Is the Hiring Process Fair? Seeking HR Insights on Transparency and Candidate Treatment

Dear Sir,

Here, I would like to inform you about how some companies are exploiting human beings and their feelings, which makes me feel very uncomfortable. This is because I have a background in HR for the last 6 years, and when I heard this news from one of my best friends.

One of my friends was looking for a job in the BPO sector. Somehow, he got to know that a placement agency was hiring Technical Support Executives for a Gurgaon-based BPO firm.

He went there, and after spending 2-3 idle hours, an HR person from Gurgaon arrived for the interview process. They conducted several rounds: telephonic round, technical test, essay writing, face-to-face HR interview, and a final operational round. My friend was ecstatic as he cleared all the rounds and got selected.

My friend was overjoyed and called me to share the good news, but we never expected that something would go wrong so soon.

He was supposed to join on Monday. At 4 PM, a cab arrived at his place to take him to his new office, which he was eager to go to. After reaching the office, he was asked to write an email to his friend about his last holiday. After reading that email, the HR finally made their decision, gave him an offer letter, and completed his joining formalities. On the same day of induction, the trainer asked everyone to write an essay on Traffic Jam for about 200-300 words. He mentioned that the process managers would assess them based on their writing skills, which could lead to eliminations.

Within the next 2 days, employee codes were assigned, bank dockets were provided, intranet accounts were opened, and on the 3rd day, the trainer informed them that each person would be individually assessed by the process manager for their writing skills, and based on that, the company would decide whether to terminate the offer.

Unfortunately, my friend and 3-4 other candidates had their offers terminated.

After reading the above lines, I have a couple of questions in my mind:

1. Why are we not transparent about our interview process? If we are terminating candidates based on an essay, why wasn't the essay evaluated on the same day as the interview?

2. Why didn't the interviewers take the essay seriously if it was a required skill for the process?

3. Are we not humiliating human beings?

4. Sometimes I feel recruitment teams are just focused on completing targets at any cost.

5. I have never encountered something like this before.

6. Why are HR personnel not informed about the selection criteria for the process?

I am looking forward to hearing from other HR professionals on this matter.

Kind Regards,

Rupendra Mehta

Hi,

It is very common to hear such news these days. Even a couple of my friends and myself have experienced the same type of situation.

I am also in HR. The main focus of recruiters, especially in BPO and IT, is to meet their targets and fill the vacancies as the attrition rate is high in comparison.

These are the day-to-day issues that are prevalent nowadays. The processes outlined in many books are mainly for academic purposes and may not always be practical.

Therefore, all companies, whether in IT, BPO, Consultancy, or Manufacturing, need to ensure clarity in the selection process. If they wish to evaluate a candidate, they can conduct another interview before issuing the appointment letter. However, individuals like you and me may not be able to bring about any changes until the corporate world understands the situation.

It is the primary responsibility of HR to mitigate such situations.

Apart from this, I do not have any immediate solutions to offer; I am just sharing my knowledge.

Wishing you all the best for your future.

Regards,
Usha

Thank you, Usha, for your comments on this. I know everything that's happening at the corporate level, but when somebody comes to you and says, "Why do you HR guys do this?" - now here I am, feeling depressed and uncomfortable. Even though I am not from recruitment, every individual who knows me approaches me because I am from HR. People, like my friend, feel that all these issues happened because of HR.

Hi,

Why don't you complain to the appropriate person and make sure you have enough proof regarding the same?

Regards,
Roopa

Dear Rupendra Mehta,

This type of incident may happen 1 in 100. We cannot able to judge the employers' situation. May at the time of recruitment they may need candidates in 100's or 1000's. If they (employers) failed in getting business offers, they have to do such things. Recently, major IT companies sacked thousands of candidates from the bench. We cannot say it is because of the interview process. HR personnel are to recruit the candidates for the organization. After getting business and doing a recruitment drive, there will be a delay in delivering the projects or goods.

So don't worry, tell your friend, that "everything which has happened is for good." Hope he will get a nice job soon. All the best. This is not a problem of HR or recruitment process. It is because of business.

Regards,

Saravanan

1. Get the Termination Letter and leave.

2. Ask and contact the higher authorities. Seek an answer and try to change the rules. If you don't do that, anyone can fool you - HRs, credit card companies, government employees. Once someone falls into this trap of listening, they will keep on listening. ASK! (For that, you have to be confident to ask for your rights).

