labor shortage may solve this problem – employers will have to treat applicants better to have any hope of filling vacancies. In the meantime, you might try these steps:

1. Only apply for jobs for which you are qualified. With just a click of a mouse, you can paper the world with your resume. But sending resumes out to jobs you are not really qualified for, on the off chance you might get a response, simply increases frustration – for you and the employers who get inundated with frivolous resumes. If you think your background qualifies you for a new career, schedule some informational interviews with companies in the industry and find out first hand.

2. Avoid mass mailings (electronic or paper) to employers. Unless you include a personalized cover letter with a job preference, and address it to a specific manager in the company, you are only wasting everyone’s time – most importantly, your own.

3. Make a follow-up phone call. Most job applicants I talked to did not wait to hear from a company. If they responded to an ad, they called in a few days to see if their resume was received. If they interviewed for a job, they called in a few days to see if they landed it. Being assertive is the order of the day.

4. Speak in code, if necessary. I once received a good job offer while I was still hoping to land a better job that I had just interviewed for. So I called up the “undecided” employer. I knew she could not directly answer a question like “did I get the job?” Instead, I told her that I had another job offer and asked what she thought I should do. The answer was cryptic but clear: “As I said in our interview, we are doing an extensive search for the right person,” she replied. Meaning I didn’t get that job – and I would be wise to take the first offer.

5. Don’t take it personally. CJJ publisher Kathy Masera believes that “employers and applicants all act in their own self-interest.” If an employer is anxious to hire someone, they move quickly. If they have doubts, the process bogs down. The same, however, is true with applicants. Someone excited about a particular job eagerly pursues the opening. But someone with many scheduled interviews or more than one offer on the table will be more reticent to accept a job until all of their options have been explored.

Finally, if these tactics fail to soothe your resentment, go online and find one of the countless chat rooms or blogs geared to helping jobseekers vent their anger. Who knows, you might realize your experience hasn’t been so bad.   

Consider the bizarre interview encounter shared by the director of career services at the Art Institute of Atlanta. “The interviewer, a sales manager, was an ex-pro football player and conducted much of the interview by shouting at me when he disapproved of my answers,” recalls Diana Graves-Sharple. “After about 45 minutes of being browbeaten, I was just looking for a way to get out of the building.” 

There are plenty of other tales of frustration. One jobseeker wrote about a hiring manager who excused herself to go celebrate a co-worker’s birthday in the company break room – while the applicant was left waiting alone. Other jobseekers talk about hiring managers who ate pizza during the interview, or watched TV.   

All this chatter makes it clear – jobseekers suffer from a double standard. While they must be on their best behavior, some employers feel no such compulsion. 

And that, it is safe to say, is not about to change.

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