“Bruzzese: Mistreated job candidates unload on companies”

Bruzzese: Mistreated job candidates unload on companies

Posted: 27 Jul 2010 04:07 PM PDT

The story that hiring managers sometimes treat job candidates badly isn't new, but now there's a twist in the dynamic: Job candidates are getting a bit of revenge when they broadcast their poor treatment to millions of others via the Internet.

The result is that companies are seeing their carefully crafted public image come unhinged as insulted interviewees recount everything from unprofessionalism to discrimination. And the news is spreading far and wide to other job seekers and even company customers.

"Some companies really have tunnel vision, and they're not considering that the job candidate isn't just a job candidate but also a customer and an influencer," says Libby Sartain, a human resources adviser who has also worked for Southwest Airlines and Yahoo! Inc. "They're not thinking about how a bad candidate experience sticks with you. You talk about it for a long time."

Three years ago, interior designer Holly Meadows Baird interviewed for a job where the hiring manager introduced her to the "girls" in the company. "I went to an all-girls school," she says. "That comment was like nails on a chalkboard for me. Not to mention all these 'girls' were over 25 years old."

The situation deteriorated when the manager took a personal call about a home renovation project during Baird's interview, using the back of her resume to take notes.

"My only regret is that I didn't walk out of the conference room right then," she says.

Still, that bad interview experience wasn't to be her last. A recent interview at what she considered a well-respected architecture firm in Nashville, Tenn., went off the tracks when she was kept cooling her heels an hour after a scheduled interview time.

When she finally met with the hiring manager, he was "not present mentally" and "obviously was very distracted," she says.

"I was pretty disappointed at the way things turned out," she says. "It made me much more cynical about the employer."

Sartain says unpleasant candidate experiences are partly the result of over-worked human resource departments who have been cut to the bone and are faced with sometimes thousands of applicants for every job.

"These employers just have their hands full, and they're not focusing on the candidate experience," she says.

But candidates are.

Fed up with poor treatment, they spread the word to others about the employer, telling friends and family as Kahn and Baird did or tweeting about their experience. Websites devoted to criticism of employers, including their hiring practices, are thriving.

That's why employer brand specialists like Sartain are warning companies they've got to improve their efforts or suffer the consequences . A damaged public image can affect everything from being able to recruit top talent to attracting customers, especially since job candidates also may be customers - and they can easily spread their opinions online.

Write to Anita Bruzzese c/o: Gannett ContentOne, 7950 Jones Branch Dr., McLean, Va. 22107. For a reply, include a SASE.

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Tuesday, July 27, 2010