Employers Behaving Badly

[MoU_Team]

One of the common themes in the thousands of unemployment stories and stories about what they don't like about employers that job seekers have shared with us is employers behaving badly.

Job seekers have posted about not being hired because of their gender or race, because they are consider too old, or because they are pregnant or have a family. As Pamela says, "My job search has been excruciating, exacerbated by the abominable, racist and deceptive behavior of employers behaving badly, notwithstanding the law."

Even though employment discrimination is illegal, it doesn't stop it from happening. In fact, in a buyer's job market where there are five or six candidates, on average, for every job opening discrimination can be even more prevalent.

To compound the issues, employers don't seem to acknowledge job applications often these days and sometimes don't even have the courtesy to send a rejection letter or email after a job interview.

Job seekers have shared their experiences with employers behaving badly including Susan: "I go on interview after interview and someone else always gets the job it seem that most employers think you are stupid or that you cannot do the job just because you are in your middle 50's."

On a more positive note, Pamela looks forward to change as the job market picks up saying "Know that bad behavior will resolve itself accordingly as we (hopefully) move toward a jobs-friendly environment."

Let's hope that is the case. There are too many candidates who do all the right things when it comes to job searching and still don't have a fair shot of getting hired - regardless of how qualified they are.