Why do companies do this?

[Bramble]

So I applied with a rather large chemical lawncare company for an open position. After interviewing and being told how much they liked me and what I had to offer, I was told to expect a callback for their training school start date no more than 5 days later. More than a month later(just last week actually) my interviewer called me back.

He didn't remember me or any of my information at all or that I had already interviewed until I reminded him. He then told me again how much they liked me and what I had to offer and told me they would call me back in a couple days to come back in for the training. Fast forward to today when I get one of those LOVELY canned email messages telling me that they would not be moving forward with me but that they would contact me in the future if they decided that I was worthy enough.

My question is this, why do companies do crap like this? I hate when I get told how fantastic I am and how much of a good fit I would make, then either never hear from them again, or get the canned denial messages? If you aren't going to hire me, that's fine. But don't go telling me that you ARE going to hire me, tell me how much you like me and what I have to offer and straight out lie to me. That pisses me off and ensures that I will NEVER agree to work for you or your company. I hate being lied to.

OK ranting done, I'm going to go butcher some people on video games to make me feel better.

[Raveni]

At least you got a reply of some kind. Too bad it didn't come in a timely manner.

I see so many people every day that, unless you were spectacularly good or bad, I'm not going to remember you. But at least we send out our responses within a week.

Was probably an inexperienced HR person who thought it best to not notify any applicants until the new hire started. Their thinking is that if their "best" pick takes another job, they can pick a new "best" applicant. Reality is, if they weren't a good enough fit to hire before, they aren't now... Best to just be upfront and open about it.

[Bramble]

I would've rather gotten no reply at all then be lied to out the ass like that >.>

[artcurmudgeon]

Hudson Bay Company was moving its IT dept to St Louis. I had put in for a position as a senior support specialist. Money was great, benefits amazing.

I had been dealing with an amazing internal recruiter. Did the initial phone interview with her. Got to the phone interview with the people in Toronto, smoked it. Was invited downtown for an in person interview, was told I was a shoe in and I would have an offer made to me the following week.

1st week - came and went, and I was told that the interviewer was on vacation and they would be catching up the following week.

2nd week - they needed to get caught up with the interviewer and get everything in line and get my offer together, they would have it lined up the following week. (at this point I started submitting resumes again and talking to recruiters)

3rd week - They had to wait on a meeting with HR and Management to iron out all the details and the offer was right around the corner. (I was sending out resumes and have interviews at this point)

4th week - the meetings had been put off because of scheduling and would have to be sorted out the following week, and to not worry there was an offer waiting for me! (I was sending out at least 3-5 resumes a day and was averaging about 3-4 interviews a week)

5th week - We are so sorry, we are not filling any senior positions at this time, the only positions they wanted to fill were entry level support positions for about $10 an hour(they didn't offer me this either) these would be filled from local tech schools. We are so sorry and we wish you all the best in your future endeavors.

6th week - I got offered the current job I am working. They treat me like a read headed step child. Instead of making me a full time employee, they gave me 90 days temp to hire. If this doesn't work out, I will keep hunting.

The moral of this story is to always hedge your bets. If you are interviewing for a job, make sure you have another lined up. Don"t stop till you have a job and even then dont stop until you are happy with the job.

[PepperElf]

honestly... sometimes i think some of those jobs you see on the common jobsites don't really exist and are just marketing tools to see who's looking for what.

[EricKei]

With certain types of employers, it could also be that regulations and/or laws force them to put out job notifications and do interviews even for positions that they do not *intend* to fill from external sources (please, no debating on WHY that might be required). Essentially, they're going through the motions in order to avoid a fine.

[Ophbalance]

6th week - I got offered the current job I am working. They treat me like a read headed step child. Instead of making me a full time employee, they gave me 90 days temp to hire. If this doesn't work out, I will keep hunting.

I'm finding this pretty common in the tech world. Which just sucks to hell for folks that have to consider moving their family cross country and having to rely on the whim of some nebulous person's metric of how you're doing in 90 days.

[Bramble]

Ha, I just looked closer at the denial email they sent me. It's not even FROM their company email, they used an outside third-party message service to send it. What wusses.

[MoonCat]

With certain types of employers, it could also be that regulations and/or laws force them to put out job notifications and do interviews even for positions that they do not *intend* to fill from external sources (please, no debating on WHY that might be required). Essentially, they're going through the motions in order to avoid a fine.

Yep. We have accepted ads like that at the paper. Red flags: The ad is not running on the highest-readership day (usually Sunday), only runs the one day, gets buried in the section (runs under "General Help" and has no bold type, no larger font, nothing to make it stand out), is very specific about the job duties and requirements, and....you never hear back from them.

[Bramble]

Ha, I just got a denial letter from a freight company. For a position other than the one I applied for. Proves to me that they didn't even bother to look at my application. They sent me a denial for a Dockworker position. Only problem is I applied for a Tractor Mechanic position. Those two have nothing in common lol.

[NorthernZel]

Yep. We have accepted ads like that at the paper. Red flags: The ad is not running on the highest-readership day (usually Sunday), only runs the one day, gets buried in the section (runs under "General Help" and has no bold type, no larger font, nothing to make it stand out), is very specific about the job duties and requirements, and....you never hear back from them.

That's my experience as well, especially re: job requirements. If the job ad includes a looooong list of extremely detailed skills that are required, and said job is sorta entry level, then yeah, consider it a "mock ad that we posted because we HAVE to".

[Gravekeeper]

honestly... sometimes i think some of those jobs you see on the common jobsites don't really exist and are just marketing tools to see who's looking for what.

Actually, thats exactly what it is. Especially if its a company doing volume hiring. Or more dubious companies, who post job listings, then talk up how awesome you are at an interview then "suggest" an alternative and likely lower paying job than what you applied for. Because you would be "perfectly suited for it" with your "talents" ;p

[smileyeagle1021]

To answer the original question, why do companies do it?
Simply, because they can.
Nothing more or less complicated. They know that there is a lot more applicants than there are jobs and they can get away with being lazy and failing to show common courtesy because they know that one way or the other the job is getting filled and why go above and beyond when your objective will be fulfilled either way.