We thank all applicants for their interest in this opportunity; however... [View all]

[babylonsister]

We thank all applicants for their interest in this opportunity; however, only those selected for an interview will be contacted.
August 28, 2014


That is a phrase I want banished from Human Resources and shot into outer space along with the person who used it for the first time.

In an earlier, more courteous day, when one applied for a job, one would type a cover letter, attach it to a CV, put it into an envelope, stamp it, and mail it. If one was applying to a radio station, a demo cassette would be included, the envelope would be bigger and thicker, and it was more expensive.

snip//

Somewhere around the mid-’90s, rot started to set in, and the abovementioned phrase started to become a popular way to absolve Personnel workers of doing their duty. It then became the norm, and eventually ubiquitous.

And so today, even though almost all applications and indeed all communications are handled electronically and postage free, what is now called the Human Resources department no longer bothers to contact unsuccessful applicants, even though there is practically no effort involved in sending a standard, boilerplate PFO email to everyone at once.

I have been told by HR “professionals” that because they receive thousands of applications (as if companies in the 1980s didn’t!), they cannot possibly afford the five minutes out of their day that it would take to send one of these bulk emails. And so, because courtesy and common decency are long since dead, unsuccessful job-seekers are left hanging, wondering if the job has been filled yet or when it will be or whether their application has gone unread to File 13, waiting for news that will never come, making follow-up telephone calls to HR voicemails that are never responded to. Because you know, they almost never answer the phones in HR.

snip//

Nevertheless, she said, the HR department has more and better things to do with its time than respond to everyone who’s looking for a job. I said that IS her job, that when I was a creative director, I was always conscientious about letting people know when their submissions were unsuccessful. That was then, she said.

“Then”… really, how disappointing. Apparently I come from “then”. Apparently courtesy is from “then”. Apparently business ethics are from “then”. Apparently doing your job is from “then”. I said, “If you have trouble finishing your work by five o’clock, well, that’s what after five and weekends are for—have a nice day,” and hung up on her.

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