How a Black Mark Can Derail a Job Search

In the Wall Street Journal | Feb 2, 2010

You messed up a job search, making a faux pas during an interview or
handling a turndown badly. But you probably don't realize that your
mistake, exacerbated by the tight job market, could harm your long-term
prospects.

At a networking event last August in Bellevue, Wash., a recruiter
pointed to a software developer across the room. He's qualified, but
"very bad in his presentation skills," he told career coach Paul
Anderson and a human-resources official for a big technology concern.
"What's that guy's name?" Mr. Anderson remembers the HR official
asking, and then scribbling the name in her notebook. "I want to add
him to our blacklist."

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The
developer then walked over to the trio to inquire whether the recruiter
had found relevant openings for him. The recruiter replied he was still
looking. But once the job seeker left, the recruiter "told us he would
never submit him to any clients," Mr. Anderson recalls.

The developer unwittingly landed on two "do not hire" lists that
day-a far from unusual occurrence. While U.S. search firms and hiring
managers rarely admit they have such tallies, a growing number keep
unofficial blacklists of undesirable applicants. These individuals
often remain untouchable for years.Recruiters and employers mainly want
to exclude liars, losers and misfits. Yet you also can get banned for
minor infractions, such as simply taking a counteroffer. And it's hard
to discover or remove a bad mark beside your name.

"Negative notations about applicants seem more prevalent nowadays
because job hunters pursuing scarce vacancies are so desperate" and
picky hiring managers have plenty prospects to choose from, says Susan
Whitcomb, author of "Resume Magic" and president of Job Search Academy,
a Fresno, Calif., company that trains career coaches.Mr. Anderson, head
of ProLango Consulting Inc. in Redmond, Wash., canvassed two dozen
recruiters and employers last year about blacklists. "Every single one
of them kept track of candidates they rejected for employment-in their
computers or their heads," he reports.

While a program manager for Microsoft
Corp. until late 2006, Mr. Anderson says he blacklisted certain
prospects after his preliminary screening found they had exaggerated
their qualifications on their résumés. Mr. Anderson says he and his
team had hiring folders on Microsoft's intranet, and these prospects'
names "were put on the 'do not hire' list'' in those folders.

Microsoft says it doesn't maintain such lists. "The only time an
applicant would be flagged is if they have failed a background check,"
a spokeswoman says. "Any company would want to make note of such
failures in their system." Those individuals can't re-apply for a
finite period, which Microsoft handles case by case, she explains.

Many snub-worthy mistakes occur as a result of job hunters' anxiety,
which is being amplified by today's high unemployment. An out-of-work
software engineer gave Walden Recruiting of Concord, Mass., permission
to submit his résumé to a Boston Internet company in late 2008. But he
secretly let a rival search firm do so first, according to Marsh
Sutherland, Walden's president. That meant Walden wouldn't collect a
$24,000 fee, notes Mr. Sutherland. "I was very angry," and yelled at
the engineer for lying, he says.

The engineer told him he was trying "to increase his chances of
getting interviewed." Walden and the Internet business blacklisted him,
says Mr. Sutherland. The engineer nevertheless sought more referrals
from Walden-without success.

The engineer agrees he felt scared about seeking work during the
holiday season and "didn't control the situation" well by dealing with
two search firms simultaneously. But he denies giving Mr. Sutherland
the right to submit his résumé first. The recruiter's refusal to help
him further "was tough," adds the engineer, who found his latest
full-time job last March.

So how do you find out if your job search is being derailed by an
offense you unknowingly committed? Your career coach may be able to
learn if an employer labeled you unsuitable.

Back In the Game?

Extra corrective steps that may get your name removed from a "do not hire" list:

• Ask a reference-checking service to discover if ex-boss unfairly slammed you


• Scrutinize background check used to reject you so you can remove inaccurate data


• Solicit recruiters' feedback about becoming a stronger candidate next time


• Obtain a professional rewrite of your possibly deceptive resume


• Consider changing industries or regions

Source: WSJ Reporting

Last
July, a ProLango staffer contacted a major defense contractor on behalf
of a promising client. But an in-house recruiter refused to consider
the programmer because the official remembered asking him during a 2007
interview there about undergoing a drug test. "Sure! As long as you
give me six days' notice!" he joked. The rejected programmer now says
he hopes the defense contractor "puts some kind of time limit on silly
comments made, and not hold it against me for the rest of my life."

Key internal contacts also may glean the real reason for your killed
candidacy. Bob Greer, a motorcycle service manager, wanted to teach
full-time for Motorcycle Mechanics Institute in Orlando, Fla., after
running dealer seminars at the vocational school. But an instructor
keen to hire Mr. Greer suddenly refused to schedule his interview,
claiming the teaching post no longer existed, according to Mr. Greer.

A friend employed by the institute told Mr. Greer the instructor
didn't give him the interview because its head of education had
overheard Mr. Greer criticize the curriculum during his seminars. Mr.
Greer says he also heard from other friends at the institute that he
wasn't being considered for a teaching post for that reason.

That head of education no longer works for the school. Mr. Greer now
owns an Orlando motorcycle shop. A spokeswoman, who doesn't know Mr.
Greer, says the institute never excludes qualified individuals from
seeking or obtaining employment.

Getting back into the good graces of a recruiter or hiring manager
might require going the extra mile. A senior partner at a global
executive-search firm placed a red flag in a prospect's computerized
file at the firm when he broke his promise to accept the international
presidency of a major retailer in 2008. This was after extensive
efforts by the retailer's CEO to work out an attractive pay deal for
the executive, who even signed an agreement to join. The
hospitality-industry executive instead advanced to the No. 2 spot at
his current employer.

"I didn't speak to him for a year," recalls the infuriated
recruiter, who marked the executive's file with "conversation
required"-as in "talk to me before recommending this person to another
client." The search firm didn't arrange interviews for the executive
elsewhere.

In 2009, however, the executive offered the recruiter highly
detailed information about the record of an acquaintance who was a
candidate for a different job and conducted extra reference checks.
That man got hired and flourished. The upshot? The recruiter dropped
the "conversation required" tag last month.

Similarly, Heather R.Huhman needed a public-relations assistant last
summer for Come Recommended, her new online matching service for
entry-level jobs and internships. A 20-something applicant forgot about
her scheduled phone interview, then called and declared, "Let's do it
right now. I am driving my car." The young woman said she had prepared
questions about the start-up but forgot to bring them along. She didn't
pose any during or after the interview. And "while we were talking, she
was honking at people," Ms. Huhman recollects.

The clueless candidate subsequently applied for several other
positions with Come Recommended. Ms. Huhman ignored those applications.
"I will not consider her. She is blacklisted," insists the
entrepreneur, who explained to the applicant after the interview why
she wasn't hired. What's more, Ms. Huhman says she wouldn't recommend
her to any acquaintance in the PR industry.

Things might change, Ms. Huhman concedes, if the woman bought her
lunch, requested honest feedback and demonstrated her reliability-such
as by performing professionally during a two-week, unpaid tryout. At
that point, the entrepreneur continues, "I would give extremely strong
consideration to removing her from my blacklist."

Write to Joann S. Lublin at joann.lublin@wsj.com