Recently a friend of mine, Kris, responded to a job posting online for The Money Store by submitting her resume. The HR person called her and left a message. Then Kris called back and spoke with her to set up an interview. During the interview, they gave her an overview of the company while getting acquainted. And unbeknownst to her, they checked her references at the same time. By the end of the interview, they made her an offer. She accepted. Now she works there and enjoys it.

But how many companies are that serious about grabbing good talent when they want it? And how many others are A-OK with wasting time and energy and money going though recruiting activities – as well as the time of the candidates’?

The professional job hunter that I am, I receive inquiries from well over a thousand head hunters and recruiters every year. Some of them end up in interviews and some go on to hirings. While the vast majority are one-time pings, I want to focus on the interview-related ones.

Last year I received a call from Tom at Belo Interactive in Dallas. I looked like an excellent match for at least one of several high profile positions he told me. He said he would set up a meeting for me to meet Dave, the president of the company. A few days later, he provided the details for the interview. So far, so good.

But on the morning of the interview, he called me to say that he never heard back from the president, and did not even know where he was. But he promised to reschedule for the next Friday when I would be in town and available.

Two days before the interview, Tom called and asked if I was still interested in scheduling an interview for the position. Surprised with the question, I reminded him that he had told me to come in again on Friday. He admitted there was some confusion, but tried to disguise the fact that it was his fault.

He sort of apologized and said to contact him next week. So, being the patient professional that I am, I diligently called and emailed him throughout the next week, with no reply from him at all. Honestly, I was getting a little irritated with the way things were going – especially with a company like Belo.

Two or three weeks later he dared to call back and tell me something about a reorg going on and that he would call me back to set up an interview with the new manager over the new department. Yeah, right.

Let’s look at another case that would ultimately waste many peoples’ hours of precious time. In mid December I was contacted by a recruiter on behalf of an integrator providing a solution to a telco client. After being screened by two recruiters, I spoke with the account manager, and then the integrator. That means I was evaluated by 4 key people in the sourcing process. The final step would be to talk directly with the end client. A week went by. Then another. Finally I received an email with an attached document that was an essay question to be answered in lieu of a final interview with the client. I spent two hours writing my response to that question.

The next evening the recruiter called excitedly saying that the client loved my esssay answer and wanted to make me an offer. However, I declined the position because I had finalized accepting another offer that had started in the middle of the first one.

From what I know about telcos, and from the essay question as well as the response to my answer, it is clear to me that the client is in dire need of some good business analyst talent. But they let it slip right through their hands. They originally contacted me two months before they made an offer. They identified me as a preferred candidate; then they took their time so as to ensure there would be plenty of opportunity to lose me to someone else.

Believe it or not, these are pretty common ongoings in the recruiting space; I have lots more stories where those came from.

What are your experiences?

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