Processes (Hiring), rules, policies are made for us. It is we who accept them. If we don't accept them, we change them. 🙂

Even I faced this kind of situation from an HR department, which was a consultancy. Your friend was being terminated based on the essay writing, whereas I was put on hold for three months. During this time, I couldn't join any other company even if a better opportunity arose due to the offer letter and service agreement. After some time, they informed me that I was not a good fit for their organization because my personality did not match the HR recruiter profile. It was a very personal comment, and I spent sleepless nights thinking about myself. In a face-to-face discussion, I mentioned that I understand the meaning of working in a corporate environment, having two years of experience as an assistant coordinator before pursuing my MBA. I also emphasized that I am familiar with different personality types, questioning how they could make such a statement. I suggested that they should think twice before commenting on a candidate. However, the discussion ended with her stating that being confident is good, but being overly confident could be detrimental in the long run. She then asked me to leave, leaving me speechless.

This experience has been disheartening for me as it marks the beginning of my career. Despite all the discussions around having the right attitude, achieving work-life balance, managing emotions, and caring for employees on this site, experiencing such treatment is saddening. Unfortunately, one cannot escape from such situations.

My best wishes go out to your friend, and I believe a better opportunity must be awaiting him. I also urge all HR professionals to be fair when recruiting or interviewing people. Every individual is unique, and just because someone may not fit perfectly in your organization does not mean they lack capabilities.

Regards,

Pinkii

Hi,

Tell your friend not to worry about any issues like that as they are not in our hands. We cannot introspect into their minds. Thus, I recommend your friend to start every day as a new day, take up challenges, and maybe there is something good waiting for him elsewhere.

Have great days ahead!

All the very best to you and your friend.

Regards,
Usha/Kalyani

I understand the feelings.

I also read a comment by Mr. Saravanan saying it is not an HR problem but a business problem. Sending out people on the bench (in manufacturing, it is called retrenchment) is a business issue. Recruiting a person as per defined process steps is an HR issue. Here, what is being discussed is the Recruitment Process. The described Recruitment Process is absolute trash. You must send an email on this subject to the CEO of the Company, and I am sure corrective action will be taken. When you send a letter to the CEO, mark a copy to the concerned Recruiters.

Siva

Very true, Saravanan and Pinkii. Rupendra, you being in HR, I think you should be well aware of such things. I do agree it's really humiliating, but that's business, dear. I'm also in HR and have come across such things from my operations head. Usually, BPOs hire people in masses by keeping a buffer so that if somebody leaves in between or if something goes wrong, they have the option to terminate them.

So ask your friend not to get depressed or panic. Things will surely work out in his way if he shows patience. Whatever happens, happens for good. Have a great time.

Regards, Sacheen

Hi,

I felt very bad when I read this. It's a remark on the selection process of their company. They must realize that. Even I am an HR working for a BPO, but we never behave like this. Moreover, by giving them offer letters, starting bank accounts and all, the company is wasting their time and also the candidate's time. And at last, when the candidate is not selected, it will reflect the morale of the company.

I feel that the company must realize this, but it will not until and unless a candidate who has undergone the whole process speaks out. He must demand an explanation from the company in writing. It is easy to say good things like your friend will get a better job, but I can understand what this thing has left on his mind. Even after joining some company, he may feel secure in his job as something like this has happened to him.

I wish him all the best and advise him to take appropriate steps to change the rules of that company by proper means!

Hi there,

I have also faced the same situation 5 days ago. I have been shortlisted from a total of 100 members through a written test, which is in GMAT form. Then, they said that we have to attend 2 rounds of interviews. I cleared both rounds, and then they said I have to attend one more interview with their Director of HR. Even after clearing that, they called me and said I have one more interview to go through, which will be with their foreign VPs. After that interview, the HR person who had taken me through the first round would come and inform us that they are not sure about the requirements, and the last step is the elimination round. However, during the 4th round, what they communicated to our placement officer is that almost 2 of our students have been selected.

As a fresher, I felt very bad as it was my first interview, and I cleared all the rounds but got eliminated in the final round. The time they took to inform us was more than a week, and this happened in an MNC that is into benchmarking.

But I could gain some good experience from this interview, and I'm feeling hopeful that a good opportunity might be coming in my career. The lesson I learned from this interview is to never attend an interview without knowing their actual requirements and how many rounds they are going to conduct.

Thank you for your kind support. I made a complaint to the management of that company (TP) two weeks ago. I received a reply from one of the CEOs of that company, but I have not received any further response since then. In his initial email (CEO's email), he mentioned that he would get back to me on this matter, emphasizing that such a situation should not occur.

Kind Regards, Rupendra Mehta