I had an interview with Kimberly Wright on a Thursday. She was very personable and friendly and we talked for a long time about my skills and experience and she said that she thought I would be PERFECT for the position to which I had applied. She said that she was meeting with the client the next day, Friday, and she'd get back to me after getting a little more information on what they were specifically looking for.
Friday came and sent and I didn't hear from her. The following week, I didn't hear from her. Going into the second week, I decided to reach out to her to find out if she has any feedback for me. She was pretty dismissive and said that the client wanted someone with a certain type of experience and she wouldn't be submitting me for the job. Hold the phone! The experience she said the client wanted is the exact same stuff that we discussed when I had my interview. So, I called her on her statement and then I asked her if she even remembered me because it seemed pretty unreasonable that we had talked about all these things and she had taken all these notes, only to tell me that I didn't have what she was looking for - although I did.
I want to put a pin in that statement for a minute. How many times has this recruiter, or any other, falsely turned away a potential candidate or given the brush-off saying that they didn't have the qualifications although they did? How many people have probably just walked away from the situation and not questioned or challenged the mistake? And where were her notes when she was talking to me. Mind you, I left her a voice mail and she was calling me back, so she had time to pull the notes out before returning the call.
Back to the story - after I asked her if she remembered me, I could hear the paper in the background and as I gave her some insights from our conversation to jog her memory, she said "oh yeah, I remember, we talked about x, y, and z" - YES! So, now, what's going on with this job?
She said that she didn't meet with the client that Friday as planned and they had been doing email back and forth, but she hadn't actually had a chance to see and/or talk to the client. She said that things aren't communicated very effectively in email, but she said she was going to see them again soon and she would be able to get back with me. On Saturday, she called me and wanted to go over the details of my work history. On Sunday (yes, Sunday), she called me and asked for the contact information for one of my former employers, which I readily provided. She said she would call that person on Monday for a reference. Ok cool...sounds like the ball is rolling.
Not so fast.
Another week went by and I didn't hear from her. By that time, I was annoyed. If it's not the job for me, fine...but forgetting who I am, brushing me off with false information, then calling me on the weekend as if this was going forward to only disappear again was just too much. So, I decided to contact the manager. I explained the story to her. She said that she liked my confidence and she understood my frustration - if you're in, you're in, if you're not, that's fine, but either way, you want to know what's going on. She said she would speak with Kim and call me back.
When she called me back the next day, she said that Kim did remember me and that the client decided to go with a referral from a friend and didn't use their services after all. That happens. It's completely plausible. I just think it was a lot of ball dropping and lack of communication on Kim's behalf and it's a lack of compassion in that regard, in my opinion.
When a candidate is unemployed and seeking the assistance of a placement agency to fill the gap, that means something. I think most people would prefer to go out and find jobs on their own, just as clients would probably prefer to hire on their own and not pay agency fees. Keeping the clients happy is important for business and word-of-mouth, but keeping the candidates informed is also important. Happy candidates are an excellent representation of the business and when a person is in need of employment, they don't want or need the games, misunderstandings, lack of communication, or the feeling of being disregarded. Being unemployed is hard enough without the added layers of complication from someone who is supposed to be helping you. read more