I've tried to count backwards to figure out how many interviews I've been on. I'm guessing its about 30ish give or take. This includes a handful of meetings with headhunters, and multiple interviews at the same company. I don't know if this is a lot or not very many, considering I've been on the job market for 6 months. In any case, probably the strongest parallel that I can draw between interviews and dates is this: the no call back.
Clearly in the dating scene, if one party doesn't feel the connection, it's just way easier to avoid the confrontation and/or explanation, and generally avoid hurting someone's feelings. It all boils down to the now proverbial 'he's just not that into you'. I get it. In fact, while it may be incredibly rude, I also think it kinda makes sense - and I think in the dating world, it is a given that this may happen. We accept it and move on. And we pretend we didn't want a second date anyway. Doesn't make it right though....
Should the business world be given the same grace? I don't think so. These people are being paid to be professional. They are recruiting and interviewing professionals. Closing the loop IS professional. For God's sake, they can take the easy way out and send a form email - that's enough for me. The reality is quite the opposite. I would guesstimate that I've only heard back from about 50% of my prospective employers (and that's probably being generous but I can't be bothered doing the math). I don't care how busy you pretend to be, it's part of your job as a headhunter, internal recruiter, or HR Rep to close the loop with your candidates. Imagine if my interview answers went something like this:
what's my greatest weakness? following up. I hate it when a prospect leaves me a voicemail and I have to call him back. Why doesn't he just wait, and call me back later? I think that should be the new rule.
describe a time when I've dealt with adversity in the workplace? never. I avoid it like the plague. If I have something negative to tell someone, I just ignore the situation and hope it goes away. I once tried writing "Mike, you need to refrain from swearing at my customers" on the wall in the men's washroom but it kinda backfired because there were 5 Mike's that worked for my company, including the president, and I think the 'fuck you' scrawled beside it was in his handwriting.
Describe a difficult work situation and how I overcame it? I pretended my grandmother died and took time off work. It still wasn't resolved when I came back so I took a sick leave. By the time I got back, the situation was resolved and I was moved to a new job. yahoo!
For all of you interviewers, recruiters and HR people, let me make myself very clear on this one point: The no call back is just not cool. ever. Do the job you are paid to do. Yes, a simple email will suffice.
For all you daters and matchmakers out there, the no call back is not cool for you either, but you sometimes get a pass because it just might make things easier for me too.
Lisa
3 comments:
I feel closing the loop in any aspect of life is a moral and ethical requirement even dating. The only exception I can think of at this moment is returning telemarketing calls.
What I see too many times these days is person A inviting person B out (friend, colleague, date etc) and person B does not have the courtesy to respond. This behavior would be unheard of 20 - 30 years ago. The sad part is that today, we have more methods of communication (cells, email, text messages etc) than ever before.
Love the parallels and most especially the twist at the end! You've got a novel in the making. That's the way to end a chapter - you've got mystery and intrigue and then there's that common sense sass that we all need to hear. i hope that you continue with the writing even when you do find a job that fits. hello, any company AND publisher needs a good dose of YOU!
Sounds good to me. By the way -- those are some of my answers.
:)
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