Fairness to job applicants

[Jim]

In the hopes it might help other job seekers, I want to share an experience I had recently when dealing with an employer seeking to fill a development-officer position.

I traveled a long distance to be interviewed for a position with a nonprofit organization in North Carolina and was told I would be called by human resources on a Monday, about 10 days later. When I didn't receive a call that morning, I contacted HR to determine my status. I finally received a call and was told the position had been filled internally by someone who had been involved in the interviewing, which had never been mentioned as a possibility and I think should have been determined before the organization sought outside candidates.

It gets worse! I recently saw an ad in your job listings and other sites for the same position with this organization. This time, I sent an e-mail to HR and learned the person had not taken the position after all because there was a problem in finding someone to fill the employee's current position!

This is not the only instance I have experienced in which employers' fairness and professionalism to applicants has been questionable. I would suggest employers be more considerate of applicants and at the same time, job seekers should be aware that if these things happen during the application process, it may a red flag of things to come if you go to work for such an organization.

[James Hopkins, CFRE]

Jim:

You win some, you lose some, and some are rained out -- but you still have to suit up for all of them.

Consider yourself fortunate in that you are not economically beholden to this prospective employer, who has demonstrated obvious failings in regard to stewardship of your candidacy and, perhaps, in regard to ethics.

Many of us know the profound disappointment of being runner- up for a great job. Many of us also know the disappointment of actually getting what promised to be a great job only to find ourselves in an environment of deep-seated bureaucratic inertia, idiosyncratic behaviors, or hitherto unrevealed problems that mitigate against good development practice.

I urge you to resolve your feelings, which seem to be pretty strong, about the prospective employer quickly. Concentrate instead on conducting a dispassionate analysis of your own performance in the interview. Perhaps it was nothing short of your best, but we can learn something from all of our experiences.

Remember that it is a buyer's market out there.  Roll with the punches, of which there will be many, and live to interview another day.

[Warren Lind]

Jim:

My conclusion is the same as yours: If an agency treats applicants this way, how do they treat employees?  Unfortunately, the nonprofit world is rife with incompetent and unethical behavior. A for-profit business managed this way would have filed bankruptcy years ago.  

In your interview, ask about employee turnover. Ask to speak to the last person who held the job you are applying for.  Why did they leave? Was the agency satisfied with their performance? If not, what was the problem? Talk to colleagues in the same field as the agency, and try to get the "inside scoop" on their reputation. Ask to speak to other employees with whom you will be working closely. In other words, be a detective, and interview the agency as much as they interview you. The life you save may be your own.

[Sabrina Matson]

Hi Jim,

I too have experienced the same situation, but more than once. I have been told by three organizations that I was a strong candidate for the position that I applied for and then there was no follow up. I spent much time trying to follow up and figure out what went wrong. In one case, I even sent the hiring manager a letter expressing my dissappointment in their procedures or better, more professional conduct.

I am still looking for work and have never had such a hard time. I am devoutly involved in volunteer work with four major nonprofit organizations in my area and have done a great deal of work for them. My hope was to land a job possibly, but that hasn't happened either. Although they have been extremely appreciative of my work and have helped out by giving me job leads, nothing is panning out. I will remain optimistic and persevere--something is bound to turn up. Best of luck to you in your endeavors.

[Shahnaz Perveen]

Jim:

Several times I faced the same problem as you. It disappointed and sometimes made me angry. But what can we do?

[Elizabeth Heile]

Wow. In response to Jim's original post, where we think of how poorly the applicants are treated . . . what about that poor employee, who was required to retain the job he didn't want?

It's lucky Jim found this out before he took a job there!

[Mel]

There seems to be an ugly "Jekyll and Hyde" pattern in many college and university development offices. Gracious hospitality when you're there. Post-interview, search timetables become interminable, extending well beyond the dates they project or state. I usually wait a month and then call or e-mail for feedback of my status. All too often, phone calls are not returned or responses to e-mail are ignored or grossly delayed. It seems that courtesy is the exception and not the rule.

My worst example is a Division I university in the South where I interviewed in August '02. (Unfortunately, there are others.) I waited a month and then requested feedback. The search-committee chair didn't answer my phone call for a week. I then e-mailed a development officer involved in the search process who started to make excuses for the search committee chair, a member of the faculty. I then e-mailed her and received a reply to the effect that she was too busy with grant applications to get back to my phone call and could not provide me with any feedback because they were still interviewing. That was last September. I have not heard a word since. Not even a perfunctory "best of luck in your future endeavors" letter. God forbid, if we ever treated a colleague, alum or donor so shabbily!

The whole experience makes you feel victimized and the last thing I want is to feel sorry for myself.

[christiste]

I completely agree about the adversities you must go through as the applicant. While in college I face the same thing and was made to feel very uncomfortable and confused about the hiring process as though we were just some peons for the corporate officials to judge.

But it's true the last thing we want to feel is victimized about it all.

best of luck and stay healthy and up about it,

Christi

[hank_moody]

  Funny, I mentioned something similar on this same Forum, under the heading, "Are All Development Officer Searches This Rude."

  That posting was prompted by more than one interview that seemed promising, and closed with "we'll be getting back to you shortly" (or words to that effect), only to be followed by weeks of silence.  In one instance, it took two months to receive my travel reimbursement, and only after I made inquiries about that check was I also able to learn that I was not selected.

  May those miscreants also suffer a similar period in purgatory some day!

  By the way, I find the first response to the posting an incredible Pollyanna, and more than likely one who is currently employed.