Job Seekers Creating “Black Lists” Of Employers

The blow back at employers for not being able to reply to job seeker inquiries has finally hit a level of frustration where quite a few job seekers are creating lists of companies they will never talk to again.

No doubt most employers are receiving more resumes, email and phone calls than they can handle and no doubt many have downsized their HR and Recruiter staff. Why keep these folks when there is no hiring right?

WRONG!!!

If there ever was a time to be creating those talent pools it has been the past 18 months but most “C-Level” decision makers have their head in the sand.

And it is going to come back to bite them in the back side. The poor or non existent customer service from most employers is horrible at best.

I have been telling my HR/Recruiter friends what job seekers are saying in general and I reach out to specific companies when I hear their company named. The reply I get is, you got it, silence.

Crazy. Just crazy.

Two years ago my recruiter friends were frustrated that their calls were not being answered. Now they are the ones being stalked. The thing is, two years from now (or whenever it is) when the hiring frenzy is going on they will be leaving messages for who may have been at one time job seekers.

Do you really think someone who applied at your company and NEVER received ANY sort of response from you or worse was MISTREATED in their eyes will call you back versus the four others who called?

I don’t know, maybe the emotions of today will subside by then but I doubt it.

Do you really want to find out?

The funny or ironic or better yet the hypocrisy of this is the number of HR and Recruiter colleagues looking for jobs and saying the same things.

I hope when they land at their new employer they will remember how it felt not get a reply.

I am not going to hold my breath.

Comments

[Sam]

Completely agree. Nice post. Very frustrating for many job seekers out there.

[Tiffany]

you took the words out of my mouth on this one! The sign of a good recruiter is not one that fills jobs but builds relationships.

[twitter.com/StevenRothberg]

Want to see what your current and past employees are writing about you? Go to http://www.Glassdoor.com.

[Cyndi]

So true. I've "left" a group on LinkedIn (past, present and future employees of XYZ company)to distance myself from that thought process.

[Nik Palmer]

Best moment reflecting this ever: Was walking through some search functionality with a recruiter who decided to search on themselves. They pulled up the fact that they were on several IT Candidate lists of "do not talk to this recruiter" It is real and it does happen and once you on those lists, good luck getting off of them.

[Christine Smith]

"The funny or ironic or better yet the hypocrisy of this is the number of HR and Recruiter colleagues looking for jobs and saying the same things. I hope when they land at their new employer they will remember how it felt not get a reply."

My first thought when I read this was - that's not true. But upon reflection, you are right (I hate to admit that :-). The past is a reflection of the future. Those of us who know the importance of follow up and long term relationships will continue the practice whether employed or not. Those who never got it, probably won't change - but we can always hope.

[MN Headhunter]

I appreciate the comments you all have left. I think my colleagues really need to be careful with that are (not) doing.

I have had a bunch of email today from job seekers with some crazy stories. Some of them are easy to show why a Recruiter/HR did what they did but holy crap, some of this is shocking.

Maybe a series of posts called "Job Seekers: A Tale From The Dark Side" is needed.

[Darrel]

Having spent much of 2009 job hunting, I have to agree that this was one of my bigger frustrations.

And, to be fair, it just want's companies. It was recruiters to.

A simple (not-automated) email stating "Thanks for your application submission. We have received it and it all looks in order." should not be a gargantuan task for the HR team. If it is, I think the HR team needs to put out a job posting for additoinal HR team members.

[Dana]

Agreed - i applied for countless jobs, and i can count the number of replies saying "thanks but no thanks" on one hand. I also engaged with recruiters who never returned my calls for status updates, much less called me to give me updates on the jobs available. and i got all the way through a 3rd interview with one company to never hear from them again. come on people! communication is key if you don't want someone to bad-mouth you to others.

[LookingWayTooLong]

Now that social media is more prominent, how much badmouthing can companies afford? I would love it if there were negative consequences for companies who cannot manage basic courtesies. For sure they will miss out on some great employees.

If anything, this is the perfect time for companies that want to differentiate themselves and recover well from the economic downturn to find especially creative ways for being responsive to the public at every portal, from the main page to the careers page.

A reply to a posting is so rare for me to get that when I DO get a response, especially a thoughtful, "We want to inform you of our process and next steps," I TALK UP that company.