An Issue of Common Courtesy

A common complaint I hear from associates in the field of HR, is failure to show up for interviews. In particular, the candidate failing to turn up and failing to inform the interviewer.

You know how it is - you pick a promising candidate from a list of possible candidates, after a fair bit of deliberation based on information gleaned from his or her resume, and make the call. Assuming you manage to contact said person and he or she is still available, you fix a mutually agreeable time and place for the interview. Sometimes it may even (horrors!) involve staying back after office hours to accommodate the candidate's schedule.

Kept waiting.

And then the candidate fails to show up. You call, nobody picks up. There's no email from this person informing you that he or she can't make it. The candidate has disappeared, and you have just wasted your time. Common courtesy seems to be a thing of the past, you lament.

Bitch, please.

Yes, if a candidate agrees to a time and place for an interview and somehow finds himself or herself unable to attend, it's common courtesy to at least keep the interviewer informed. I agree that deliberately neglecting to do so is pretty frickin' rude. But if that somehow gives you the impression that I feel your pain, perish the thought.

Allow me to explain my curious lack of sympathy for your distress. Your situation is somewhat illustrated below:

Kettle. "Hi Pot, I'm Kettle."
Pot: "Kettle, ya dawg! Whassup, nigga?"

You see, back in the days where I was a fresh graduate, wide-eyed and innocent, filled with boundless enthusiasm - OK, you get the idea - I attended my fair share of interviews. After almost every interview, there was this same refrain.

"We'll let you know in a week whether or not we decide to hire you."

Maybe it was naivete on my part, but I truly believed that I would get an answer. Nope, not a peep. Ten, twenty, fifty interviews. Nothing. Yes, I'm aware that it's common practice to only inform the interviewee if the company is interested in hiring. That doesn't make it any less rude.

So now you complain about getting the exact same treatment you've been dishing out. Sorry, I don't think you have a goddamn leg to stand on. How's that shoe feel when it's on the other foot? Well, see the picture below - this illustrates the fucks I give.

That's right! Nun.

Back when the market was saturated with job-seekers and it was up to you to pick and choose, you got away with that shit constantly. Now we're dealing with a tight labor market. The worm has turned, and you can do absolutely diddly-squat about the candidates who are standing you up.

You know what's that you're tasting right now? That's humble pie, my friend. Chew and swallow.

If you object to anything I said here, give me some feedback. I'll call you.
T___T