A Candidate's-Eye View of Recruiting and Hiring
An Interview with Belinda Plutz
as published in Vault.com's Human Capital newsletter, 8/28/2000

Belinda Plutz is a principal in Career Mentors Inc., a New York career development consulting firm. Over the past eleven years, Belinda has successfully helped hundreds of people through the job search and career transition processes and has frequently been quoted in publications ranging from Cosmopolitan to Smart Money Magazine. She can be reached at 212-947-3180 or careermentors@home.com.

We spoke with Belinda recently about the challenges of recruiting and hiring in a tight labor market.

Lois Ambash: How does the recruiting and hiring process in a tight labor market compare to the same process during times of higher unemployment?

Belinda Plutz: I know from personal experience that recruiting and hiring in a tight labor market is a very hard job. HR professionals are under pressure to fill more jobs more quickly. And, with more choices available to them, candidates whose skills are in high demand may act as though they ought to be wooed.

Sometimes this combination results in a failure to view the recruiting and hiring process from the other person's point of view. During hard economic times, both companies and candidates seem to behave more professionally, because there are fewer opportunities to hire or be hired.

Also, in a tight labor market, employers make greater use of search firms. One impact of this practice is to increase the stress on candidates. Now, instead of dealing with at least two information-filtering layers within a company (the HR office and the hiring manager), candidates must contend with an additional upfront filter: the recruiter.

LA: What have you been hearing lately from your clients about their experiences in the current job market?

BP: Unfortunately, I've been hearing about too many negative experiences. Hiring decisions take too long. Candidates are left hanging -- sometimes forever. Candidates are forced to choose between getting an interview and meeting their current job responsibilities. I call these employer behaviors "candidate abuse".

LA: Can you tell us a little more about "candidate abuse" and give us some specific examples?

BP: "Candidate abuse" means failing to treat prospective employees with consideration, respect, and empathy.

I'm not suggesting that candidate abuse is malicious. After all, HR professionals are responding to organizational pressures that are often beyond their control. But the outcomes are negative, sometimes for the company as well as for the candidate.

For example, one of my clients was being considered by a major New York law firm. She spent a full day at the firm, moving from one interview to another. During the entire day, she said, "No one offered me a break, let alone offered to buy me lunch." When my client got the job offer, her reply was, "Not if you were the last law firm on earth!" And then she told them why.

Another client,after three or four interviews with a prospective employer, was brought in for a full day of psychological testing. The employer refused his request for a weekend appointment, insisting that he take a vacation day to accommodate the process. In the end, he wasn't hired.

My advice to him, by the way, was not to undergo the testing unless he was promised a copy of the results. Although no one had previously made such a request, the company agreed. That was the one saving element of this situation.

A third client was applying for a position as a clinical social worker. During the process, she was asked to meet with a group of employees. They badmouthed the company and told her, "You don't want to work here," effectively sabotaging any possibility of a mutually successful outcome.

LA: Have you observed any sort of pattern in these behaviors? Are they more prevalent in some industries than others?

BP: No, these things seem to happen across the board. I believe that they are a function of the corporate culture, as well as the skill and workload of the company's HR department.

LA: Do you have any suggestions for HR professionals about how and why to avoid candidate abuse?

BP: Yes, I certainly do:

(1) Treat candidates as you would clients. Be considerate of their time and physical comfort.

(2) Don't keep candidates waiting, Start interviews on time. Provide timely feedback.

(3) Avoid setting up conflicts between candidates current work situations and their interest in working for your company. People who demonstrate a strong work ethic and sense of responsibility to their current employers will bring those qualities with them.

(4) Assure candidates of confidentiality, then keep that promise.

(5) Try to insure that everyone the candidate meets during the process reflects a positive, professional image of your company.

(6) If a colleague or professional acquaintance refers candidates for open positions, contact those people promptly, for your sake as well as theirs. If you wait, by the time you call, they may have taken other positions.

(7) At the end of the process, share information (such as test results) that may be valuable to candidates within your company or outside it.

LA: What can candidates themselves do to discourage candidate abuse?

BP: If the recruitment and hiring process is too onerous, if you are asked illegal or intrusive questions, if you are not treated with hospitality and respect, my suggestion to you as a candidate is not to take the job if it is offered. And be sure to explain why.

LA: If you could offer one piece of advice to HR professionals for making a positive impression on top job candidates, what would it be?

BP: I fully recognize that HR people are the ultimate middlemen and often can't change company traditions or the behavior of hiring managers. But if you want to recruit and retain the best people, do all you can to see that your company treats its potential employees as though they were its most valued clients.

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