Why is it that when applying for a job, employers give the runaround?

I agree that an employer wants to look for the best qualified candidate, however, most of them require a resume or application faxed or emailed to them prior to your interview. This should give them time to check references and review your qualifications. The part that I have the most problem with is the extensive interview process, where you come in for interviews with everyone from the janitor (sanitation engineer) to the CEO. They have turned this into a three ring circus. It makes me think of beauty pageant competitions where you have to compete in swimming suits, formal gowns and then the final questions which should include: God, apple pie and the American Flag! Some people are very qualified for accounting type jobs, but may not have a "salesman's" appeal in the interview. You have to consider the type of job and the candidate to find out if it is a match. The person that is doing the interviewing has to have a working knowledge of the job as well. My husband is a journeyman electrician with a 30 year pin. He is finishing out his career as a general maintenance man/electrician/break-down mechanic for a local shop. He was interviewed by several men, including the maintenance general manager, who has no electrical background at all. My husband has a no nonsense personality and does not believe in sugar coating his answers or any form of "brown nosing". Even though he is the most qualified person, his personality often gets in his way and cost him the supervisor position. However, anyone who actually sees his work knows that he is amazing. You can't always judge a book by its cover. Not all jobs require the personality of a stand-up comic or a car salesman unless you are applying for those particular jobs. Sometimes these Human Resource/Personnel people make a mountain out of a mole-hill when it comes to hiring new employees. Back in the early days of my career, I could actually apply, interview and get the job in one afternoon. When the employment picture gets much better, we may see a swing back to that form of hiring which is much less stress for everyone.

I wish I knew after a job interview whether I had the job or not. Heck I would settle for finding out in the given time they tell me. I am more tired of not knowing one way or another. I have been told by so many companies and job placement places that they will contact me to inform me whether or not I was hired within X amount of days. Those days come and go and I get nothing, I finally contact them and then get told "oh I'm sorry we didn't contact you, but you weren't hired, sorry for not doing the thing we promised we would do."

I don't blame your mom at all, and I completely understand where she's coming from. I've been out of work these last few months, and I'm sick and tired of all the game playing. Yes, they have my application, my resume, references, and anything else they need. I'm older and the competition is fierce. I'm finding alot of companies are just looking for a pretty young face, and don't really care anymore about what you're worth or your experience. It's a employer's world right now, and all they do is pull crap on you because they have so many applicants. Yeh, they'll call you back, and then they never do, as you sit there on pins and needles. My friend and I both applied at Giant Eagle (food store) and Michael's (craft store), because they were hiring. We both have cashiering, retail sales, in our backgrounds for years. My friend has 2 nieces, one just out of school, and the other one early 20s. They applied AFTER us, and were hired the same day. Why? That's just one example. And all I see now are experienced only, doesn't even matter what position it is. They could be looking for someone to cut up salad for a salad bar, and they want 1-2 years experience. Puleeeeze! So, myself, like your mom, have been around for a while and are tired of all the bullcrap, and I don't blame her one bit.

I think that if you are going to say that straight to an a future employer, you should really have the credentials and expertise in the position that you are applying for or else you're in a lot of trouble.. Yes i think employers should stop doing the runaround with regards to hiring, as what your mother expressed as a waste of time, but then again, we have to remember that we as applicants should bear any prerogatives of any employer..

I think, you must figure out by yourself, because no employer will tell you right away, for my experience if they say thank you or i will text or call you up meaning you're not hired, if they say congratulation you're hired meaning they want your service. And likely you will come back to their company for orientation.

Many employers cannot tell you if you're hired or not on the spot simply because they are reviewing other candidates as well. They simply just want to hire the best candidate for their needs, and they will not settle for anything short of that. So, naturally, they must interview many individuals and review before making the decision.

Hi Maria, In some cases that might work but I wouldn't think it would in most. Usually an employer likes to get several applications. From there they go thru them and certain ones will be possible employees and others are a definite NO. They will then call these people in for interviews. And from there they pick the new employee. It is a process in most places.

they should tell it on the spot. whether you have it or not or if they're still considering other applicants, they should inform you. this will give you somehow an idea on what to do and when to move. its hard to wait and hope for something that you dont even know what the result would be. worst is, after waiting that long, they offered the job to someone else.

When I'm applying for a job I also want to know immediately if I will get hired or not. But I don't ask the employers right away. I think I've done it only once, but that was after I've already undergone training. I didn't want to ask, but I was really irritated because all possible employees went through training without assurance that they will be hired. The condition of the employer was that the exam after the training would be the basis for hiring us or not. I went along with it because I really wanted the job. There were two sets of exam, one set for a day, so the exam went on for 2 days. After taking the first set of exam I asked the employer if I passed or not. I told her that I wanted to know right away because I didn't want to return for the second set of exam if I didn't pass the first one because then there would be no point in returning to take the second set.

That's a risky move. It also depends on the economic climate at the time, and the location. There are certain areas of the country where it's an employer market. Detroit for example, is not the place I'd try that. Employers there have hundreds of resume's for a single position, and given that, they are going to take their time and be choosey. You come in and demand an on the spot answer, they will like say "oh is that the way it is? Then no". On the other hand, if you are in a low unemployment area, and they have just a handful of people to pick from, saying that might imply to them that you are motivated, and that could make you stand out from the other 5 candidates. So it may be a plus. One thing that bothers me about this post is, you are limiting your perspective to you as an employee. What about them as employer? Yes from your position an on the spot yes or no would make it easier for you. From a the employer though, the situation is quite different. I know, I've been there. A bad employee can ruin your month, even year. Employees that steal from the company. Employees that seem great, but are bad with customers and drive business away. Employees that cause strife and problems in the work force, or even sue the company later. Constantly late, break stuff, ruin products. I've seen all of this. One of the companies I worked for, hired on a sales manager. He had all the qualifications, so they hired him. They should have dug deeper though, because he had some problems in the past. The company I worked for sold a vertical market product. No one else made our product. No one. We had no competition. Well this sales guy went to our customer, which had some little complaints, and the sales guy shrugged them off, and literally told them "hey you have to deal with us, because we're the only ones in the business". That pissed off our customer so bad, they went out, bought a small company, and had them reverse engineer our product, and start selling it. This guy single handedly created our competition when there was none before. He was of course fired, but the damage was done. So when you think it's a simple 'yes' or 'no' answer, it really isn't. There are thousands of things to consider, and a bad choice of employees can ruin the entire year for everyone in the company.

I really wonder myself.I've had many interviews,and the employer always gives me that BS line"we'll give you a call and let you know".Soon as they tell me that I know they're not gonna hire me.I'd rather be told straight out that they're not interested in hiring me.They always lie.I really hate that,that happens to me alot.I'm in search of a job and I'm not having any luck finding one.They should tell you straight out.