Speaking to a superb Individual who has studied and worked hard and wants to achieve and go far. During lockdown they became self employed and as many do “worked their socks off” (other forms of footwear also included), to make ends meet.
Viewing an advertisement for a role they felt they could really make a difference, they spent time working on their CV, submitting their application, and then awaiting an interview slot. Then oh my – a corporate organisation which also supposedly serves the community and attracts funding came back to this person. HR called arranging a zoom meeting to then call again, apologised because “she is arranging many interviews” – her job, right? And she meant to arrange a face -to -face meeting. Thanks – how many people are you interviewing then?
Anyway, let’s move on – the interview happened – three people all reading scripted questions for fear they may discriminate – had not read the CV, did not try to get to know the person, or how they worked, could bring experience to the role and so forth.
Soon turns out they did not understand the role, they were looking for someone who did not exist (second time of advertising) and they themselves had no idea of the job role. Any questions they asked? Yes, and then to the salient questions they had no answers or said they did not know. Could matters get worse; oh yes!
They sent a generic regret interview, not at all personalised, saying the usual, high demand, high calibre candidates applied – which in itself is disgraceful ( this candidate was too good for the role, believe me) and then signed it with the name of the organisation, not HR, not any of the people who interviewed.
When will you learn that people apply for roles where they believe you know the spec; where you appreciate the time, effort and money candidates spend to attend an interview? When will you appreciate people for their talents and not be scared of recruiting people more skilled than the interviewer and when will you realise that your actions can cause at the best self-doubt and incredulity that organisations operate in this way…then of course there is their brand – people talk and in these days of social media, both good and bad….you soon get a reputation for being unfair and inadequate and in so doing instead of scaling up your employees, you actually scale down. Failure indeed, shameful and sad to say so endemic; when will people learn?