Andy Penland - Insperity Staffing, Houston, TX

Infuriation: Unable to set and keep a professional appointment

Andy Penland seems to be a nice guy, but he's a failure as a recruiter in that he's simply unable to set and keep an appointment on a timely basis. Like the vast majority of recruiters, he's never worked in a professional capacity that instilled a sense of business-like time-keeping, and so does not comprehend the business need for making and keeping specific appointments. The fact that he's in a gate-keeping, job-blocking position is entirely the fault of his employer, Insperity, who sell professional recruiting services to other companies. It's failure in that that claim, and lack of professional preparation and supervision of Penland, that earned Insperity their own place in the Recruiter Hall of Shame.

Day 1: After an online submission, Penland emailed the applicant asking for times of availability. The applicant responded within the hour with several specific, hours-long blocks of time over the next two days.

Day 1, later: Penland emailed to ask specifically about applicant's availability in the morning of Day 3,without any request for appointment. Applicant responded within the hour with more times of availability in that morning, as well as the rest of Day 3. No response from Penland, the second chance he had to set an appointment as a real professional would.

Day 3, 10:30 a.m. (morning of the date that Penland had requested): Penland emailed the applicant to advise vaguely that he had a "management meeting" at some point "later" that day, was unsure how it would affect his schedule, and asked about applicant availability over the weekend "just in case." Applicant responded within 30 minutes, offering several specific hours on Saturday, and pointedly suggesting that if Penland cared to pick a time, the applicant would be sure to be available. No response. Applicant stood by at those hours on Saturday, of course, and of course there was no call.

Day 6 (Monday), 9 a.m.: Applicant emailed Penland to say specifically that 4 p.m. was open.

Day 6, later: Penland emailed to ask if the applicant were available at "3 or 4." The applicant, now biting his tongue, courteously replied that 4 p.m. was open, and so they finally talked at that time.

Day 6, 4 p.m.: Penland asked the applicant to regurgitate the resume, and proved to know very little about the client company who had retained Insperity. (Insperity claims on their website that "We dig deep to learn about your company culture, competitive landscape and ideal candidate.") Penland certainly did not know anything about the profession under discussion. At the end of this waste of oxygen, Penland allowed that he would try to get the resume in front of the client hiring manager, but that individual would be leaving the country in the next day or two.

Bottom line: Penland wasted several days to have a meaningless discussion, and knew that the hiring manager would be unavailable after those several days, all without ever knowing to set and keep a professional appointment time and date.