We recently wrote how Yulia Pashchenko, Talent acquisition and Recruitment Expert, said that she refused a candidate an interview because he was on a recruiting blacklist.
We recently wrote how Yulia Pashchenko, Talent acquisition and Recruitment Expert, said that she refused a candidate an interview because he was on a recruiting blacklist.
«Each field has its own „HR communities“ where we exchange insider tips, share useful contacts, discuss news, and even tell negative cases with candidates. This is an important part of our work, because we need to be informed and know who we are dealing with. So, recently, I was reviewing colleagues' stories and suddenly came across a candidate with whom I planned to interview that same day. I reread the story, wrote to my colleague, and then other people who already had experience communicating with this candidate joined the conversation. After that, the decision was obvious: I refused the candidate, honestly explaining the situation so that everything was transparent,» shared Yulia.
Meanwhile, Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta also maintains internal blacklists of employees who are ineligible for reemployment. And former company managers say that it’s almost impossible to get off the list and an employee might end up there simply because the boss didn’t like them.
dev.ua asked experts from top Ukrainian employers whether there really are lists of candidates who are not eligible for employment in a particular company. However, not all of them dared to talk about their internal affairs — out of more than 30 companies to which we sent inquiries, only a few responded.
«We are surprised to hear about the existence of such „blacklists“, because such documents contradict GDPR — the European legislation on personal data protection, which we adhere to in our work, and the laws of Ukraine on personal data protection,» says Daryna Kuzmyk, Talent&Culture Lead at Railsware. According to these rules, she explains, the company collects only the data from candidates for which they have given their consent. «Moreover, all information and communication with them during the hiring process is stored in the database in private mode for no more than three years, again, according to the requirements of GDPR,» Daryna notes.
Kuzmyk suggests that such lists are filled out based on certain subjective considerations. «And I would hardly want to be in a community that distributes such lists. Moreover, no one has canceled the golden rule of ethics — „behave as you want to be treated“, so the logic of don’t be an asshole works for both candidates and recruiters,» comments the Talent&Culture Lead at Railsware.
In turn, Olena Oleksienko, Chief of People Team at EVO, said that the company does not have a so-called «black list», but recruiters record information about the experience of interacting with candidates in the internal CRM system.
«If a candidate has behaved inappropriately in the past, we take this information into account in the future,» she said.
According to Olena, a candidate for a certain position in EVO may lose trust in the following cases:
There are no blacklists at Ciklum either, says Yulia Kryvonos, the company’s Senior Recruitment Consultant. «However, the recruiting team has the opportunity to leave an internal comment about a candidate if during the interaction we encounter serious violations of professional ethics or incorrect behavior. Also, such comments can be left by immediate supervisors when dismissing specialists about whether they are recommended for hiring in our company in the future,» Yulia said.
Candidates, she said, may receive negative comments in the system if they:
«If this is our ex-employee, the comments may vary: from poor performance to unprofessional behavior, deception, etc.,» said Kryvonos.
At the same time, according to Levi9 Talent Manager Tetyana Lobetskaya, she is not aware of the existence of general «blacklists» among recruiters. «And I hope they really don’t exist,» she says.
Tatyana adds that each company has its own ATS system, where recruiters leave comments and feedback after interviews. «If a candidate used foul language, was rude, or insulted my colleague a year ago, I would hardly consider them for the current vacancy,» she admits.
From her own experience, Tetyana cites a rather unpleasant incident. «Once, while working at a recruitment agency, I was dealing with a candidate for whom an offer was already being prepared. I accidentally decided to check his name on Google and discovered that he was a member of the dog hunters group. Whether he actively participated in activities that could harm animals remained unknown, but the company decided not to continue cooperation,» the specialist shared.
Olena Oleksienko from EVO gave advice to IT professionals to avoid such lists and a negative reputation.
The main advice from Tetyana Lobetskaya from Levi9 is to be a decent and honest person. «You can only get on the list of candidates with whom they do not want to cooperate in exceptional cases. Usually this happens due to frankly unacceptable behavior — for example, false information in the resume about experience or achievements, aggressive or rude communication,» adds Lyubetska.
If you have faced discrimination or blacklisting of candidates in Ukrainian IT and want to tell us about it, write to us your story at [email protected], and we will share it with readers (you can do it anonymously).
Навіщо пересипати текст англійськими словосполученнями на кшталт "poor performance" чи офер? В українській мові для цього є відповідники "погана продуктивність" і "пропозиція"! Недоречні англіцизми не додають вашій статті плюсів. Мовна мішанина, крім крилатих слів, навпаки примітивізує.