Mailbag: Job seekers want respect, Part 2

Based on the feedback I receive from readers, it’s clear that some companies should strive to treat job applicants better. A recent newsletter about ways employers can improve interaction with potential hires (see http://www.nwfusion.com/newsletters/itlead/2004/0816itlead1.html) prompted many readers to share their comments.

Based on the feedback I receive from readers, it’s clear that some companies should strive to treat job applicants better. A recent newsletter about ways employers can improve interaction with potential hires (see Job seekers want respect) prompted many readers to share their comments.

Last week, we heard from those who complain that companies don’t even confirm receipt of their resumes. This week, we’ll look at other ways hiring companies cause dissatisfaction among those who seek to join them.

An unemployed professional who asked to remain anonymous is frustrated by postings for vague jobs that may not even exist. “In my experience, most of the listings that do not list the company names or indicates ‘company confidential’ reflects the fact that the company is simply testing the market to see what kind of talent pool is out there, or is seeking to replenish their database of resumes,” he says. Another problem he encounters is that of the hiring manager changing the job description amidst the recruitment process.

Another reader we’ll call Jane, encounters rudeness from those who are interviewing her. For example, a manager who recently scheduled an interview wasn’t even working from that site the day Jane arrived at the appointed time. She was eventually pawned off on someone else who directed her to yet another interviewer, and overheard one telling the other to tell her to get lost.

And even if the interview goes OK, that still may be the last some IT pros hear from the employer. Mark Salinas, a lead security consultant for The Datastore, says employers didn’t bother to let him know they hired someone else, even after he sent e-mails asking how it the search was going.

“Each time I made a point to connect on a personal level somehow. [In one case] I knew the previous manager who had retired.  Another time, I drove the guy to the airport. So much for that,” he says. “The level of respect is bad these days.”

Reader C.M. notes that hiring managers are warm and enthusiastic during the interview and promise to call by a certain date to inform her of the decision. “But when you call them because you haven’t heard anything by the date they themselves told you, they get irritated, as if you’re bothering them,” C.M. says. “It’s almost like you’re not even talking to the same person who interviewed you.”