A Pet Peeve
I’d like to take a moment to rant about something that has been bugging me all day.
I hate when clients blow me off in the middle of a search-in-progress. I have clients that receive résumés from me and then stop returning my calls. I have clients that will go so far as to interview my talent, and then stop returning my calls.
If you don’t want to hire my talent, say so. If you’ve found an internal candidate, or if your CEO decides that there isn’t enough money in the budget to hire someone, or whatever, just say so. It’s part of my job, and you won’t hurt my feelings. You win some, you lose some.
But don’t just blow me off. Look, while you’re taking your time to get back to me, I’m still getting paid. You’re still getting paid. You know who probably isn’t getting paid? My candidate, who is waiting around to find out if he’s getting a job or if he’s going to have to squeak by on unemployment, or put up with his low-paying job a little longer.
Not only is your avoidance disrespectful of me and my time, it’s disrespectful of my talent, who may very well be dealing with all manner of unemployment and underemployment-related stressors. This is someone who is calling me every week, wanting to know if I’ve heard anything about that really great job she interviewed for, and knowing she’s going to have to go face her family over the holidays and answer all kinds of questions about her employment situation.
I had two clients today finally give me feedback after weeks of ignoring my calls and emails today, and only because when I emailed them this morning I explained that I was trying to get some resolution for my talent over the holidays.
Subtext: “Do not ignore me again and leave these people hanging over Christmas, you Grinch.”