When I was about 14 years old, I had a big ole crush on a boy at my school. He was beautiful and perfect and tall and he dressed well. I think he might play for the other team now, but that’s beside the point. At the time, all I wanted him to do was to pay a little attention to me.

We had some mutual friends and hung out at the same teen dance club. We were both into Depeche Mode and The Smiths. We both spent a lot of time on our hair (see “plays for other team” above). Really, how could this not work? Obviously, in all important matters, we were meant to be together.

His father sent him away to a private school in Austin and the night of his going away party, he kissed me goodbye. It was just enough to give me some hope. Some very sad and pathetic kind of hope. For weeks, I waited by the phone and checked the mail (this was pre-email, folks). But nothing. I’d run home from the school bus only to find no mail for me and no messages on the machine.

And then one day it happened. He wrote me a letter. In retrospect, I see now that he was terribly lonely and bored away from home. But no matter. Whatever prompted it, he wrote to me. I took the letter to school and let my girlfriends read it. I read it a hundred times trying to parse every word for innuendo. The next day, I wrote about 36 versions of a response to him until I finally got it right. You know, interested, but aloof. And then I waited. And waited. And waited some more. I guess the all-boys private school got more interesting (see “plays for the other team” above) because I never heard from him again.

My mother quietly hung back for weeks watching this whole debacle unfold. She told me to get on with my life. To go out with my friends. To forget about him. She said I was too special to be sitting around waiting for some boy to call me. But no. He was the one. Or so I thought.

Towards the end of 2007, I submitted countless candidates to your agency and you told me to hang on. You said you’d get back to me in January to let me know who you’d like to interview. So, like sad little 14 year old Shan, they wait and wonder if you will write or call. If you are the one who’s meant to be or not. And you have disappeared.

The candidates in the mix will soon realize they are too special to wait 2 months to hear from you (via me). They will find other agencies who will wine and dine them and court them in ways that would make Mama blush. And you will miss out.

Start the year off right but taking a look at who you have in the mix that needs to know if you’re interested or not. No one likes a tease, you know. Stop primping in the mirror and pay attention or you’ll lose what might be the love of your professional life.

[tags]agencies, candidates, interview, boys, hiring revolution[/tags]