Recruiting professionally in the small world of IT.

Face it, the IT world is a tiny tight-knit community where everyone knows everyone either directly or indirectly through our own private game of .  So, why do most employers treat potential recruits more like pesky cold-calling-vendors than like valued potential  future clients?

Think about this; how many resume's do you think an average company receives & reviews for a given IT job before they hire?  Of all those candidates, you pick only one, and you treat them as a part of the family (as you should), while the remainder of the people in that stack of papyrus are discarded and readily forgotten like some non-winning lotto ticket.

However, the same is not true for the applicant.  They remember how you and your company treated them during the application & interview processes.  They tell their friends, and any time your company comes up in conversation in the future, they still have that (often first) impression of what it is really like to work for your company.  How do you think your company would fare in such a conversation?

Being professional while recruiting means treating your candidates respectfully and with care. This includes basic things like giving them a simple acknowledgment when their resume is received, a timetable for the hiring process, and a subsequent response notifying them if they were not chosen.   Also, sometimes things come up;  Positions are put on hold, hiring delayed or canceled for various reasons - those too are times the applicants should be notified.

So, for all you IT people out there;

  • How many times have you received acknowledgment after submitting your resume'?
  • How many times have they thanked you for applying for the position?
  • How many times you been notified if they hired someone else? (assuming they didn't hire you)
  • After interviewing for a job, how many times have you left without even a basic understanding of how long the interviews will continue and when they will make a hiring decision?

For me, I can't count the number of times I have received little to no response from a potential employer either before or after an interview.  Recently, I was talking to a friend with a highly successful career who was looking to change jobs and he related a similar experience.   In his case, he was really interested in a job for which he applied, and even took the time to followup asking for an update as weeks turned into months.  He received only some basic responses with little detials, which failed either to inspire hope of future employment or to let him know it wasnt going to happen.

When this happens, at best it makes you feel apathetic towards the company, but it can also make people resentful at such a lack of professionalism, and at worst when the process is really mishandled it can leave you with a very bitter and negative feeling about the entire company. 

When this becomes a consistent problem, this reputation builds over time as we in the IT community meet at our various conferences and share these stories.  Eventually, you and your company may become labeled with negative terms such as "unorganized, "sweat shop", "elitist", "beurocratic", "political", "ma-and-pa", "rinky-dink", etc.

This initially may impact future hiring, but later it can begin to affect your entire brand, especially if your company sells IT products to those same IT professionals.  In this case, you may have added some unnecessary pollution to your very customer pool that can, over time, begin to errode your company's bottom line.

Moral of the story; follow the , consider hiring (or assigning) an HR person (or staff) to manage these important relationships, or even outsource  your recruiting altogether rather than create such a reputation.  Simply acknowledge these people and treat them like human beings rather than a stack of papers.

IT's a small world afterall.

4 Comments

  • Hear, Hear!!

    I have been in a similar situation with a *BIG* company. No basic courtesy of telling me that they found a better candidate. As you have rightly said, it leaves a negative impression. On the flip side, I have a very good impression of a company, where I recently applied, and they followed up at every step. Although the position did not turn out to be a good fit, I will surely recommend that company to others.

  • I remember having gone through a pretty horrible phone interview where the potential employer grilled me relentlessly on some minor points on my resume. This left me with such a bad taste for the company that I no longer use their services. Having recently changed jobs where I need to frequently rent cars I would not use this major car rental service to save my life!

    You must remember that when you are interviewing someone that you are also talking to a customer as well. This is especially true if your company is nation wide and your service is common. This is something to always remind your HR people when they are on the phone talking to potential employees.

    Just thought I would share that.

  • Arrogant. Those people must think all job candidates are being unemployed and begging for a job.

  • I agree, totally, when you are looking for a job you put a lot of energy in it and it is very discouraging when you hear nothing, no response at all. I guess that means no interest on the the part of the company , but it is common courtesy to acknowledge that you received the application etc. I am originally Dutch and worked there for many years before coming to the USA. I think you get treated with more respect over there at least that was the case when I was still there, here the whole recruiting screne is almost humiliating. I am glad that I have a good position with a fine company and do not need to go through all of that again.

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