If you’ve applied for a job with a company and been turned down, how does that affect how you feel about that company? What if you feel that the company treated you poorly as a job applicant? Joe writes that he wonders just that. He feels that a company of which he was a customer treated his girlfriend unprofessionally after interviewing for a job there, and wonders whether he’s justified in taking his business away from them.

About a month ago, my girlfriend interviewed for an IT position at [redacted]. She did two phone interviews and then was invited to corporate HQ for a face-to-face interview. She met with four people, including the hiring manager, for several hours during the course of one day. Now at least a month later, she has not heard back from the company: not a word. She has contacted the HR person who set up the interview(s) but she also will not respond.

Now, we are smart people and know what this means. We don’t think anything illegal has taken place or that [the company] should be “punished” or anything like that. But we do feel wronged. It shatters everything we know about professionalism. So much so, in fact, that it is affecting our decision to [patronize this business.] So my questions to Consumerist.com are…are you hearing about this type of unprofessional treatment from others? Is there anything we can do other than tell anyone and everyone who will listen? Why would a company do this? To save costs?

Should I consume good and services from a company that wouldn’t have me as an employee? If companies are inundated with resumes then have they realized that these hundreds or thousands of applicants might carry a grudge later on?

There are really two parts to Joe’s question. There’s his main question about continuing to be a customer of a company that you feel has treated you unprofessionally.

At the same time, there’s another question: was the company’s behavior unusual? I’ve been on a lot of job interviews in the last ten years, and I can probably count on one hand the number of actual rejection letters or phone calls I’ve received. I may just be forgettable, but this seems to be a wider trend. Are the people in charge of hiring so busy that they simply don’t have time to notify the rejects?

These are complex questions for a simple poll, so have at it in the comments.

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.