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Calling My Own Bullshit

July 23rd, 2010
[ Office Gossip ]

Instead of sleeping last night I was mulling over the post I wrote yesterday about leveraging customer interactions. I then remembered an exchange I had last week around the current Brainpark job posting. I alluded to someone on twitter that they should apply. They direct messaged me saying they’d interviewed with us over a year ago and hadn’t heard back.

So after whining about chacos leaving me hanging for three days over something as trivial as a broken flip flop, I call bullshit on myself for leaving someone hanging about something as important as finding a place to work.

It’s easy to think of experiences I’ve had interviewing over the years and think “well that’s the reality of job hunting”. That’s garbage and it’s an example of a wasted opportunity. While every company can leave people hanging and take their damn time responding to people looking for jobs, it’s a terrible experience on the other side. As well, everyone who sets foot in your office immediately becomes a spokesperson, marketer, recruiter, etc for your company. Regardless what their experience with you is, they’re going to talk about it.

Ask yourself, what will that person you didn’t choose to hire say about your company? Will they tell their friends to apply or warn them to stay the hell away?

So, if you’ve interviewed with Brainpark in the past and we left you hanging, I personally apologize. It won’t happen again.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 23rd, 2010 at 9:54 am and is filed under Office Gossip. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • http://ivanstechroundup.blogspot.com/ Ivan

    I can attest to saying it’s a horrible feeling when you are looking, you think you did good, then you never hear back; it’s frustrating, strings you along, and then kills your hopes. I know of some big local companies with really shitty job site systems that are the worst for this, I’ve gotten about 3 automated email SIX to NINE months later telling me sorry the position was filled! (I didn’t even know what they were talking about as I couldn’t remember even applying). Then there are the pro recruiters at those companies who say you did well, promised to call you back, seemed genuine and then never do…even when you’ve interviewed with them over 3 times in a 2 month period each for a different job and they even remember you from the last one! How crazy is that, oh I promise to get back to you, then you have another interview for a different job and they remember who you are, but forgot that they left you hanging for weeks even when they confirmed twice to get back to you, and then they do it again! Both the big companies by the way use the same shitty recruiting software.

    Anyways, it’s easy to rant about this stuff and I’m glad you pointed out your own mistake and are going to try to learn from it because you are absolutely right, once your company touches people they are gonna share their experiences with others.

  • GregC

    Good post in the sense that I think it’s a real problem, and also it’s very big of you to admit your mistake publicly.

    Although you might argue that a company cannot respond individually to each resume submitted, a person definitely deserves some humane treatment after you decide to interview them. As a hiring manager, I think you have to keep in mind that the person took the time to put in an application, researched the company, likely prepared for the interview(s) and took the time to travel in for any face-to-face meeting. After all that, they surely deserve a one-sentence email to tell them when they are out of the running.

    If the human angle doesn’t work for you, think of it as a chance to cover your butt. Like you said, these people will go on to talk about your company and you never know what they’ll say. You also never know when you might apply for a job down the road and they will be involved in your application process.

    In the interest of full disclosure, Brainpark did not leave *me* hanging when I applied. Even though I eventually accepted a different position, I speak well of them for their professional and timely communication.

  • brydon

    Thanks Greg, agreed I don’t necessarily mean responding to every resume submission. I’m referring to any engagement beyond that such as a phone or in person interview.