Job interviews can be ugly these days
The interviewer kept the job candidate waiting for 45 minutes past the scheduled appointment time, then seemed evasive about the job's duties.
The candidate lied on her resume about her education and experience, then lied about lying. The only questions she asked were about salary and benefits and when she would get promoted.
Welcome to the ugly, often brutal world of job interviews, where the interviewers and the interviewees often engage in a battle to see who can behave the worst.
"I think it is a reflection of what is going on in the workplace overall," says Scott Erker. "(Job candidates) don't trust employers, and some job candidates have a real sense of entitlement."
Erker, a senior vice president at Development Dimensions International, a human resources consulting firm, says that while not all hiring managers and job candidates behave badly, there are enough horror stories on both sides to make it clear there are some real problems.
These problems can translate into bottom-line issues for companies, since a recent survey by Development Dimensions International and the online career and job site, Monster, found that two thirds of job seekers report that the interviewer influences their decision to accept a position.
With the ongoing war for talent in this global economy, Erker points out that many top candidates decline an offer because they are unmotivated by hiring managers to want to join a company.
"There are actually several problems going on right now," Erker says. "One is that trust is down because of the scandals in corporate America with exorbitant senior executive salaries. Two, hiring managers are 'overselling' jobs and sounding like used car salesman because they under pressure to get the great job candidates. And three, the pressure is on business to try and fill positions quickly and so they're doing whatever they can to get the candidate to say yes."
At the same time, job candidates are not without some issues. In the survey, 58 percent of hiring managers reported that job seekers misrepresent their experience on a resume or during the interview, while only 5 percent of candidates admit to it. That trend of misrepresentation - and the candidates failing to own up to it - is in the areas of education, experience and references.
"Also, there are some generational issues because we've got some coddled kids just coming out of school and they just expect to get a job and take over," Erker says. "In fact, we had one hiring manager say that one job candidate's goal 'was to get your (hiring manager's) job. Do you really think this hiring manager would now hire someone who would try and take his job away?"
Further complicating the relationship between job candidates and companies is the knowledge that many workers are job-hopping as never before. In the survey, 52 percent have had between two and three jobs over the last five years. Nearly one-third of job seekers said they had been in the current job for six months or less, but were already in the market for a new one. In other words, they were using their current job as a "placeholder job" until something better came along, Erker says. (For more survey results and interview tips, join the blog discussion at: www.anitabruzzese.com).
Still, the bottom line is that both interviewees and interviewers need to display more respect for one another and behave more professionally, he says. That means that companies need to spend more time training hiring managers so that they make better hires based on realistic expectations, and job candidates need to be honest and do a better job of preparing for interviews.
"An interview can quickly escalate from being a 'meeting of the minds' to a 'clash of personalities' if both parties are not prepared and respectful of one another," Erker says.
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