"What we have Here is a Failure to Communicate."
Don Straits , Friday, February 6, 2009 at 2:12PM The title of this post comes directly from the movie "Cool Hand Luke." It is a sentence that has become ingrained in our lexicon of language. Its meaning is unfortunately pervasive throughout our society, and maybe, it is more pronounced in the fabric of our society than ever before.
So today is my day to vent....to look at just a few examples of communication failure within the career/job search arena. If I wanted to, I could draw examples of communication failure throughout every walk of life, but I will just focus on my industry. I confess I am frustrated, because what I see is disheartening. It has become a pattern of behavior rather than just an occasional occurence.
Here is a quote that I have coined that expresses my emotions: "Tell me yes, or tell me no, but when you tell me nothing, it speaks volumes about yourself."
Let's look at a few examples.
Example #1
Job seekers are doing everything in their power to find new positions. They send their resumes off to recruiters, HR, and corporate decision makers. And then the wait begins.
Rarely do they ever receive a response back. There are a few noble companies that do show the courtesy of sending an email acknowledgement or in some cases, an old fashioned post card that says "Thank You." At least the job seeker knows his/her resume made it into the system. But the big problem comes when the job seeker goes through a series of interviews with the recruiter, the company, or both. And then NOTHING. Follow ups calls and emails end up in a black hole. Only after repeated calls and/or emails, does the job seeker discover the position has been filled.
Neither the recruiter, HR, or decision maker had the courtesy to call the job seeker and tell them the bad news. Trust me, the job seekers would rather hear the bad news, rather then be left in the dark. The common courtesy of a response is now history in our society.
Example #2
Now here is the irony: Those same job seekers, who are hurt by the lack of response from recruiters, are also guilty of a failure to communicate. If they land a job, they don't have the courtesy to advise the recruiters or companies that they are no longer in the job market. The recruiters have to track them down to find out if they still have an interest.
Here is another prime example in my own business. I help senior executives find new positions. I charge a significant fee for my services. I make numerous presentations to prospects to secure their business. If they sign up for my services...great. If they don't, that is OK as well. But after I make a presentation, and confirm a date for a follow up call, I would expect that the individual would honor the appointment or contact me to say YES or NO to my services.
I am a big boy. I can deal with YES or NO. But when they say NOTHING, it is major reflection on that individual for their lack of professionalism and communication skills. Yet it is those same people that scream the loudest when they don't hear back from the recruiters, HR, or hiring decision makers.
Example #3
I have been in the careers industry for about 15 years, yet I never cease to be amazed at how executive job seekers conduct their search.
Here is an example from my personal experience in finding talent. I am currently seeking a VP of Business Development for my company. I have been searching for about three months and still have not found the right person. Here is the true story. With every candidate I contacted, prior to an in person interview, I provided them with a list of my five company websites to review. I was actually helping them with their research. I have interviewed about 10 candiates so far.
Except for the last candidate, without exception, not a single one reviewed the websites that I provided to them. These were senior level candidates. They did not want to do their homework. They wanted me to just tell them about my business. It is imperative for candidates to communicate a knowledge about the company. They all failed. I didn't hire any of them. What I discovered in all of those interviews was an overwhelming sense of entitlement. Scary. "Entitlement" will probably be the title of my next blog post.
In Closing
Communication, committment and respect for others' time. Regardless of whether you are a recruiter, HR manager, hiring decision maker, job seeker, or services provider, you have a professional obligation to be a good communicator. When you violate that obligation, you have demonstrated only your lack of respect for others' time.
Tragically, I suspect these communication issues are not rare, but rather, have now become a common, everyday, fact of life. A day doesn't go by that I don't experience it, hear it, or see it happening to others. So what can we do about it? I just don't have the answer. I can blog about it, and hope some might read this and help educate others about the importance of communication. I can practice it, so that others can learn from my example. So maybe in some small way I have made a little difference in solving the problem.
So please remember: "I can deal with YES, and I can deal with NO, but when you say NOTHING, you speak volumes about yourself." Please do the right thing.
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Reader Comments (6)
As HR, I used to send out those responses back to the job-seekers but nowadays I don't anymore, since we go thru' a recruitment agency. I leave it up to the agency and I know he definitely does that.
You are right. Most employers here don't response at all and worst, job-seekers are so unprofessional nowadays, that they do not even bother to inform if they are no more interested for the interview.
Sad!
