Leadership by virtue: “Milking” – a new way of getting information from applicants?

Have you ever been through a hiring interview process?

If yes, what were your experiences: positive or negative?

There is not a lot of talk about it but abusive hiring processes is reality and cost organizations millions of dollars by turning possible customers into lifelong ‘haters’. Not long ago I've read that: the impact of a poor ‘candidate experience’ is uncalculated, unreported, and not discussed, making it quite possibly one of the largest ‘hidden costs’ facing modern organizations (by Dr. John Sullivan) but companies are never the less doing it.

Why?

There are millions of people searching for their jobs. Employers use different tactics to select between applicants. What I found lately is a tactic where prosperous new employee should prepare presentation (e.g. to board members) with one of employee from hiring organization. It is presented on an interview discussion that new hire could get the position only if presentation would be a fit for the board. The only connection between a position in a new company and a candidate is this employee fellow. So the employee is all sweet and kind and asking tons of questions and diligence in writing what a candidate says. Company employee squeezes applicant from different angles and asks to prepare special scenarios and data. It is an additional knowledge, experiences and possible different thinking that is asked from candidate.

But unfortunately for an applicant this could prove as ‘lose-lose situation’. As the employee can press candidate with data and information by explaining that the presentation should be even better if he inputs more work into it. But only at the end the prosperous employee founds out that the position was taken by employee asking so many questions by giving great presentation to the board.

Have this ever occurred to you?

There are also other interview practices as reported by Staffing.org and they are done for many years already. They reported that more than 70% of applicants find the process distasteful. Why? Because most organizations do not care or care a little how the candidate experiences the process. It is all about designed administrative needs to ‘select’ a proper candidate. Organizations do not trouble that applicants spend dozens of unpaid hours preparing for interview process. Not even the knowledge, ideas or data those companies are getting.

Then there is another way in which organizations drawn out pain during the job interviews from a candidate by requiring an excessive number of interviews, repeating the same questions across multiple interviews. Why the process is so organized? Is it a fear the reason for so many interviews? A fear of a hiring mistake by HR department so that they can minimize every doubt.

But being treated poorly during the hiring process which mostly all the times ends up in being rejected result in an unhappiness bordering on anger. Those candidates are willing to tell about the company process to all friends, family members and whoever wants to listen. You can easily imagine what this brings to an organizational brand.