Why do potential employers do this?

colleen10 · Aug 19, 2002

Hi Dee,

This type of post has appeared more than once on this board and I can tell you that it doesn't just occur in the Medical Field. And when I hear stories like yours I get so mad. I used to work in HR doing interviewing, recruiting, new employee orientation and benefits registration for an IT company.

Myself nor my boss never let people out there "hanging" like that. There is no excuse for it. We are all adults. We can take it. To me it just shows a lack of professionalism and respect. I have interviewed for numerous jobs some medical related, some not and because of my prior experience in HR I will not work for a company if I do not feel I am treated well by HR and the hiring manager. If this is how they treat potential employees, whom they should be trying to impress, can you imagine how they treat the current ones?

True, HR can be very busy and fast paced, especially in hospitals where there are shortages and high turnovers of staff. Plus, many times there is a lot of "internal red tape" to go through to hire a person and it may take much longer to get approval than first anticipated. But any HR rep. should be able to send out a letter or spend 2 minutes to call you and tell you they have hired someone else or their answer is going to take longer.

Many people in HR will call you and tell you that they have hired someone else but will not go into detail about why they didn't hire you because there is the potential to be sued for some sort of discrimination, whether it is based on fact or not. But that still is not excuse to not contact you in the first place.

Good for you! You are right, it is probably good that you don't work there anyway.

Good Luck!

Col

Vsummer1 · Aug 19, 2002

Just curious, did you send the interviewer a follow up / thank you note? I have never failed to hear back from them whenever I have sent one. I figure they must feel if I have the motivation to write, they should have minute to answer!

I was also told once that the reason I got a job was the note -- they had been trying to decide from among a few equally qualified applicants. I was the only one who sent a note. I really wanted that job though, and since then I only send them when I really want it!

e-nurse · Aug 19, 2002

Love the thank you note! I think it got me hired too.

sjoe · Aug 19, 2002

Whether a note is sent or not, it seems to be the rule rather than the exception that HR does not bother to acknowledge one's application, interview, follow up, etc. since they have no motivation to do so. They are clerks who are trying to get their work out of the way so they can go on break. To boil it down, they don't give a damn.

I agree that this is very bad PR as well as poor manners for the companies involved (nursing or not), but for the most part they don't seem to be willing to put the money or time into making their own company look good. It just makes it clear that the companies themselves have very little respect for the very people they are trying to recruit. People who have shown enough interest in their company to fill out an application, send in a resume, interview, whatever.

These applicants obviously do not deserve common courtesy, or what used to be common courtesy. And the comopanies wonder why they can't get "good" applicants, or people who become loyal employees. Duh!

Stargazer · Aug 19, 2002

Just to play devil's advocate here--are you positive that the decision has been made yet?

Part of my job is recruiting--nurses and docs-- and I've learned to explain the timetable to applicants because they are often very anxious and want to know the status of a job, like, yesterday.

People start out by phoning, emailing, or faxing a general inquiry or sending their resume to me--after I review their information, I send them an application packet, which requires them to get a fair bit of paperwork together--recommendation letters, copies of licensures and certifications, etc. After they send that and I review it, the info is sent to our credential check agency so they can investigate all state licenses and check status. This takes about 3 weeks. So the usual turnaround time for my letting people know they're hired is at least a month, average.

I know it's not like that at most places, especially now--but all of the admin crap and paperwork processing alone can easily take more than a week--especially in the summer when people are often out on vacation. The best thing to do is get an approximate timetable for a decision when you apply--"When might I next expect to hear from you?"

At this point, there's no cause to get upset unless they told you specifically that they would notify you by now and haven't--in which case, yes, they are being very rude. Good luck, and let us know what happens.

live4today, RN · Aug 19, 2002

Originally posted by deespoohbear
I went for a job interview over a week ago. The person interviewing me said they would get back with me. Never did. Now, I am a big girl and can handle disappointment. At least they could have had the common deceny to call me and let me know they gave the position to another person. I called at the end of last week and left message on the manager's phone just stating I was curious about the status of the job. To me, this just shows that I am better off not working for this company. Just venting. Thanks.

Hi deespoohbear...love your username :)

I remember a time when hiring was done by the Head Nurse of each unit as they had their own budget to work with. I would always interview on the unit with the Head Nurse, and she/he ALWAYS got back to me by telephone anywhere from 24 hours to several days. Those were the good old days of nursing, though. It's a shame that today, nurses are bounced around like cattle and given no professional respect whatsoever.

I have also interviewed with HR over the past two years, and one was very kind to me, and one was not. So....win some...lose some. It's a much icier feel to the professional air these days. :chuckle

Good luck in finding the job of your satisfaction! :kiss

Teshiee · Aug 20, 2002

I wouldn't take it too personal. You have to remember you are in more demand then nurses flocking to these acute care facilities. When hospitals do that I just say it is their loss. I wouldn't lose sleep over it. Unfortunately they can get sloppy in their hiring practices. I don't think it was anything you did. Also it could be a blessing in disguise. ;-)

Kayzee · Aug 20, 2002

Don't be discouraged. I accepted a position, and within the next week I received 5 calls for other positions. Sometimes it just takes some time. They'll call. Be patient.

deespoohbear · Aug 20, 2002

Thanks for all the support and advice. I am not losing sleep over it. I guess I am just peturbed at the lack of courtesy shown on their part. It does show me that I am better off not working for them.

delirium · Aug 20, 2002

Originally posted by deespoohbear
I went for a job interview over a week ago. The person interviewing me said they would get back with me. Never did. Now, I am a big girl and can handle disappointment. At least they could have had the common deceny to call me and let me know they gave the position to another person. I called at the end of last week and left message on the manager's phone just stating I was curious about the status of the job. To me, this just shows that I am better off not working for this company. Just venting. Thanks.

In a word? Because they SUCK.

Sorry, that seems to be my word of the week.

Now I have no experience as a nurse seeking employment, so you may discard this if you like, but my current job is in a hospital. It took this hospital so long to get back to me that I actually took another job in the interim.

Our HR department is so muffed up, they don't attract quality applicants to any unit, in my opinion. I'm interested to see how other hospitals will react to me once I have graduated compared to the hospital where I have been employed for the past three years.

I have no intention of working there as a nurse. None. They are all lip service and no recruitment/retention. Forget about it. I think the nurse recruiter is on more drugs than Anna Nicole.

nimbex, RN · Aug 20, 2002

5 years ago, mind you things change I noticed that return calls took forever. So I made the follow up calls "what's the status of my application, if there further information I can provide to you to expidite the process?", yada, yada, yada

Always knew where I stood this way. Good luck in your search