I’ve just been reading an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal about recruiting firms and hiring managers blacklisting job candidates. According to the report, it is not just those described as ‘liars, losers and misfits’ who are not being referred to potential employers by recruiters, or are being flagged up as undesirable in terms of future applications by companies, but even those who are weak in certain areas. Although some deny that they operate the practice of blacklisting, others openly admit that it goes on and feel quite justified in keeping mental or written notes to reject certain candidates, because in such a tight job market they have plenty of others to choose from.
In one case mentioned in the article, a comment made by a recruiter to an HR official at a networking event about one individual’s poor presentation skills saw the man in question being added to the HR official’s blacklist. Other reasons for knocking people out of the running, however, included accepting a counter-offer, exaggerating qualifications on resumes, using a rival recruitment firm, being unprepared for a telephone interview or, when asked during an interview about taking a drug test, giving the joking reply ‘’Sure! As long as you give me six days’ notice!’
As the article quite rightly pointed out, one of the issues with being blacklisted in this way is the fact that the individual in question doesn’t necessarily know that it’s happened and it can be very hard to find out if this is the case. Another point though is that getting your name off such a list can be extremely difficult and there is the potential for it to sit there for some years.
I guess two things really leap out at me from reading this story. The first is about awareness, because knowing that these kinds of practices are going on makes it much easier to ensure that you don’t fall foul of them. The second though, concerns that old adage about prevention being better than cure and how vital it is to always behave professionally, tell the truth and make sure that your skills are top notch!
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