What does your recruiting say about your brand?

It's a shame when companies feel they are in such a recruiting seat of power that they can use deceptive and disrespectful practices to manipulate candidates. What they don't realize is that those practices will catch up with them in the long run, because people talk. And if other job hunters feel like I do, enLabel's recruiting practices are doing their brand more harm than good.

Employees are a company's most powerful brand ambassadors, of course. But it's also wise to realize that recruiting can be a significant brand touchpoint, and candidates will come away from that experience with some distinct brand impressions of your company. And pretty soon, word gets around. In a war for talent where good people are increasingly the most valuable asset a company can possess, that kind of reputational damage can be a brand killer.

In this case, I was contacted through email from TheLadders, where I am registered and have posted my resume. I received an email telling me that a company would like to contact me regarding my qualifications. Like most job seekers would, I responded immediately.

I was further interested when I learned the company wanted to meet with me. I looked at their website. Electronic packaging and labeling solutions. Mildly interesting, though not exactly exciting stuff. The website was uninviting and poorly written. That's something I can help with, I thought naively, already picturing myself in the job.

I couldn't figure out why I couldn't seem to reach them by phone. Nor could I figure out why the recruiter wouldn't respond when I asked specifically who I'd be meeting with. It seemed a little odd, but I chalked it up to a busy recruiter who didn't have a knack for details. Naive again.

When I arrived and saw others - clearly also candidates - pulling into the Mansfield, MA office parking lot at the same time, I knew something was up. Hasty paper signs with arrows were hung on the doors and in the hallways. The elevator was locked (no handicapped access, I noted). It was after hours, and the building was quiet. Some of the lights were off, and the HVAC had been turned off for the day.

Up a steamy staircase and down a long hallway, the waiting room held approximately a dozen of us unsuspecting victims. With still no disclosure of what we were about to experience, we sat and stood around in the stifling heat. Some used their resumes to fan themselves as the time ticked by. My blood pressure was steadily rising as I comprehended the stunning discomfort of the whole situation.

Finally a young woman came out and told us we were at a "meet & greet" and would have the opportunity to mix and mingle with company employees. She was cheerful and pleasant, and seemed harmless enough, so I followed her with the rest of the crowd to an open area amid the cubicles where they had laid out two small tables of refreshments - crackers and cheese, fruit and vegetables with dip. Nice enough, I thought, but what I really want is one of those bottles of water to help me cope with this heat. A few more minutes of this and I'd be stripping off layers of clothing -- pretty inappropriate, even under these circumstances.

But as soon as I grabbed a bottle, I was again disappointed. It was warm. Very warm. Almost warmer than room temperature.

And it dawned on me, as I looked around the odd space, they were actually trying to make us uncomfortable. Middle-aged men in blue suits actually had visible sweat rolling down their faces. I couldn't decide which made me more uncomfortable, the heat or watching their discomfort. But this didn't seem to trouble company representatives in the least, who behaved as if this was all routine.

The pleasant young woman told us we should endeavor to speak to each staffer there. By this time there were a good 20 candidates all circulating around four company employees. You could see the men starting to jockey for position, the many readying to descend on the few.

The only other woman candidate there was a young Indian woman who was hoping to get an engineering job. Shy and uncomfortable, she clearly seemed out of her element. I felt bad for her and wanted to strike up a conversation, just to see if I could make her feel a little more at ease in this crazy situation. But it was every man and woman for themselves in this, and my fleeting charitable wish gave way to my frustration.

I thought hard about slipping out. I didn't need a job this badly, and even if I did, any company that would treat candidates so badly wasn't likely to be particularly good to their employees, either. But I took a deep breath and thought, "I drove all this way, I dressed up in these killer heels, and dammit, I'm going to see if there's at least a consulting opportunity in here for me somewhere!"

I started to jockey with the blue suits to speak to the company's employees. "Be sure you talk to everybody," one told me. That got harder and harder as the hour wore on, because more and more would show up. Some would leave and come back, leaving you wondering who you'd missed. As for the employees, they made sure to get each name, dutifully checking it off of a list after they'd blandly recited the company's unmotivating pitch to each sweaty candidate.

They didn't look any happier to be there than we were.

"It sounds like something cooked up by Michael Scott at Dunder Mifflin!" my friend laughingly told me on the phone as I drove home from the ridiculous adventure.

He was dead on. Me, I chalk it up to experience, but the poor employees of the company probably have no idea that's the reputation their organization is getting as a result of these practices. For each hire, they likely leave a dozen more annoyed candidates circulating in the job market, wishing they'd never wasted their time with enLabel.

I'm sure if I sat the CEO down, looked him in the eye and asked if my experience was consistent with what he wanted his brand to represent to potential talent, he'd reply with an emphatic 'no!'

But it's tough reputational damage to fix, even when you want to. In an increasingly commoditized marketplace, the war for talent is very real, and companies who know how to treat employees (and candidates) will win not only the talent war, but the brand war, too.