It is virtually impossible for any American Taliban Business World employer to care about any prospective employee, labeled “Job Seeker.” It is ingrained in the empoyer's psyche to avoid practicing courtesy, consideration, and caring to the one being interviewed. There are no follow-up calls, e-mails, or letters informing the prospective employee that “the position has been filled.” It has always been such. As a desperate job seeker in the early 70’s in Tampa, FL, I had to make it a practice to leave every interview with the plea to the interviewer, “Will you please call or write to let me know?” The interviewer would always answer, “Sure,” or utilize the perennial brush-off line (coupled with a seemingly sincere handshake), “Will be happy to,” but none of them ever did. WK
The software company definitely seemed interested in hiring Tom Fleming. It set up breakfast and lunch meetings, then flew the Concord salesman to its headquarters in Virginia for interviews with a half-dozen executives, including the founder and chief executive. But after promising to get back to him in a week, the company never contacted him again.
"The VP of sales never had the courtesy to e-mail or text or pick up the phone and say, ‘We don’t think you’re the right fit,’ ’’ said Fleming, who was laid off in 2008. “After all that time, you don’t have 10 seconds? I was livid.’’
As their searches for employment stretch on, some job seekers are getting a rude awakening from the companies they apply to. Nearly a third of the executives surveyed online by search firm Korn/Ferry International said candidates aren’t being treated respectfully by prospective employers. A common complaint: Companies disappear in the middle of the hiring process, failing to let applicants know they didn’t get the job, even after multiple interviews.
Hiring managers leave job candidates in the dark even in the best of times, but with nearly 14 million people looking for work — some for years now — job seekers are feeling the sting more, employment specialists said.
“There are more and more people who are experiencing the black hole, putting themselves out there and not getting a response,’’ said Michelle Reina, cofounder of the Reina Trust Building Institute, a workplace consulting firm in Stowe, Vt. “That kind of situation has been there all along. It’s just that people are more sensitive to it now because they are more vulnerable.’’
“What they fail to realize is that they’re putting themselves in a very bad light,’’ said Bruce Allen, founder of the Wakefield recruitment firm Point B Search, citing a theory that when one job seeker has a bad experience, 250 people will hear about it. “The companies that don’t have their acts together and are not responsive in the interview process are going to lose out to the companies that are more respectful of candidates.’’
Sheryl Fleitman of Norwood has had a half-dozen interviews since she lost her executive assistant position last fall, but few calls letting her know she didn’t get the job. “The humanity is being taken out of all this,’’ she said. Company personnel simply don’t care about leaving the job seeker hanging and wondering with daily anxiety, worry, and concern. Every day that passes sees us still without a job.”
