Why do some recruiters play classic head-in-the-sand game with candidates?
An overwhelming number of recruiters and companies think they are in the master's seat and the candidate in the galley slave's position. this is best summed up by the Hindi word 'naukri' derived from naukar (servant, henchman, etc.). Hindi that way is very straight forward, factual, and down to earth in its articulation.
Get the drift of what it means to be treated lowly or menially? Here are two sample scenarios from the Indian PR industry.
Scenario 1
An MNC PR agency interviews a candidate with 10+ years of experience in content for its Bangalore office. The role is that of a senior manager (content). The test and interviews are over by November.
After that, there is a long and ominous silence that lasts until the first week of February, when, at last, out of the blue, the agency rings up the candidate (who meanwhile has gone through multiple tests and interviews) and casually inquires if he is still available for the position. Scenario 2
The HR at another MNC PR agency in Bangalore interviews a candidate with 12 years' experience for a senior manager role in the content function.
The HR person glances hurriedly at the candidate's resume as though she has a plane to catch and gets him to explain the nuts and bolts of his job profile. She seems completely clueless and on top of that disinterested in the whole process. At the end of the HR interview, she tells the candidate that the decision on content roles is taken at the Delhi head office of the agency since the content head sits out there.
The candidate keeps on following it up with the HR representative, branch head, etc, in Bangalore.
Finally, he gets a simple one-liner from the HR representative requesting him to explore other career options since the content head hasn't had time as yet to review his resume which was no more than two pages of bulleted content.
It turns out that the content head is a busy bee buzzing around in multiple roles. That of the content head, thought leader, faculty, social media maven, lobbyist, animal activist, tree hugger, etc. Barring the last two roles, which look pretty much sinecure, the rest are all salaried roles. It is customary in many agencies to pass the onus of hiring from branch head to national head to functional head and back, unmindful of the fact that there is a candidate out there waiting to come in from the cold...
An organization is not a job giver and a candidate is not a job taker. they are partners in progress and partners by free will. and as long as they can add value mutually the relationship continues or else it gets dissolved.