Bunyon Recruiting… what the?!

A supporter of  Even It up! has been fascinated by the recruitment practices of Bunyon Recruitment.  The Director (?) sent her a number of emails about being unsuccessful in winning a position (check The Lowdown for further information).  Our friend forwarded a number of emails (which are reproduced here) which really makes one wonder what the..?!

Email No 1:

Hi Jobseeker,

Thank you so much for your application with Bunyon Recruitment for the position.

We always endeavour to provide you a prompt, professional and caring service and this process has taken a much longer process than usual.

Please accept our apologies for this delay but due to circumstances that were beyond our control, we were unable to update you in the normal time frame.

Your application has unfortunately been unsuccessful but we shall keep you in mind for a future position should you be still available and interested.

Thank you for taking the time and effort to submit your application to Bunyon Recruitment and we wish you all the best in your future endeavours!

If there is anything we can assist you with, please do not hesitate to give me a call.

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Email No 2 (Sent a couple of seconds after Email No 1):

Dear Jobseeker

You would have just received a delayed job notification of the above position but I just remembered that I did call you to discuss the BDM role and the position was too far away for you.

So I don’t want you to think that I have forgotten you or our conversation.

We just heard that there may be a BDM role coming up next year and I’m not sure of your status whether you have secured a sales position already but if you haven’t and may still be available next year, I will be in touch with you then if you could be interested.

Thanks so much for taking the time and effort to put forward your application to us and unfortunately the distance is too far for you.

Do have an excellent Christmas and New Year break and I look forward to your response!

Cheerios…

At this point our jobseeker informed the consultant that she had the wrong person.  Not only was she never called to chat about the position, our jobseeker friend had to call the company to find out what was going on.

Email No 3 (Sent the next day):

Thanks very much for your response and I realise that I had offended you which I need to apologize and I have started an email in response to what you had openly shared which is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

If we never hear back from you openly, we can’t improve on our service and explain or correct any unintended disappointments.

You should get my response email tomorrow. I’m glad you have secured another position, that’s great to hear.

Our friend is still waiting for that next email!  Clearly, the consultant also needs to check the Even It Up! website!

Pulteney Grammar: unsuccessful

An Even It Up! friend recently applied for a marketing management position at Pulteney Grammar School.  All the information about the interview process is available at The Lowdown on the Even It Up! website.  She was quite impressed with the recruitment process… until she was advised she was unsuccessful (she got down to the last 2 or 3 candidates).

And it wasn’t that she wasn’t successful that was the problem (although she was disappointed about not winning the role) – it was the way she was advised.  By email!

Hi

just letting you know that I have offered the Marketing and Enrolments position to another applicant. I expect that the offer will be accepted.

Thankyou for being interested in us. As I said along the way, this was a tough decision for us with a number of very high quality applicants. The final decision was not easy!

I wish you the very best for the future
Principal

This particular school says that it’s all about relationships, and this was emphasised in the interview process.  After two interviews and a presentation to the panel, she felt she deserved more than the above email (with no contact details included!).  Considering the seniority of the role, this approach is totally inappropriate.  The jobseeker should have been called by the Principal,  and given an honest reason/s as to why she was not successful.  Instead, she gets an impersonal (some would say gutless!) email that does nothing to build goodwill or relationships.  Until she received this advice, our friend would have been quite happy to put her hand up for other positions at the school.  Not now!  This sort of treatment guarantees a wide berth… and a spot on the Even It Up! blog and website.

Not good enough, Pulteney!

NCVER: unsuccessful

A friend of ours recently applied for a job at NCVER (go to The Lowdown on the Even It Up! website for more specific information) and while being successful in being shortlisted, was required to jump through a number of hoops before being asked to attend interview.  We take issue with this for a number of reasons:

1. Our friend has a Masters degree in the area of specialisation + track record + substantial portfolio – isn’t that evidence of competence and excellence?
2. The amount of time that would have been needed to actually put all this together
3. That candidates will  actually comply and do the tasks.  The more that people think it’s ok to do, the more employers/recruiters will say that it needs to be done to “qualify”
4. Success in these tasks is not specified – how do you know you are successful if there are no measures of success?

