The Courtesy of a Reply

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So you're back to exporting e-mail addresses and corresponding with masses of people. I don't know a single corporate recruiter who goes to that much trouble.

At CareerBuilder, the rep told me that although the application itself didn't include any method for contacting jobseekers en masse, a recruiter could export résumés into another system and collect e-mail addresses if he or she so desired. As if! That's essentially the same as saying: "We collect all this data in our huge database. If you want to use it you can take it out of the database and do what you want with it." You could even write out the applicant addresses on three-by-five cards, I guess.

THE OTHER FACE.

This is part of the national shame -- that such enormous sites could exist for years without ever adding the simple ability to say "Thanks, but no thanks" to thousands of people who post résumés every day. Monster.com and CareerBuilder get their share of the blame -- though one also has to conclude that if the sites don't have this feature, users haven't been clamoring for it.

It's often humorous to see consumer-facing organizations spend energy and ad dollars to style themselves as people-centered, friendly folks. Banks do this a lot -- the "We're different, we're just folks" campaign. They may be just folks when they're dealing with people who will use their services. But when it comes to touching the people who want to spend hours a day working for the company, it's another story.

You don't see advertising that says: "Apply for a job at XYZ Corp. -- We love job-seekers!" I haven't seen any contests or awards for companies that do the best job vis-à-vis prospective employees. Even people who love their jobs say to me: "I almost didn't come to work here, after they gave me such a runaround." So, once you got on board, why didn't you agitate to change things? I ask them. "Well, you know, it's not my area...."

SWEET REVENGE.

So here's my offer to the readers of BW Online. If you write to tell me about a company that treats job candidates well, I'll mention your story in a column. (You can't work in the company's PR or HR departments, though).

I'm especially interested in innovative ways that companies use to connect with prospective employees and to keep in touch with them, or otherwise send them vibes any warmer than a frozen turkey. I'm sure such companies exist. I hope so. Somebody needs to be turning the tide!

And meanwhile, if you're frustrated in a job search with unresponsive and unfriendly recruiters and HR folks, take heart. Baby boomers are retiring in droves, and somebody will have to fill those jobs. Your revenge is right around the corner.

Send your stories of ground-breaking and innovative recruiting processes (ones that befriend job-seekers instead of alienating them) to me at lizryan@worldwit.org. Can't wait to hear from you!

Liz Ryan is an expert on the new-millennium workplace and a former Fortune 500 HR executive. She can be reached at liz@asklizryan.com.