0 Dear Candidate - the hiring manager responds...

Dear McCrabby,

I'm in HR, responsible for hiring staff for a large company.  I have read, with great interest, the thread in the LinkedIn Jobs Group on your Reject the Rejection post (View it HERE  -- highest readership of all time), and while you've taken a few shots at those of us trying to do a tough job, I understand that you're basically "on the side" of the job-seeker.  I'm thick-skinned and can take the heat.

However, I'd like to respond to Will E. Wurkornot and see if you'll print my letter here.  You see, there IS another side.  
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Dear Mr. Wurkornot:


I would like to compliment you on your interview style, but from the tone of your letters, I doubt we'll be pursuing your candidacy.  However, in an attempt to be responsive, as you have requested, I would like to detail to you what we, in HR, often go through, so you'll have an appreciation of why some of us may not be quite as thorough as I am being here.


I want to help you in your next interview, so please be aware that in the past six months I have had to deal with all of the following, and more (I can't list everything).  I am not sure the candidate examples listed below warrant further follow up:

• interviewed for an entire hour, with a blinking blue-tooth on her face
• "hit on" receptionist as he left the office after the interview
• displayed so much cleavage, it made us nervous when she leaned forward to react to a question (and, another had a skirt so short, I had to turn away when she dropped her pen)
• showed up in jeans and tennis shoes for a B-2-B sales position
• had a 3-day beard growth - we aren't Miami Vice here
• handed over a resume on pink paper, with a smiley face drawn on the front
• had eleven piercings (that we could SEE)
• had a tattoo (on his face)
• wore a shirt that was so tight, the buttons looked like they were In a death fight just to hang on (a guy)
• had a body odor that filled the room, and beyond
• brought a fast food lunch, and ate during the interview, claiming he hadn't had time to eat yet today, after showing up 20 minutes late
• wouldn't leave when he was told the interview was over
• asked if she could smoke during the interview
• dropped the f-bomb more than once, when talking about past employers
• brought a girl-friend to the interview and asked her to stay in the lobby (she fell asleep)

So Will, while we appreciate your constructive feedback, we wanted to share a little of our own.  And we hope McCrabby will print it.


We HR folks know how frustrating it is for the job-seeker.  I just thought you might like to hear some more of what we go through.

Hiring in Halifax

____________________________

Dear Hiring,

Thanks for your list;  and, it is being printed as you wrote it.  


As someone who used to hire, McCrabby could add a couple:

1. had a guy misspell, on his resume, the city he lived in
2. interviewed a woman who had each fingernail hand-painted with a little scene (each different), making McCrabby wonder how much time she had on her hands....            pause 
   
   
   Check out other "Hiring Manager Letters" at our "POSTS WITH COMMON THEMES" at left. 
   
   
   
   Good luck on your job search, and your search for a good employee..  
   
   
   
   McCrabby
   
   
   Would you join our site now?  We'd love to see you..  You can sign up on the left where it says "join this site") so we can see your picture.  And follow us on twitter (@curtmacrae), where we don't post much, but we'd love to see you there.  McCrabby has gotten hacked twice on Facebook, so we have left that site for good.  Sorry...