Job hunt horror stories

By MARVIN WALBERG
Scripps Howard News Service

Dear Mr. Walberg:

I enjoy your columns on job searching, but am frustrated that there are not more stories holding companies and human-resource recruiting organizations accountable for their treatment of job candidates. Two examples:

• I have personally had an interview scheduled three times in a row at the same company and the interviewing manager never showed up and no apology was given until after I contacted the CEO to report the offense.
  
• I have a colleague who was asked to meet for an interview at 8 p.m. at a local coffee shop with the senior vice president of marketing from a well-known high-tech company. The SVP never showed up and never responded to any further e-mails or phone calls.

Were the tables turned, these hiring managers and HR professionals would be horrified at the treatment, and yet they are dismissing highly qualified candidates with little to no common business courtesy.

When and how do we start holding HR professionals and their organizations to the same standards at which they hold job candidates? -- L.S., San Francisco

Dear L.S.:

Unfortunately, I could add a few horror stories of my own to your list. Perhaps your letter and this column will help the healing process, but be assured that companies that mistreat highly qualified job candidates are allowing their competitors to hire these same highly qualified job candidates, and are therefore losing the game.

I will tell you something else: The current state of the economy has little to do with companies treating job candidates badly.

This practice has been going on for many, many years with companies and HR departments taking the position that they are the ones with the job openings, and the job candidates are the ones wanting what they have. When they begin to realize that they are losing opportunities for their own companies, maybe they will begin to offer more respect for candidates.

In the meantime, it is incumbent on job seekers to be sure that they select the right employers to target -- match accomplishments and abilities to employer needs -- to reduce the clogging of the system with mismatched, unprepared job seekers who are only interested in a paycheck and not an earned income.

(Marvin Walberg is a job-search coach. Contact him at mwalberg(at)bellsouth.net, marvinwalberg.blogspot.com, or PO Box 43056, Birmingham, AL 35243.)