There’s No Logic In It So Don’t Stress!
I speak to a lot of candidates who are totally frustrated by the process of trying to find a job. They apply to companies and recruitment agencies and often don’t get any response. They have unsatisfactory conversations with people involved in recruitment and feel as though they have been fobbed off. In some cases they go for interviews and either gets no feedback or the feedback they do get makes no sense.I tell them the same thing I’m going to tell you – don’t stress about it. If you apply for a job or go for an interview and you don’t get any feedback take it as a sign that you shouldn’t be working for that company. Would you want to work for a company that behaves so badly? Of course not! The fact is that no matter what HR professionals and Talent Management experts try to tell you, the fact is that practically every organisation in the world, public and private, recruits badly. If they end up with the right person it is usually a matter of luck rather than design. They can have all the competency, behavioural, psychometric procedures that they want. The reality is that most recruitment is based on one human being making a decision on another human being and that means that it is usually a subjective decision.Let me give you an example of this lack or logic. The first one involves a friend of mine who recruits for big, international company. They had a vacancy for a person with very specific skills and experience. They had tried to fill this position before and failed, so my friend decided (even though she was not being paid a retainer) to go and find the right person. After much searching and networking and research she found someone who was suitable. She had the right experience, right qualifications and was within the salary range. The HR Manager loved her; the line manager loved her; the line manager’s manager loved her. They talked about salary, took references, did psychometrics and everyone was happy. All that was left was for the candidate to meet the bog boss who was relatively new in his position and had requested to meet any potential hires face-to-face before an offer was made. He met her, for what was essentially meant to be a quick introduction and chat. Afterwards he declared that ‘she didn’t have the sort of energy that they were looking for’. Don’t worry if you don’t understand, no-one else knew what he was talking about either. So you see, despite what you may think, recruitment decisions are rarely made absolutely objective reasons. So if a company doesn’t get back to you or turns you down for some strange reason, just take it as a sign that they weren’t worthy of you and move on.
