Hiring etiquette

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cpham

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As someone who has been on the job market for half a year now. I’ve applied for hundreds and interviewed for dozens of jobs. Although I’ve yet to successfully land a job, I’ve met some very nice people along the way; however, I’ve also been slightly irritated by the hiring practices of a few.
1) Interviewed with a firm which went pretty well. They told me they would get back to me by end of next week about whether I would be successful. They never called, and when I followed up by email, received no response. After 6 months, I technically still have not been rejected.
2) Interview process for a job in a different city which took place over a period of over 4 months. I had to repeatedly fly back and forth. This was followed by two months of indecision - they just recently told me I was unsuccessful.
3) Advertising/interviewing for/asking for references for a job they were going to fill internally anyways. I have no problems with spending my time preparing an application and preparing for an interview but when you ask for references I have to trouble my references which I try to minimize since they are going out of their way to do me a favour.
Many more examples but these tend to sum up the most common irritations. Just because people are unemployed doesn’t mean their time isn’t worth anything, or that common courtesy doesn’t apply to them.
What this has taught me is that if I ever get into the position where I will be interviewing/hiring people, I will do it in a humane and transparent way. If people are unsuccessful, I will tell them (even if its just a one line email). If I don’t plan on calling references, I won’t ask for them. Anyone here guilty of these transgressions?
 
My company put some guys on hold for a couple of weeks. This was because our HR had to get a bunch of approval things done. It’s a pretty stupid system. One of the guys didn’t wait and took a job somewhere else.
 
It’s happened to me a couple of times where I’ve had to wait 5 to 8 weeks before finally hearing a rejection. In these cases I think it was because they had a first choice candidate and I was 2nd choice, so they wanted to make sure the 1st candidate accepted, signed, got his references, etc, before giving me the rejection, otherwise they might risk getting neither of us.
It sucks, but at the end of the day they have all the power and they can do whatever they want.
What hate more is headhunters not getting back to you. They’re the scum of the earth IMO so when they don’t return your calls or emails on a job you’ve applied for it makes you feel pretty worthless.
 
Its pity, there are many ppl who are indecisive or just stupidity when it comes to recruiting. I don’t see these businesses to be successful in the long run and I would rather not work for these type of ppl.
I will be unemployed by the end of this month and will start properly to look for work. Most jobs here prefer someone on immediate availability.
Have you tried across the border?
 
I’ve had 1 and 2 happen to me before. One scenario that got me pretty ticked off was as follows:
Got an on-site interview through a recruiting firm. Interviewed with 5 director level guys and was told that they’d get back to me in a week. Sent followup “thank you” emails and one guy actually responded positively. After a week, I get a call from HR and she asks for my mailing address for the travel reimbursement check. I ask about the job and she says she doesn’t know. 3-4 days later, I ask the recruiting firm if they’ve heard anything (no) and they try to followup themselves. Another 2 days pass and I get a letter in the mail which I figured was my reimbursement check… nope, a rejection letter via snail mail postmarked the day HR asked for my address. Reimbursement check rolls in 2 weeks later.
 
I went on an interview once where they interviewed me by teleconference from their west coast offices over an 8 hour period. They didn’t stop for lunch, nor had anything there for me to eat. I was glad that I happened to have put a banana in my briefcase just before I arrived.
This was their risk management team. They ultimately decided that I wasn’t for them, but how good could their risk managers be if they had decided to hire me and I’d concluded that they were a bunch of clods for starving their clients/employees. If it had turned out they had wanted me, wouldn’t they want to make darned sure that I wanted them?
 
I heard the practice in India is to pay middlemen (Agency) to get a job placement at any organisation. It doesn’t matter whether the skills and the role required are matched or not, as long as highest bid is received.
Its the other way round. Jobseeker paying the Agency to get a suitable job instead of the practice of an Employer paying the Agency to find a suitable person in Western countries.
I hope this is not true anymore coz its unfair to the poor.
 
I’m as angry as you bro (sis?). My opinion doesn’t count for anything in the scheme of things, but being disrespectful solely because you can is a telltale sign of a crappy leader, manager, whatever. FWIW people i’ve seen who act that way generally won’t go past middle management because the people who support them hate them.
I finally got a ding email from some dumb CPG firm a solid 4 months after [networking, interviewing, getting an offer] accepting with a financial services firm. LOL come to think of it the interviewer put their feet up on the table in front of my face during the discussion and started bragging about how he was basically a commodities trader. I wonder how the traders on this board feel about that…
edited: because no sleep = trrble grammr and pelling.
 
i’ve been led on and left with blue balls myself……just a part of life….
 
Bro. But yeah, just a fact of life. It’s frustrating since these scenarios are becoming expectations now (for me anyways) rather than just exceptions. As someone noted earlier, maybe its just how finance works.
 
^ it’s because it’s an employer market right now. If it was the opposite, it wouldn’t happen as often.
 
I’m in the same boat right now. Been to a second round interview over a week ago, I’ve yet to hear back. It’s funny though, one of the senior managers of the team I interviewed for said I was the only one they liked enough to call back and I was the only one that he personally met with. They seemed eager about my candidacy then but now silence. So frustrating.
 
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