Looking for a job is tough. Being treated poorly by a potential employer just makes it worse.
Consider: a conscientious job hunter goes through seven interviews for a firm. Suddenly he can’t get a response from the organization. He hears through the grapevine the position has been filled.
A close friend with Fortune 100 experience has gone through the advanced interview process with three different firms where no offer was made, nor was he informed of any decisions made or rationale. He was simply left in limbo.
I’ve interviewed many job candidates over the years. I always acknowledge anyone who invests time to pursue a job on my team. Even those who don’t make it through the first round are thanked for their interest and everyone gets the courtesy of knowing where they stand.
So what makes employers think they can be so rude to ignore job candidates?
I believe there are several factors, including a large number of applicants to draw from. But the one I find most troublesome is a mix of cowardice and laziness. Either those doing the interviews don’t feel they “have time” to follow up and/or they don’t have the guts to let someone know they didn’t make the cut. It is sad indeed.
But this bad behavior–ignoring those who have interviewed with your firm–will come back to bite these companies in the nether parts. As I’ve often said, your reputation is affected not just by word of mouth, but word of mouse. You’ll have a hard time being seen as an employer of choice if the buzz is you treat job candidates poorly.
It is well understood that how you treat employees affects how employees treat customers. It is probably less well known that how you treat a job candidate is a pretty good clue as to how you treat employees. What begins badly rarely ends well.
Don’t be rude: make time to let job candidates know where they stand and root our bad corporate behavior wherever you find it.
Mark, I too have see potential employers behave in such a manner. I think sometimes they forget that they are being interviewed just as much as they are interviewing. How they treat job applicants is a reflection of who they are, and it is noticed. I once had a potential employer string me along for two weeks. First they promised to offer me the job on Friday, then they next promised the next Friday. Another week later and I found through a third party they’d hired someone else. I think I was their second choice, and they wanted to keep me as a backup in case their first choice turned them down. But they didn’t have enough courage and respect for me to just tell me that in the beginning. I’d would have preferred the straight truth, and I would have understood. I think potential employers burn too many bridges when they don’t think about treating applicants like they want their respect, even if they can’t offer them this job right now.