The Unemployed: Why Can't We Get the Respect Back that We Give Recruiters?

The economy is still slowly recovering and unemployment rates continue to remain high. Millions of workers are looking to get back to work as soon as possible. Many of them have found it incredibly hard to find a job not because of the lack of jobs, but due to the lack of professionalism by many of the job recruiters. My experience with several companies since becoming unemployed has led me to write this article to share my experience and ask one simple question: We are asked to be professional, why can't recruiters be professional to us?

Being unemployed has been incredibly difficult. This is because I have found dozens of jobs that I have been perfectly qualified for and still have not been hired. A lot of the companies that I have dealt with have shown themselves to be unprofessional in a number of different ways. The best way to explain this to you would be through sharing some of these examples. Several of my close friends have experienced the same thing and I am almost certain you have as well.

The first company that I would like to address is CVS. They are considered one of the fastest growing retail drug stores in the United States. Reports indicate that the company is experiencing unprecedented growth. A glimpse from the outside shows a company that you simply want to work for. I decided to give them a chance and apply for an Assistant Manager position with their company. This is when the lack of professionalism began.

My first interview was a screening over the phone. This process was rather simple and they passed my information onto a Store Manager. The Store Manager contacted me and scheduled a meeting with himself and his District Manager. I was told that the District Manager could not make it and interviewed for over an hour. The Store Manager was excited with working with me and scheduled an interview with the District Manager for the next week. He basically expressed that I had the job and only had to impress his boss.

I went ahead to my meeting with the District Manager. Our interview was scheduled for 12:30pm on a Thursday afternoon. When I arrived I was told that he went out to lunch and would be back in 5 minutes. He arrived at 1:20pm and proceeded to ignore me and joke with some of the staff. After he was done doing this for another 10 minutes, it was time to interview me. The manager said he was sorry for being late and that we should not even interview because another District Manager would be taking over. However, I was still interviewed and told I would receive a call back. One month has passed and CVS showed their true colors to me.

Most of you might blame this on the District Manager lacking professionalism. Except this has happened to me before by their direct competition Rite Aid. About two months earlier I was invited in for an interview with their company. When I arrived and met the District Manager I was told that we would be interviewing on the sales floor. The District Manager told me that I dressed up too professional (I was wearing a suit) and that he did not think I would fit in with the company. Once again, I was perfectly qualified for the position and was being treated rudely for presenting myself well.

My bad experiences continued. Seeking out employment I decided to attend a local job fair. There was a position open for Williams College. I walked up to apply for a position that interested me. As I approached their job table, the representative rudely told me to not apply for the job. I kept a positive attitude and asked her why I should not. She surprised me and told me that a male would not be good in the position because a woman would be more qualified. Once again I felt like I was treated like dirt.

Perhaps the worst company had to be Dion Money Management. I was scheduled for an interview at a specific time and once again was left waiting almost an hour for my interview to be conducted. By the time the interview began I was asked why I wanted to work for them. The interview went smoothly and the interviewer told me he would love to bring me in. However, he wanted me to buy a Wall Street Journal over the weekend and see if I was interested in their industry. I did as he asked and contacted him (as he asked and with numerous attempts) to never receive a reply back.

Berkshire Health Systems is another organization that seems to walk around with a "we are better than you" attitude. There have been numerous open positions that I have applied for over the past couple of months that I have had job experience in. You would be shocked to learn that not only did I not receive an initial reply but within an hour after applying for each job I received a "we are not hiring for this position notice" to only see it posted over and over again the entire month.

This is only a sampling of some of the bad job hunting experience that I have. Why is it that we are asked to be professional but are treated like dirt in the process? Is it so hard to get the respect back that you are willing to give out? A lot of these recruiters are representing their companies poorly and end up losing out on solid candidates because of this. I am a bright young man who has always produced results wherever he has worked. Why can't I be treated with respect?

I am the type of person who shows up for interviews exactly 15 minutes before the interview is set to began. Before each interview I make sure to print several copies of my resume. I also go out of my way to have my suit pressed so that I look clean and presentable. Some of the jobs I apply for I will even go as far to create examples of ideas that I could bring to the table. However I am continuously treated with disrespect as if I am putting a burden onto them for having to speak with me. This is not right.

This article is basically an open letter to those who are unemployed and those out there who are seeking to hire someone. For those of you who are unemployed I wish for you to not have to experience the same negatives as I have. If you have, I wish for you to share your experiences in the comment section and let recruiters know how you feel. I ask the recruiters out there to treat us with a bit more respect and give us the time of day. You would be astonished to learn the list of positives many of us could bring to your companies. Enough with treating us as if we do not belong and start treating us as if it was you trying to get back to work and wanting the same respect that we give you.