DreamAndSeek.com

I’m on this random act of kindness concept pretty heavily, so here is one I thought was worth sharing… respect people… that’s it, and it is worth the extra minute to be patient, listen or give some one the time of day no matter how disengaged you are.

This is all brought about through my continual search to find a position that will help me expand the skill sets cultivated in my past career and build value to another. I have worked with almost every financial recruiter in the area and have nothing but bad things to say for about all of them (there are 2 that I have respect for). The job market is a bloodbath right now, highly competitive with so much talent in the applicant pool (especially in the financial industry).

Here is the standard process I’ve gone through with in the recruiting process:

1. Find a position that I am qualified for on an internet job search board (I highly recommend, www.simplyhired.com),
2. Wait for a recruiter to call,
3. Set up an appointment for an interview with the recruiter,
4. The recruiter goes over my resume than the position,
5. The recruiter may give out a skills test and then make you sign a bunch of forms for their client(s),
6. The recruiter will tell you they will submit your resume and follow up with you. Reassure you that they will be your personal representative, don’t use other recruiters because they are the shit, and to call them if you ever need anything.
7. You never hear anything back from them for a while on the positions you discussed.
8. They call up out of the blue to check up on you to see what you are up a few months later because they care (those are the good ones) or most likely they never call you back.

I understand it is a tough market out there and they are probably the busiest they ever have been, but when you make a phone call and e-mail a recruiter 8 times in the span of 2 days and they cant return your phone call and e-mail, it is a slap in the face.

It isn’t just relegated to recruiters, on two separate occasions, I’ve gone through rounds of interviews- one was with a major commercial real estate brokerage- I contacted the regional manager I interviewed with twice and left at least 4 voicemails and 2 e-mails: no response whatsoever (I even started to interview the secretary if he was available the last time he called, he was there and was free). The second was an educational certification company that where I met most of the higher ups, again HR said to call if I needed anything. So I asked them what their decision was after not hearing from them for 2 weeks (when I was promised they were looking to fill the position quickly). They didn’t even have enough respect for one of them to contact me- they delegated it to an “associate” who I had no clue what he did to tell me at 5:30PM that they had decided to go with the other candidate.

… those automated e-mails from HR departments “we’ve carefully reviewed your resume… and have decided other candidates are more qualified at this time…” shows a million times more respect than people you invest a small piece of yourself with and never get back to you.

Times are tough and when that happens people go crazy, I get it- I truly do. But what I don’t get it is why people can’t slow down and show some respect for others. To take 5 minutes out of the day, be open and transparent, and let another know the true situation. That’s what I don’t get.

So if you want to do a random act of kindness that will take a couple of minutes, slow down and listen to someone even though you might not be interested, get in touch with someone you had promised you would but didn’t… people feel better when you care what they say or you right a wrong… it’ll make you feel better too.