Job Search Pet Peeves: Or "How Job Seekers and Recruiters Make a Bad Impression on Each Other!"

We've conducted an informal poll, and found some of the pet peeves that job seekers have about recruiters, and that recruiters have about job seekers.

Job Seekers' Pet Peeves

• Recruiters who don't follow up.

• Recruiters who don't return calls.

• Recruiters who provide poor or inadequate information.

• Recruiters who mislead, or who string you along, promising a position that doesn't materialize, a salary that doesn't materialize, etc.

• Recruiters who are initially really keen on talking to you, then afterwards won't tell you why you didn't get the job.

• Recruiters who won't give you a chance.

• Ads that say "no calls."

• Employers who write vague job descriptions and then tell you that you don't meet the qualifications – how do they know?

• Employers who write excessively long job descriptions that say nothing specific.

• When the process moves too slowly – particularly with no explanation about why.

• When you're told you're overqualified.

• When you are really qualified, had a really good interview, and have really good references, but still don't get the job. (And if you ask, all you hear is that they hired someone else.)

• When you respond to a job post and are told that the position is no longer available.

Recruiters' Pet Peeves

• Emails, résumés, and cover letters that make the job seekers look unnecessarily bad (e.g., those with spelling errors or grammatical errors, those using sloppy slang like "u r" instead of "you are").

• Job seekers who can't spell their own job correctly (e.g., "technitions").

• Job seekers who send in résumés and have no idea about the employer to which they are applying.

• Job seekers who have poorly constructed résumés, making it difficult for a recruiter to read them (e.g., font size or style, clutter) or to tell what the person actually does (e.g., hiding important information, not including important information, filling their résumé with jargon).

• Job seekers who don't provide contact details on their résumé or who provide out-of-date contact details.

• Job seekers who are dishonest.

• Job seekers who are evasive, who won't give straight answers to questions.

• Job seekers who don't express their strong interest in money in a polite way.

• Rudeness – particularly callers who are arrogant, rather than confident.

• Job seekers who have unrealistic expectations (e.g., salary, hours, position their background merits) in general, and those who have unrealistic expectations and then criticize the hospital for not being able to meet these expectations.

• Job seekers who won't take "unqualified" for an answer.

• Job seekers who ask questions and then, rather than listening to the answer, speak over you.

• Lack of cooperation in forwarding necessary documentation or information.

• Job seekers (both qualified and not) who call a second (or third) time, pretending that they haven't called before.

• Job seekers who continue to spell the recruiter's name incorrectly, despite ongoing email communications.

• Job seekers who think that mandatory items on a job description don't apply to them, or that items clearly stated as non-negotiable on a benefits package can be negotiated.

• Job seekers who don't return calls.

• Job seekers who don't give an employer the courtesy of simply saying by phone or email, "Thank you, but I'm no longer interested."

• Job seekers who call you daily (or more than daily) when you have told them that you will get back to them the moment you have an update for them. (Or who keep calling back when you've told them more than once that the hiring manager is away for two weeks so you won't have any new information for at least two weeks and a day.)

• And from the international recruitment area: Job seekers who call up for information about Country X, and then say obnoxious things about Country X, and "Why would I ever want to work in Country X?!"

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Think these things don't happen? They do! So when you're looking for work, or when you're looking for staff, make sure that you don't become a "statistic" and make sure that you avoid doing anything that could be cited in our next informal poll!

Job Search Pet Peeves

Job Seekers' Pet Peeves

Recruiters' Pet Peeves

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Cynthia M Piccolo

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