I’m sick of job candidates not being professional. There, I said it. I am exhausted by the grueling process of trying to offer people great opportunities. Why should it be so hard?

I can already hear you telling me that it’s a tough market out there with unemployment supplements and stimulus packages, and I get that. But let me take you through my experience over the last few weeks:

Platforms like LinkedIn make it so much easier to go out a find talent. If you’ve ever looked at my profile, I’ve got a frame on my profile picture that says #Hiring. And if you’ve been keeping up with my blogs, you know that I am not a woman who sits on her hands. I’m going to get out there to say and get what I want. Which is why I love the #Opentowork frame for candidates. It tells me not only that this person is searching for an opportunity, but that they are actively doing so on LinkedIn. Perfect!

But it isn’t perfect. And I could go on for an hour about why it isn’t. But instead, I will tell you in 850 words or less. Picture this: I have an hour blocked out on my calendar to go on LinkedIn and do recruiting. I have a good playlist on, a hot cup of coffee, and I'm eager to find a nice lineup for interviews. Sometimes, I even have people who have already applied for the position through the site. Yes!

So here’s what happens next: I click through the applicants, excitedly. I look at profiles, resumes (if they submitted one) and find the contact info. I call the applicant and leave a professional message saying I’d love to connect about the open positions and see if there is mutual interest in a formal interview. Crickets. Literally crickets. It’s almost hard to believe that someone wouldn’t even return my call when they applied for the position. What the hell is going on here? You applied for this job. I called you. It’s so frustrating.

But once in a while, I get the call back. And often, those are even worse. How, for the love of everything holy, could you think it is a good idea to tell me you applied for at least 100 jobs and that you have no idea which one I am calling you about? HOW? If you got my message, take a minute and look me up to see what job I was referencing. Take one minute to refresh yourself before you call me back so that we can actually discuss the opportunity. This behavior baffles me. At this point, I am no longer interested in the candidate and the conversation is time I’ll never get back.

Next step, I create an advanced search with all the basics like location, experience, and of course #opentowork. Bingo, 50 pages of faces, names, and experience at my fingertips. And let’s not forget that beautiful green frame to tell me that these folks need a job. I start clicking. Feverishly clicking. No contact info. No resume on the profile. No recent activity. Who are you? How can I find out? Why are you hellbent on making it so friggin’ difficult to consider you for a job? Nevertheless, I send connection requests with a note telling the individual that I noticed that they are open to new opportunities and would love to connect over the positions I have available.

Days go by. Weeks even. And then, LinkedIn notification. You are now connected with Harry Schmidlap. Yes! I immediately head over to the messages section to see if Harry viewed my note. He did, and he left me on read with no response. Well, that’s odd now isn’t it? So, I follow up with one more message for Harry reminding him that I’d like to discuss open positions and see if it’s a mutual fit. Crickets! Again! Are you really #opentowork, Harry? Because if not, just say that. Did you review my job postings and think, “this isn’t for me”? Because if so, just say that. Say something. Say anything (but do not try to sell me bitcoin).

I’ve got a great and growing team of hardworking people. We have so much fun together. In fact, one of the prerequisites of working for me is a sense of humor. Everyone who meets our gaggle of fun lovers is bound to love them and feel passionate about the work. And I don’t mind investing time and energy into finding the right fit and making them feel right at home on our island of misfit toys.

But I am sick of people underutilizing LinkedIn as a platform to sell themselves to potential employers. I am sick of people applying for jobs in such numbers that they cannot remember and don’t bother to understand the position. And I am sick of candidates not being professional enough to simply not burn the bridge before we even get to it. Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

#Opentowork

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