For some reason, this is an arena which has seen a lot of communication problems. Your suggestions will definitely solve most of the problems associated with this lack of communication. The problem, though, is getting people to implement these changes.
As a freelance constantly on the look out for assignments and work, I have made an habit to apply for various position, even when I am very busy or on a long term contract, just to keep in the mood of jub hunting so to say.
At first it was very much of a burden to me as I wanted to concentrate on my real work. But as years went by, I found it quite fun to apply for interviews, see how the HR process go with different companies, meet new people, show them my portfolio, sending in thousands of letter, email, faxes, getting all the rejection letters, the thank you but not at this time answers, being over qualified or being ignored.
I do this for years now and I am getting quite good at it.
I would consider myself as a very professional job seeker, indeed this is something I do with a passion. My experience is that the anglo-saxon businesses in general tend to be much more responsive to job inquiries compared with companies in other countries. I'd say 8 out of 10 letters get some kind of follow-up answer from companies in the UK.
While in continental Europe I would only get 1 to 3 out of ten, for similar openings. It's interesting to see how people don't respect themselves in the first place, which is to say, they don't seem very much interested in what they do in the first place. Which raise questions...Some people never answered any of my applications and called me four years after (in a rush) to get some work done (for tomorrow), saying they know me and have been watching my work and so and so.
Needless to say I had already a poor idea of them and was very reluctant to work for them. And they proved very unprofessional during the assignment too, which was not surprising at all.
Personnal communication matters a lot and many people just fail to actually do their job - not because they don't have time, but because they just don't care enough about their jobs, and on top of this have absolutely no respect for others. In turn, it reflect poorly on their companies.
When somebody in a HR dept doesn't like his work enough to actually communicate to applicants or when job seekers no longer care to inform the companies they sollicited when they are off the marketplace it just show how much of our society is made of usurpers.
The same thing goes for thank you and follow-up you get as a freelancer from your clients when all went great. You are very fortunate if your clients ever say thank you to you at all.
We just have to live with it.
As a freelance constantly on the look out for assignments and work, I have made an habit to apply for various position, even when I am very busy or on a long term contract, just to keep in the mood of jub hunting so to say.
At first it was very much of a burden to me as I wanted to concentrate on my real work. But as years went by, I found it quite fun to apply for interviews, see how the HR process go with different companies, meet new people, show them my portfolio, sending in thousands of letter, email, faxes, getting all the rejection letters, the thank you but not at this time answers, being over qualified or being ignored.
I do this for years now and I am getting quite good at it.
I would consider myself as a very professional job seeker, indeed this is something I do with a passion. My experience is that the anglo-saxon businesses in general tend to be much more responsive to job inquiries compared with companies in other countries. I'd say 8 out of 10 letters get some kind of follow-up answer from companies in the UK.
While in continental Europe I would only get 1 to 3 out of ten, for similar openings. It's interesting to see how people don't respect themselves in the first place, which is to say, they don't seem very much interested in what they do in the first place. Which raise questions...Some people never answered any of my applications and called me four years after (in a rush) to get some work done (for tomorrow), saying they know me and have been watching my work and so and so.
Needless to say I had already a poor idea of them and was very reluctant to work for them. And they proved very unprofessional during the assignment too, which was not surprising at all.
Personnal communication matters a lot and many people just fail to actually do their job - not because they don't have time, but because they just don't care enough about their jobs, and on top of this have absolutely no respect for others. In turn, it reflect poorly on their companies.
When somebody in a HR dept doesn't like his work enough to actually communicate to applicants or when job seekers no longer care to inform the companies they sollicited when they are off the marketplace it just show how much of our society is made of usurpers.
The same thing goes for thank you and follow-up you get as a freelancer from your clients when all went great. You are very fortunate if your clients ever say thank you to you at all.
We just have to live with it.
Commubicate, Communicate, Communicate!
There are not many things more important than communication. Your greatest ideas worthless if you cannot communicate. You may the perfect candidate for your perfect job; but unless you are able to communicate this, you will not get it.
Communicate, communicate, communicate; or spend the night in the box.
Regarding the issue "respect for others' time" I have a suggestion that I have adopted in my own life and suggested/required from people reporting to me: Whenever you write an email, compose a subject line that identifies the purpose and topic of the email. I think there is nothing ruder than to require someone else to locate your email in a pile of others, all carrying the subject line "catching up", "nice to meet you" or nothing at all. If the email is clearly identified in the subject line it can be found quickly (in Outlook by sorting) without having to open 20 others first until the right one is found.