WHY do managers LIE SO much?????!??!

Question

It's summer and I've been looking for my first job alllll summer. It's really depressing. What makes matters even worse is that managers tell me lies like "Okay, I'll talk to [name] and you'll be called in [exact time period]."

And no I do not just call them over the phone!! What kind of person can shake your hand and look you in the eyes and then lie to you? It's happened to me all summer and it makes me feel so STUPID. I wish I hadn't believed them. I feel like a gullible idiot. Several managers have done this to me.

I wish I had had someone to tell me at the beginning of my search that this was how it was like...

All my dad told me was to "not put all my eggs in one basket" when I told him that a manager said he would call me back...

Yeah, anyway, why do managers lie so much? Is this part of the job???! Why can't they just say "no, we are not hiring" "no we don't like you".

Feel free to answer with your opinion or experience, thanks!

Answer 1

I used to feel the same and then I read the book "Dilbert and the way of the weasel" by Scott Adams. He's the one that writes those Dilbert cartoons in the papers. He has a very good insight into the workings of people's minds.

Basically people do not like giving bad news or taking responsibility for things. I used to work in a bank answering people's credit card questions and a lot of my colleagues would never give a straight answer to people. They would say things like "if your payment is late you can ring us back and we can look at it..." when we had a do not refund fees policy. The customer would go away happy, ring back when they were charged only to be told the fee would not be refunded which caused untold problems down the line.

Managers do not think they are lying. As far as they are concerned they have either passed the task onto someone else who, not having had any contact with you, does not feel motivated to abide by the promises the manager made to you. If the manager had the authority to make the decision, they could hire you on the spot. If they don't have that level of authority then your details get passed onto to someone else who the manager probably does not have much contact with.

A lot of large companies have problems with communication and bureaucracy. The summer is always a bad time to look for jobs. Human Resource departments know a lot of people take time off during the summer so a lot of the time they will not schedule interviews during the summer if they can help it as some of the people who are required may be away. They want to do as little work as possible so rather than checking if people working in the company are there and finding out what holidays they will be taking and whether they will be free for interviews on a particular date or who else might be qualified to do the interview should they be away, they will simply ignore the applications until the Autumn when they know everyone will be at work.

I'm sorry things are not going well. I hope things improve as I know how frustrating job hunting is.

Answer 2

I know what you're going through. My nephew has been dealing with this all summer, too. I don't think that the managers are trying to be mean or deceitful. I think they're just as frustrated as you are in many cases. They know they need more help but can't convince their boss to hire. Also, managers are people, too. No one likes to tell someone bad news, even if the person is a total stranger.

I guess the moral of the story is not to take the job search too personally. It's just business, and sometimes it's not nice.

Answer 3

girl i can tell you im right there with you. its not fair and its not right i've been trying to get a job since april with no luck. i've been interviewed like 6 times.i even call them back and they say sure we'll call u tomorrow or next week, but they never do! i think i need to go out and start begging for a job now cause i got bills to pay. alot of people have been going through the same lately though, i wonder what it is.

for some advice, most of my interviews have come from having my resume posted on careerbuilder.com you should try it and see if you're luckier.

Answer 4

The first point I'm going to tell you is that *EVERYONE* expereinces this. It's nothing personal against you.

Next, I don't see it as lying to you, rather, it's the standard line they give all candidates. They interview 3 or 4 per position and after they're done the interviews they then select one. Often they don't get back to the ones who didn't get selected and leave it to you to either call back to find out or presume you realize that you weren't selected by not receiving a call. It's really not worth their time to call someone and give them bad news. Again, that line you hear is standard and everyone expereinces it. I've heard it many times.

The best advice is not unlike what your father gave you. Once the interview is over, you forget about it. Turn you attention and energy towards finding other jobs. If you do get the initial job, great! It's a pleasant surprise. Otherwise, you may get another job and don't recall that first job you interviewed for.

Again, what you're experiencing is very common. Don't dwell on waiting for an answer, keep searching until someone hires you.

Best,

-- Liam

Answer 5

legally they cannot say "we don't like you"