I meet more and more such people every week, it seems, and what always strikes me about their stories is the apparent erosion of HR manners.
Yeah, I know: Employers are getting 4,000 resumes for every job posting, and it's hard to treat every applicant with dignity -- a lesson I learned the hard way when I was the point person on our freelance pot-reviewer opening last year and found myself mismanaging hundreds of applications from stoned writer-types.
But there seems to be a sense among some employers that in a market that obviously favors them, they can treat applicants however they want. I've heard of applicants being called in for multiple in-person interviews -- and then told they didn't get the job by callous, form e-mail. I've heard countless stories of poor or nonexistent correspondence from employers -- not even a "Hey, we got your résumé." The tales of woe are endless, and they make a process that's already a mind-fuck even worse.
So! In hopes of inspiring an employer or two to be a little more thoughtful the next time they post a job, we're naming all bad-mannered employers our Shmucks of the Week. May their office microwaves break right before they heat up their Lean Cuisines.
Meet more shmucks in our Shmuck of the Week archive.
