Career Advice Podcasts & Job Seeker Network
Annoying People Don't Get Hired
I love it when conversations with my HR Director friend Lauren start with: “You’ve GOT to write about this.” I know it’ll be a juicy example.
Here’s the situation. Lauren’s colleague referred a jobseeking friend to her. There was an open position that could be a fit, so she passed along the resume, and told her friend to give Lauren a call.
So the jobseeker (we’ll call her Denise) calls Lauren to touch base and see that she got the resume OK. Great, fine. Standard protocol. Lauren knows that it’s tough out there for jobseekers, and this is a referral from a colleague, so she is very friendly (as opposed to how HR Directors normally are—ha ha!) and tells Denise that she has her materials, but won’t have a chance to get to it until she gets back from Florida. Fair enough. She’s given Denise a timeline.
However, when Lauren’s in Florida, she gets a voicemail from Denise asking about the status of her application. Hmmm. So perhaps Denise missed the detail about her being out of town, but I know my friend—and I know that she always changes her voicemail to let people know when she’s out of the office. So Denise heard the message, and instead of saying “oh DUH, she told me that last week” and hanging up, she left a message. But did Denise really think that a decision was being made that week with the Director out of town?
Ok—I’m sure you’re thinking—Melanie—these are not grievous sins. You need to chill a bit. And you’re right…but then it gets bad.
So Lauren calls Denise back when she returns to remind her that she was away, no decision was made and that she’ll call her if she is a fit—no worries. If she matches what they’re looking for—Denise will be the first to know.
However, Denise has persisted to call Lauren at least once, if not twice a week, for at least 3 weeks. So now not only is my friend NOT going to hire this candidate because she can’t follow directions and has made a nuisance of herself, Denise is making her friend who referred her to Lauren look bad; and in many cases, that’s the worse offense of all.
To put the shoe on the other foot, let’s flip this example for a minute. Let’s say that Denise went car shopping and gave her phone number to a salesman at a dealership. She was just looking at the new models, had an idea of what she wanted, but wasn’t ready to pull the trigger on the purchase yet. But that salesman kept calling. And although Denise was fair with him and said that she was still evaluating and would call him if she was going to buy a car with him, he persisted to call.
Is Denise really going to buy a car that she doesn’t want JUST to get this guy to stop calling? The car doesn’t meet her needs, she had something else in mind, but she finally dropped $20K to just get the phone calls to end?
Who does that?
No—you buy the car you want and need based on your criteria. However seemingly irrational your criteria may seem to your friends, family and colleagues, that’s what you decided to purchase. It makes you happy—you feel good about it, and you have a new set of wheels.
So yes. I know it is tough out there. Believe me. I attend at least one jobseeking group per week. I hear it all and see it all. But I’m BEGGING YOU!!! ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS evaluate what you’re doing relative to its ability to get you hired.
Think of yourself as a very valuable, expensive product that people are looking to buy, and think about the big purchases you’ve made. Why did you make the decisions that you did? What was it about the salesperson or the product that gently steered you toward the product, or highlighted how it fit your needs the best? THAT is what you need to do.
And understand, that what’s printed in the job description is only half the story. There’s an entire emotional/chemistry component that goes into hiring someone that should not be dismissed.
Pieces of paper don’t get hired. People do.
Here’s the situation. Lauren’s colleague referred a jobseeking friend to her. There was an open position that could be a fit, so she passed along the resume, and told her friend to give Lauren a call.
So the jobseeker (we’ll call her Denise) calls Lauren to touch base and see that she got the resume OK. Great, fine. Standard protocol. Lauren knows that it’s tough out there for jobseekers, and this is a referral from a colleague, so she is very friendly (as opposed to how HR Directors normally are—ha ha!) and tells Denise that she has her materials, but won’t have a chance to get to it until she gets back from Florida. Fair enough. She’s given Denise a timeline.
However, when Lauren’s in Florida, she gets a voicemail from Denise asking about the status of her application. Hmmm. So perhaps Denise missed the detail about her being out of town, but I know my friend—and I know that she always changes her voicemail to let people know when she’s out of the office. So Denise heard the message, and instead of saying “oh DUH, she told me that last week” and hanging up, she left a message. But did Denise really think that a decision was being made that week with the Director out of town?
Ok—I’m sure you’re thinking—Melanie—these are not grievous sins. You need to chill a bit. And you’re right…but then it gets bad.
So Lauren calls Denise back when she returns to remind her that she was away, no decision was made and that she’ll call her if she is a fit—no worries. If she matches what they’re looking for—Denise will be the first to know.
