Healthcare IS’ Post

Don’t Get “Breadcrumbed” Back when I got into recruiting, in the mid-’90s, a client would ask me to present them with people who they would interview multiple times. Inevitably, there were occasions when, after I’d gotten them several candidates who’d gone through multiple interviews, they’d let me know that there’d been a change of plans — the position had been put on hold, the requirements had changed, or someone internal had been hired. At that moment, I was upset that the client had wasted MY time. Fast-forward a couple of years: The same thing would occur, but my mindset had changed. By this time, I would think, “Wow, how do they waste their OWN time doing this?” Fast-forward a few more years: I realized that, although some hiring managers weren’t good at managing their own time, it was more than that: They weren’t sincere. They never had intentions of hiring to begin with. They were either looking for information from the candidates they interviewed or were comparing the candidates to an internal person they wanted to hire. Bottom line: Hiring someone was secondary to them. About a year ago I learned there’s actually a term for this type of behavior: “breadcrumbing.” There’s nothing more brutal than taking advantage of someone who’s sincerely looking for a job. But let’s be clear: Many people are just as insincere when interviewing with a company. Ten years ago, companies didn’t ask to meet candidates as often, because after an initial phone call, most interviews were face-to-face, and they knew that there were only so many times they could reasonably ask someone to come in for an interview. Fast-forward to post-COVID: There are plenty of companies that don’t hesitate to ask candidates to join them on a sixth Zoom meeting. Of course, not all companies are insincere. Many are just inefficient. And yes, things can change in a company that can cause their hiring plans to change. When this happens, a lot of people’s time will have been wasted. Most people don’t look for a job that often, so they’re not able to differentiate between a reasonable process and an unreasonable process. At the end of the day, if there’s a company you want to work for, and they have a crazy hiring process, you’re just going to have to deal with it. However, knowing your limits ahead of time will save you headache and, potentially, heartache caused by “breadcrumbing.”