Following our recent telephone conversation, I am pleased to advise that you have been successful through the short listing phase for the position of Marketing Officer with NCVER. We now require you to submit a statement of claim against the knowledge, skills and experience criteria in the attached position profile.

We also require you to complete two extra tasks, details are below.

TASK 1 – Article

Please find attached a link to the NCVER research report ‘Whose responsibility? Employers’ views on developing their workers’ literacy, numeracy and employability skills’ by Ray Townsend and Peter Waterhouse.

http://www.ncver.edu.au/publications/1992.html

Please write an article, maximum 400 words, based on this report aimed at training provider audience  (for example, for an article that might appear in NCVER’s newsletter Insight  http://www.ncver.edu.au/newsevents/insight.html) . It should be written in plain english.

TASK 2 – Media release

Please write a media release based on an NCVER’s statistical release the ‘Student Outcomes Survey’ http://www.ncver.edu.au/statistics/surveys/sos07/sos07.pdf , aimed at the national daily media. Please also provide a few dot points outlining the ways you might ‘sell’ this story to the media to maximise coverage.

Could you please forward the statement of claim and answers to Task 1 and 2 by 12.00 noon on Monday 24 November 2008.

Should you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact me.

HR Advisor
National Centre for Vocational Education Research
L11, 33 King William Street, Adelaide, SA 5000

Red Cross: unsuccessful

The Red Cross have a very “efficient” (but sneaky) way of letting people know they have not been successful.  They send a bulk, unpersonalised email that says:

Please see attachment.

Kind Regards
Recruiter SA/TAS
207-217 Wakefield Street, ADELAIDE SA 5000Tel +61 08 8100 4630 | Fax +61 08 8100 4503 www.redcross.org.au

And just when the jobseeker thinks thay are being advised that they’ve had their application received, or even more exciting, made it on to the short list, they get to open a Word document that says this:

EMPLOYMENT APPLICATION – Weekend Telecross Officer

We refer to your application for employment with Australian Red Cross – SA Division.

We unfortunately wish to advise that your application has been unsuccessful on this occasion.

We would like to thank you for your interest in Australian Red Cross – South Australian Division and wish you every success in your future career.

Yours sincerely,
People & Learning

We would like to suggest to the Red Cross that this approach is very unsatisfactory – quick and efficient! – but unsatisfactory.   It actually shows that the person involved knows nothing about people and really needs to rethink their job title!

Kaplan Business School: unsuccessful

Rejection (and non-personalised!) email sent to a friend of ours:

Hello,

Thank you for your interest in Kaplan Business School and for applying for the recently advertised position of Marketing Communications Coordinator.

We have received an overwhelming number of applications and determining a small group of shortlisted candidates was a difficult and lengthy process.

We took care to review your qualifications and experience and although your application was among the first group of shortlisted candidates, we regret to inform you that we won’t be proceeding with your application. Those who have emerged are considered to have the attributes and expertise that more closely meet our needs at this time.

We appreciate you selecting Kaplan Business School as a potential workplace and wish you all the best in your continued career search.

Kind regards,

HR Services Manager
Kaplan Business School
Bradford College – Telstra Business Award Winner 2007
The University of Adelaide, AUSTRALIA 5005
Ph    : +61 8 8303 7314
Fax  : +61 8 8303 3877
www.bradford.adelaide.edu.au

CRICOS Provider Number 00123M

Our friend emailed back straight away asking exactly what “attributes and expertise” they were after exactly (because she was pretty sure she had it all and then some), and is still waiting on a response some days later.  Sally, if you read this, please let her know!

Jobseekers, rail against this sort of meaningless tripe!