Monday, July 8, 2013

Cranky Recruiter: Stood Up for the Interview

Oh, hey, just back from driving for an hour, waiting around for an hour and driving back for an hour.  So that would be about 3 hours, give or take, of wasted time.  What was I thinking?--I made an appointment to interview someone last week, showed up at our arranged meeting spot, and he wasn't there.  I called, emailed, and haven't heard back.

This was an interview for a highly technical position, and it is hard to find qualified candidates for it.  Having that resume show up in my inbox was a thrill by itself.  Quickly I called him, did a phone interview, and with everything looking promising we booked an interview.

Then the doubts started creeping up.  I was rereading his resume and cover letter and there were inconsistencies.  He mentioned working at one company on his cover letter and on his resume another company was referenced.  Hmm, well that's something to ask about at the interview--maybe he was a subcontractor--maybe.

The second red flag was that this guy, who is a technically skilled winery professional, has been out of work for the last year.  When searching for people in this field, they are snatched up almost immediately when they are in the job market.  Hmm, what's up with this guy?

Oh yeah, and the guy of course suffered from TMI--giving too much information during our phone call.  Marital status, kids, bad previous employers, etc.  Good to know, but it was a bit of a sob story.

Ignoring these red flags I booked our interview.  While figuring out a spot to meet he mentioned that there was a good bar around the corner.  Hmmm, always good to know where the bar is--but not for an interview.

While sitting around waiting for him to show, I thought it made sense to send him a quick email.  Here's when I noticed his email address was a reference to alcohol.  Hmm, maybe I should worry about drinking on the job?  Maybe about missing work due to being on a bender? Or better yet, missing this interview because you didn't wake up this morning.

I'll now make sure not to miss any red flags, and trust my gut instincts.  The motto of a good recruiter, "Trust your gut!"  Now onto those other promising candidates.  Hope they didn't take a job during the time wasted waiting around for Mr. Fillerupbarkeep.

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