In honor of Halloween, I felt it was only fitting to write a job hunting horror story. It’s a story that everyone searching for a job knows very well. It involves nail biting apprehension, tense anxiety and gut wrenching anticipation.
From the most qualified candidates to those that are, shall we say, a little more challenged, job seekers today really require intestinal fortitude. Nowadays, waiting for the phone to ring goes far beyond the job seekers’ jitters of yesteryear.
A frightfully frustrating aspect of job search for all job seekers, but especially so for executives who are used to being in control and calling the shots, is that someone else is in charge of making a key decision that impacts their lives ~ whether to hire them and if so, when.
Well, there’s nothing new there, that’s how hiring has been since the beginning of time. The thing that’s new now and has been growing more disturbing over the years is the lack of common courtesy and consideration for job search candidates.
I consistently hear horror stories of calls and emails never acknowledged or returned and broken promises made about future communication or the timing of a decision. Back in the day, if you applied for something you either got a phone call for an interview or a rejection letter, granted it was usually a form letter, but at least it was something.
Nowadays, I’ve even heard stories from people who’ve been invited in to interview, that never heard boo from the company again. Now I realize HR professionals, recruiters and hiring managers are getting inundated with resumes and since it’s so easy to apply online, a lot from candidates who have no business applying. But, I also know there is software out there to at least notify the job seeker the status of the search process.
No one likes to be kept in the dark, especially during such challenging and scary times, so how about a treat instead of a trick for job seekers, now that we have all of these great newfangled tools to communicate with, let’s try using them and treating others how we’d like to be treated during a trying time.
~Linda
