10 things candidates will hate you for doing

This message isn't for you if you've got a line of eager applicants outside your office every single day, desperate to work for your company.

If you're living in a bubble where finding and hiring talent is a breeze, you're probably at Apple, Google, or Starbucks.

?? Your corporate brand and value proposition may be so unique and spectacular that applicants will be on their knees begging for a job.

At that very moment, they will take any abuse and arrogance just to get in the door.

If you recognize yourself and your company in the above lines, you can stop reading now; check back in with me next month.

But for the rest of you—keep going, because this isn't where you should stop.

This could save your career if you are hiring people

I'm going to highlight ten outrageously rude employer behaviours that will drive applicants and candidates absolutely insane, and not in a good way.

Neglecting Transparency: Failing to disclose who candidates will meet or how long your interviews will take.

Lobby Limbo: Making candidates wait in a public lobby while others gawk, instead of in a private meeting room.

Redundant Forms: Requesting that the candidate fill in a ridiculously detailed application form when you already have the candidate’s resume. And you do not yet know if you will hire the person. Please, wait with this form until you have hired someone.

Disrespectful Interviews: Sending junior HR staff to interview clearly more senior candidates. Show some respect for hierarchy, especially in Asia.

Invasive Questions: Grilling candidates about why they want to leave their current job. Especially if they were headhunted and seduced into coming forward. Candidates may not yet be convinced to leave current employment and are unlikely to do so if you ask that question.

Last-Minute Cancellations: Using a candidate’s 10 annual leave days to come and meet you for an interview; only to be told that same morning that the interview has been cancelled or postponed.

Endless Interviews: Going for three to five interviews over a period of weeks, every time using a precious annual leave day. Or subsequently, never being told that another person got the job.

Misinterpretation of Experience: Labeling candidates as job hoppers because of the many positions in the resume, when the positions were actually all at the same company but in different departments. Aaarrgghhh!

Lowball Offers: Insulting your preferred candidate by offering a low-ball compensation. Be realistic please and avoid your super candidate abandoning the salary negotiation and walking away from the job.

Arrogant Attitudes: Talking down to candidates and failing to have no answers to legitimate questions about the job and your company. The answer “I don’t know” does not count as an answer but rather becomes a valid reason for the candidate to reject an offer.

• These 10 bullet points convey frustration and emphasize the problematic behaviours candidates may encounter during the hiring process.