Really depressing to keep bashing my friends in the HR community. Why are so many continuing to ignore and mistreat job candidates?
HR is not only causing harm to individuals but also hurting the corporate image of their company. The shocking story coming up a point in case.
But don’t shoot the messenger (me) for continuing to share the horror stories, experienced by real people like you and me, who happen to be in a recruitment process they end up regretting.
Treat others the way you want to be treated yourself.
Tom’s mom
It’s important to shed light on the unacceptable hiring practices of some HR departments and to raise awareness about this issue.
It’s crucial that someone brings to the attention the negative impact their discriminatory practices and lack of courtesy have on the company’s reputation.
CEOs should pay more attention to what HR is doing, rather not doing, hold them accountable and demand that they implement hiring practices that treat candidates as well as the company treats their customers.
If you are the CEO or Head of HR, use the following story that was shared with me recently after my blog on 9 Reasons I Declined The Job Offer as a checklist of how your own systems and procedures are working.
This is a real story a reader sent me
The company (name withheld) is one of the world’s leading in their industry. You know them for sure.
The only chance to apply was to create an online profile on their job website.
Why do they want all the details of my early education, as a boy and young man, which is not relevant for a job where they are looking for years of business experience?
Why did I have to fill in the online form when everything is already in my CV and resume?
I never (!) got any feedback ever from (name withheld). No automated confirmation that the application was received, never any update about the process, a rejection or job offer.
HR is simply not accessible. Try to find any HR contact of (company name withheld) address globally – it is absolutely not existent. Nothing. Imagine a company recruiting candidates being non-responsive AND not accessible. It seems impossible but is a fact.
The job portal provides a link to tech support who straight to your face – when asked – refuse any support or connection to the people responsible for the hiring process.
I also expressed interest in a second job but had to provide again answers to exactly the same questions. Ridiculously tedious process when you think that everything was in the database under my profile already.
Anyway, there was absolutely no reaction again to the second application. Ridiculous, that really everything I spent as an effort went straight to nirvana.
- In your profile, you cannot switch between different applications when looking for updates.
- The portal does not offer the chance to go back to the search engine, you must open an extra browser window and then search their database again.
- Of course, it will require a new login to get to your profile to proceed with the application.
Although I purposely opted out to not receive any marketing materials, I was still bothered with two random newsletters about technology concepts that were not even related to my applications.
Probably the most ridiculous aspect, they are still looking to fill the same position a year later as I see on LinkedIn. Might be just distractive marketing.
Although I gave permission in the profile settings to approach me with alternative job offers, that never happened. I found suitable offers for which I would have been at least a 95% matching candidate just from the job descriptions.
Needless to say, if they would ever reach out to me for an interview, I would just laugh straight at their face. I pity people working there and would never even remotely think of using any of their services as a client.
I’m also not shy to share my negative experiences with others. That cannot help their reputation.
