Standard recruiting practice?
-
I had a phone screen last week on Friday, with the internal talent acquisition personnel at a well known IT software company in the US.
I had applied to Level II support position thinking that I have all the qualifications and the required experience for that level and that's what the phone screen was for, or so I thought.
The internal recruiter was going through the job description and explaining me stuff about the job and the company.
At some point, he mentioned that I will be considered for Level 1 position but it didn't click to ask him why is that.
At the end of the phone screen, he said that he will pass on the information to the team and they will let me know if they want me to come in for an in-person interview. Fair enough.After recalling the conversation with him, I emailed him a 'Thank you' letter and also told him that I have applied for Level II position, and asked if he can explain why I will be considered for Level I position? His reply was that the manager of the team will decide which position will I be assigned to.
So my question is that is this standard practice where if there are multiple levels of position open for the same role, do the manager or the team decide where to place a candidate?
Thank you.
-
@nikunjd05 said in Standard recruiting practice?:
After recalling the conversation with him, I emailed him a 'Thank you' letter and also told him that I have applied for Level II position, and asked if he can explain why I will be considered for Level I position? His reply was that the manager of the team will decide which position will I be assigned to.
So my question is that is this standard practice where if there are multiple levels of position open for the same role, do the manager or the team decide where to place a candidate?
That sounds reasonably standard, yes. Although what is almost certainly happening is a bait and switch. It is incredibly common to advertise a more senior position to lure candidates in, then offer them a lower position when the time comes after they have invested time and effort into the process. This is a standard "fake job listing" trick that is a grey area - the listing is fake but there is "a" job to be offered to you.
You'll notice that they posted on job online, then the recruiter told you you'd be considered for the L1, then tried to "cover" by saying that the hiring manager would decide. But that order of events doesn't add up. Where is the job listing for the L1 if this was an honest thing? And why are you not considered for the L2 is the manager is going to decide later? It's pretty clear given the chain of events, and the standard practices by companies, that this isn't an honest "we interview and decide later", but a simple bait and switch to lure you into a job you'd not have considered otherwise.
-
Thank you SAM for the reply.
I thought the same thing that it might be a fake job listing but it is a well known company in the country.
They have Level 1 and Level 2 job posting on their website but I applied to level 2 because I thought that my qualifications and experience match more for Level 2 than level 1.
My thinking is that the recruiter does not know all the details of the job, which is pretty common.Also, if I thought that I am not qualified for level 2 position, I would not waste my time filling out the application on their website.
Another question is that would you guys go for in-person interview, if called?
-
@nikunjd05 In person interviews are expensive for them. They are probably serious if they are asking for that. Their reputation for placing clients depends on screening applicants. They may have had a better fit for the level 2 and want you for the level 1. At any rate if you are in the job market, I would go in and meet them. If they like you and you don't get this position, you will come to mind when they have other openings.
-
@nikunjd05 said in Standard recruiting practice?:
Thank you SAM for the reply.
I thought the same thing that it might be a fake job listing but it is a well known company in the country.
They have Level 1 and Level 2 job posting on their website but I applied to level 2 because I thought that my qualifications and experience match more for Level 2 than level 1.
My thinking is that the recruiter does not know all the details of the job, which is pretty common.Also, if I thought that I am not qualified for level 2 position, I would not waste my time filling out the application on their website.
Another question is that would you guys go for in-person interview, if called?
If you didn't think you were qualified for Level 2, you would not have applied for the Level 1 job you saw them post?
-
@mike-davis
Thanks for the reply. -
Normally, I focus on the job description more than the title of the position but I get what you are saying.
Thank you. -
Recruiter or internal company employee?
You are making this confusing by calling it an internal recruiter.
-
Internal company employee.
-
@nikunjd05 said in Standard recruiting practice?:
Thank you SAM for the reply.
I thought the same thing that it might be a fake job listing but it is a well known company in the country.
That it is a well known country has absolutely nothing to do with it. That doesn't reduce the likelihood of it being fake in any way.
-
@mike-davis said in Standard recruiting practice?:
@nikunjd05 In person interviews are expensive for them. They are probably serious if they are asking for that.
I don't think that them being serious is in question. Running a bait and switch is only useful if you are serious about following through.
-
@nikunjd05 said in Standard recruiting practice?:
Another question is that would you guys go for in-person interview, if called?
Absolutely not. You caught them running a scam. You know so much about what they are like as a company now. Unless you are convinced that with another interview you'll actually get the L2, I'd just stop wasting the time on them now.
-
@jaredbusch said in Standard recruiting practice?:
Recruiter or internal company employee?
You are making this confusing by calling it an internal recruiter.
Lots of companies officially refer to their internal recruiting staff as recruiters. Banks,
, non-profits... they hire internal recruiters and they work just like external ones, but only have one client. -
@scottalanmiller said in Standard recruiting practice?:
Absolutely not. You caught them running a scam. You know so much about what they are like as a company now. Unless you are convinced that with another interview you'll actually get the L2, I'd just stop wasting the time on them now.
