Lack of Professionalism in Job Searches

Suppose you’re in the process of filling a position. You sort through volumes of resumes and find a candidate that seems to be a good fit. You establish contact and while you don’t get a prompt response you are understanding when they return your call after a couple days have past. Their skills look like a solid match and you’re eager to fill this new role on your team, working on a cutting edge technology. You schedule an interview and begin preparing for it, you make time out of your incredibly busy schedule, get your ducks in a row and eagerly wait for your 9 o’clock on-site interview.

The candidate arrives 10 minutes late, but ‘hey, it happens’, the candidate seems a bit disorganized and excuses him/herself mid meeting to take an phone call. During the interview, it becomes clear that the candidate knows little to nothing about your company, what you do, or the products you provide. Let’s say that you look past all these hiccups and take a chance on him/her and extend them an offer. A day goes by, no reply. A week, no reply, two weeks, three…. Finally, you abandon this candidate and start the search process all over again.

No doubt such a behavior is unprofessional and you’d be better off not hiring such a undependable, unreliable, unprofessional candidate; right?

So, why is this level of unprofessionalism been such a trend the past decade for how many companies behave toward job seekers? First impressions are lasting impressions, the interviewing process can be considered the honeymooning period and if you’re not putting your best foot forward what kind of impression are you leaving? If you’re relying on desperate candidates, that day is in the past. Today, unemployment is low and most candidates are gainfully employed, looking for ‘better’ opportunities not simply any opportunity.

Many will defend this unprofessional behavior from behind the ‘we are incredibly busy’ fascade, but that’s often simply an excuse. It’s a matter of priority and if extending your talent pool was a priority you’d simply make the time. Responsive communications in this day in age is simple, can be done at all hours of the night, or drafted and scheduled for working hours. There simply isn’t an excuse for ghosting candidates any more than candidates ghosting companies. Being prompt, prepared and on-time is achievable if you make it a priority in you day, regardless of how busy you may be. Besides, if you’re too busy to hire someone, you’re likely too busy to lead them. Delegate the hiring to a reliable team member, perhaps the same team member that will lead their activities. When interviewing, give the candidate your undivided attention, put down your phone, be on time, and don’t jump in/out of the interview to attend to other matters. You’re all adults, you know this and I shouldn’t need to be telling you it; unfortunately a good deal of companies have forgotten these professional courtesies.

In the end, first encounters can be an early warning sign of disorganized companies, and many candidates will simply walk away from such companies. Early impressions can be a means of separating the wheat from the chaff, filtering good companies from the bad. It really is a matter of being representative of your company during the interview process, if it’s a good place to work then you should represent it as such. Many of my colleagues, as well as myself, have looked past poorly conducted interviews only later to find that the company was a dumpster fire. Then, later regret looking past the early warning signs.

As closely as you are paying attention to the candidate to determine if they are a good fit for your team, the candidate is paying attention to your company to see if it is a good for for them.