However, Denise has persisted to call Lauren at least once, if not twice a week, for at least 3 weeks. So now not only is my friend NOT going to hire this candidate because she can’t follow directions and has made a nuisance of herself, Denise is making her friend who referred her to Lauren look bad; and in many cases, that’s the worse offense of all.
To put the shoe on the other foot, let’s flip this example for a minute. Let’s say that Denise went car shopping and gave her phone number to a salesman at a dealership. She was just looking at the new models, had an idea of what she wanted, but wasn’t ready to pull the trigger on the purchase yet. But that salesman kept calling. And although Denise was fair with him and said that she was still evaluating and would call him if she was going to buy a car with him, he persisted to call.
Is Denise really going to buy a car that she doesn’t want JUST to get this guy to stop calling? The car doesn’t meet her needs, she had something else in mind, but she finally dropped $20K to just get the phone calls to end?
Who does that?
No—you buy the car you want and need based on your criteria. However seemingly irrational your criteria may seem to your friends, family and colleagues, that’s what you decided to purchase. It makes you happy—you feel good about it, and you have a new set of wheels.
So yes. I know it is tough out there. Believe me. I attend at least one jobseeking group per week. I hear it all and see it all. But I’m BEGGING YOU!!! ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS evaluate what you’re doing relative to its ability to get you hired.
Think of yourself as a very valuable, expensive product that people are looking to buy, and think about the big purchases you’ve made. Why did you make the decisions that you did? What was it about the salesperson or the product that gently steered you toward the product, or highlighted how it fit your needs the best? THAT is what you need to do.
And understand, that what’s printed in the job description is only half the story. There’s an entire emotional/chemistry component that goes into hiring someone that should not be dismissed.
Pieces of paper don’t get hired. People do.
Comment
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Comment by Morty Melia on July 28, 2010 at 4:40pm -
I know this post is a little old but I just saw a link to it on Twitter and had to make a quick comment. As a recruiter who has to deal with the red tape of HR (and tries to avoid it at all costs), and also as a job seeker, I agree with some parts of your post and disagree with others.
Of course I agree that as a job seeker, or really in anything you do in life, you need to be aware of how you are presenting yourself. Hounding someone over and over about your resume is not going to get you anywhere. You have to be able to read people and know when you are about to step over the line and then stop yourself abruptly. The person in this article did a bad job of that and I'm sure we can all agree on that point.
I also agree that you can not hang your friends/colleagues out to dry like that. If someone you know goes out on a limb for you and passes your resume on to someone, you need to make sure you do not do anything that could tarnish their reputation. Especially since they already work there and have a job to lose.
On the other hand, when a human resources employee talks nonchalantly about it taking 3 WEEKS from when a candidate submits their resume to when interviews will be conducted, I have to say that is unacceptable. This is where HR is a stick in the spokes. How can you blame someone for calling multiple times to make sure they are not getting overlooked in a 3 WEEK cycle of resume feedback. In addition, I can not think of one manager on the business side of things (not HR) who would say, "I need to bring a new employee into my group and I want it to take well over a month to do so." That just simply does not happen.
In addition, the hiring process should not be held up because the HR director goes to Florida. Chances are, the HR director is going to have little to no impact on that employee's success of failure once they are in the door. Again,just a stick in the spokes.
There is a fine line between making sure you stay on the top of someone's resume stack, and annoying them so much that your resume goes in the trash can. It is important that job searchers know where that line is.
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Comment by Connie on January 8, 2010 at 9:34am -
I especially like the car shopping part of the post, that can provide the, "aha, I get it" moment.
A colleague of mine takes the perspective that situations are annoying and tries to give people the benefit of the doubt - very noble of him. Even though Denise shot herself in the foot, hopefully she'll do it differently next time. Unemployment can lead to serious stress and actions that are much more desparate than normal.
At any rate, I think the first step is to talk about it and that's what this post does - thank you Melanie!
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Comment by Laura Smith-Proulx, CCMC, CPRW, CIC on January 7, 2010 at 9:19pm -
I hope many job hunters take your story to heart. I recall distinctly trying to "turn off" my intuition and the chemistry component during my recruiting years, and it was quite difficult.
You have made a key point that, even with all the advantages in the world (the right credentials, a referral from a trusted insider, a strong educational history), job seekers can still shoot themselves in the foot by taking action that ISN'T "relative to the ability to get you hired."
Interviewees who show up underdressed, act miffed when they have to go through several rounds of interviews before meeting a decision-maker, and just generally act odd seem surprised when they are ruled out.
Great post!
Laura
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