Scott - You seem to be really jaded against technical recruiters. I know 3 of them at two different companies. I don't think you see their side of things.
If you advertise a position and get 3 good candidates, do you take 1 and tell the others they didn't make the cut, or do you take 1 and look around at other openings you have and try to place one of them there. If you had a L2 and L1 opening, if you filled the L1 opening with only L1 applications, you would risk someone that might not be able to do the job. If you offer it to a L2, you know they can do it. If they refuse, then you go to the L1 applicants.
It's kind of like a rental car place. They rent out their smallest cars first. Then if someone shows up with a reservation for a compact and you don't have any left, you know you can "upgrade them for free" in to a mid sized car. Juggling the resources you have isn't always "bait and switch".
-
@mike-davis said in Standard recruiting practice?:
@scottalanmiller said in Standard recruiting practice?:
Absolutely not. You caught them running a scam. You know so much about what they are like as a company now. Unless you are convinced that with another interview you'll actually get the L2, I'd just stop wasting the time on them now.
Scott - You seem to be really jaded against technical recruiters. I know 3 of them at two different companies. I don't think you see their side of things.
I'm jaded against scams. I love good recruiters. Not all recruiters run scams. Nothing that I wrote should lead you to feel that I'm jaded against recruiters unless you feel that all recruiters run scams.
-
@mike-davis said in Standard recruiting practice?:
It's kind of like a rental car place. They rent out their smallest cars first. Then if someone shows up with a reservation for a compact and you don't have any left, you know you can "upgrade them for free" in to a mid sized car. Juggling the resources you have isn't always "bait and switch".
Advertising a higher position in order to fill lower ones is a standard bait and switch practice that is done constantly. It's nothing like an upgrade, it's a downgrade. Accept an interview for one thing, then after it is done, offer another. It's a lure. It's highly effective to get peoples' hopes up, then offer them something when they felt like maybe things were going well.
If the higher position was already filled, and you felt that they were just being nice, they'd have been honest up front that that was the condition before ever accepting the interview. That they did it afterwards is how you know it was the intention to bait and switch from the start. There is no way that the position was filled during the interview.
-
@mike-davis said in Standard recruiting practice?:
If you advertise a position and get 3 good candidates, do you take 1 and tell the others they didn't make the cut, or do you take 1 and look around at other openings you have and try to place one of them there. If you had a L2 and L1 opening, if you filled the L1 opening with only L1 applications, you would risk someone that might not be able to do the job. If you offer it to a L2, you know they can do it. If they refuse, then you go to the L1 applicants.
You state this as if it is related to what happened, but we know that it isn't. If they interviewed all reasonable options, then offered the best one the top position and then offered the others a lower position, that would be acceptable. But very clearly not what happened here. So this doesn't apply.
Also, most companies in this position would simply upgrade the L1 to an L2 in order to get good people as that is generally way better than losing your top picks just to fill a slightly lower slot. So unless this is a tiny company with no resources, none of this applies realistically anyway.
I've been to job interviews where they immediately told me that the slot I was interviewing for was filled. Then when the interview was over, offered to create a new spot for me.
There are lots of ways to handle these kinds of things in an honest way, and there is a way to bait and switch. This is bait and switch.
-
There is also the "open offer" option. Amazon does this. If you interview for one position but it is no longer open, they don't offer you a lower position as a concession. They give you an offer contingent on finding a suitable position. You have "passed the interview" and just need to find a team that makes sense for you to join at your appropriate level.
-
@scottalanmiller said in Standard recruiting practice?:
There is no way that the position was filled during the interview.
It's not possible that they had multiple interviews scheduled that day and wanted to wait until they figured out which one they really wanted for the job would accept the offer?
Suppose they offered someone a job, and that person accepted, and then the next day, declined it. If on day one they told the number two candidate the position was filled. Then the next day called back the #2 and offered him the position, does that make them liars? are they running a scam? bait and switch? no, things happen. We don't know all the details to make assumptions like that.
-
@mike-davis said in Standard recruiting practice?:
@scottalanmiller said in Standard recruiting practice?:
There is no way that the position was filled during the interview.
It's not possible that they had multiple interviews scheduled that day and wanted to wait until they figured out which one they really wanted for the job would accept the offer?
Suppose they offered someone a job, and that person accepted, and then the next day, declined it. If on day one they told the number two candidate the position was filled. Then the next day called back the #2 and offered him the position, does that make them liars? are they running a scam? bait and switch? no, things happen. We don't know all the details to make assumptions like that.
You are saying that they accepted someone's offer WHILE running the interview for that position? I call BS. This is simply so unreasonable that it's unthinkable to use it as a scenario. This is clearly bait and switch, you are grasping at straws to try to find a plausible one in a million scenario for how it could be an accident. It's totally illogical. Bait and switch is a standard practice, it is very effective, and it happened here. Why would you want to defend them for being unethical?
None of the examples that you gave in any way relate to his situation of bait and switch. Things happen, but this thing does not.
