How recruiters and managers are being rude to applicants and why it needs to change

If you've ever been employed or changed jobs chances are that you've had to go through the recruitment process.  The process involves scouring the job sites like Seek and others, and then writing a cover letter, updating your CV and sending it to prospective employers in the hope that they will get you in for an interview and eventually hire you.  Of course sometimes the process is easy and painless.  Other times you are left wondering, "how are these people even in positions of management?" and "do they even read CVs?"  Then there are the managers who are so rude you mentally blacklist the company and talk to your friends about it.

So, let's talk about the ads first of all.  Ads are becoming more and more aggressive with BOLD CAPITAL LETTERS saying who should and shouldn't apply and basically treating the potential applicant as stupid.  In some cases the ads will be designed to "scare people away" so that they don't apply for the job.  It's all very well and good to have an idea of the type of employee you want but what happens if you're cutting off your nose to spite your face?  What if you're missing out on someone who would be perfectly capable all because you don't want to invest resources and train them?  And what happens when today's current employees resign if there is nobody left to fill their positions when they retire?  Do those positions suddenly become redundant?  It depends on the industry of course so it's not a simple question to answer.

Then there are the employers who will receive a CV and not only will they reply to reject you, they'll do it in a rude and hostile manner.  When did it become okay for employers to treat their staff and applicants in such a way?  Why are employers not being friendly anymore?  If you're short staffed and stressed out then isn't that a sign you don't have enough staff in the first place?  And yet for some reason we have an alleged unemployment problem with graduates unable to get jobs in their fields or having to do unpaid experience.  It's not okay to abuse a potential job applicant and any manager who does this should be embarrassed at their poor communication skills and recruitment practices.

Of course, let's not forget the recruiters who do not even read someone's CV, how can you call someone unqualified if you haven't even read their CV?  It's one thing to be in a hurry but should you be in such a rush that you close yourself off to other opportunities?  Should you be so narrow minded and have such a fixed criteria that you don't consider someone who doesn't fit into your narrow criteria of what's acceptable?  What happened to being willing to train people?  Despite what employers believe, people actually can be trained and some people do learn fast.  For some people it's just a case of needing to be given the opportunity but when they are given the opportunity they'll thrive and prosper.

What I'm saying in a nutshell is, people need to take a little more time to actually read CVs rather than treating applicants as if they are stupid; and if you are going to send a rude email back to an applicant then proofread it first so they can't (rightly) accuse you of not paying attention either.  Treat applicants how you would want to be treated, remember, you too were once an applicant.

What gets on your nerves in the recruitment process?