A vast majority of my blog has been dedicated to candidate advice. I figured amongst the cold blasts of snow, a lighthearted candidate story or two would be appropriate.

#1 – The Cold Shoulder
I was working on a Technical Support role for a company in Boston. I had a lengthy phone discussion with said candidate, for sanity’s sake we shall call him “Bob.” Bob seems interested in the role, I explain the need to meet with him prior, etc. Shortly thereafter, I receive a few emails and a phone call from “Bob” asking a multitude of very pointed questions. We discuss them and hang up. Again, another phone call, and now a sound of frustration in his voice concerned about the location, etc. We discuss it, all is fine and dandy. He arrives for our in-person with a gift for me beautifully presented in a lovely piece of wrapping paper with a bow. He promptly gives me the gift explaining that he is very apologetic for being “difficult” over the last couple of days. I have him meet with the account manager for the client, we are in agreement that he feels like a strong fit, and he leaves – everyone feeling confident. Two days later, I get a very angry email from “Bob” demanding why we had not yet set up an interview. I explain to him that the client typically takes a few days and that as I had mentioned prior, they will do a phone screen first. He become more irate, demands an in-person within the week, or else – withdraw his resume. I assure him that I will check in with the manager and go from there. Angry email number three brings the demand “Remove my resume – I have lost all faith.” I inform the manager, the next day – they request an interview. Long story short, I discuss the interview with him and after several phone calls we realize that he simply shouldn’t be interviewing with the client. His reason for being so sporadically angry you ask? He had been unemployed for two months and was simply tired of the process.

#2 – The Voicemail Bandit
Candidate who we shall call “John” was an out of state candidate for a mainframe position at a client in Pennsylvania. We discuss the position, he understands that they require an in-person interview after a phone screen and even exclaims with glee that he has family in the area so it would be a great trip to make. Sure enough, the client expresses interest in an in-person and the light-switch flips. The candidate refuses to attend an in-person and begins leaving fanatical messages on the company voicemail box for me and for the OWNER OF THE COMPANY. The kicker – the messages are so long that John repeatedly runs out of tape. On several of these messages, he discusses topics such as “how difficult it is to land an airplane” and my ever favorite message he left for my boss discussing that he must not be able to hire sales people because an in-person shouldn’t be necessary for someone of his caliber. My all time favorite “My wife told me that I am sounding a little crazy on these messages however…..” Long story short – he eventually stopped calling after approximately 8+ messages that were 10-15 minutes in length each.

I’m beginning to think that psychological profiles may be included in my interviewing protocol. Anyone else have stories to share?