Looking for work is difficult enough — especially these days — but job seekers across industries suspect their former employers placed them on "block lists" that keep them from being rehired, Business Insider reports. The publication received "a flood of emails and messages" about the practice after running a story about Meta's "do not rehire" lists, suggesting the practice is fairly commonplace. Though not illegal, it does raise ethical questions, since affected employees aren't allowed to appeal.
Companies are using hiring "block lists" but is this a bad thing or a good thing? There pros and cons to something like this but if done in the right way they can actually be rather useful.
In the Business Insider article there was a link to a Reddit thread and pretty much all of the comments there were from people who were not surprised that block lists exist, and neither am I.
We block people on social media all of the time so is it fair for an organization to block an employee if they have caused problems at the organization? I don't think so.
However, if employees are just being blocked in a random fashion where a manager just doesn't like someone, then that's just silly and can lead to missed opportunities.
What do you think of hiring block lists? Does your company have them and are they a good thing or a bad thing? Leave a comment and let me know what you think.
Block lists exist. Not surprising. And I don't want you to worry about this.
Companies keep track of candidates (and former employees) they don't want to hire. Some of the reasons are probably valid. I also suspect some reasons are far from right.
We'll never have the answers we want about who is on the list and why.
This isn't a new practice, but with so many layoffs happening now, so much confusion about changes around us, and the stock market limping along, this can feel like it's another way to stick it to the job seeker.
You can choose to worry about this. "Am I on a list? What did I do?"
Here's the thing: you'll never know for sure if you're on a block list. You can't control who keeps you out of a company. You won't be able to change the opinion of the person who put you on the list.
If you're worried about who's keeping you out, I want you to flip it around—focus on who's pulling you in.
Block lists exist, but so do gate openers: those who help you get your next role. The people who open doors.
So, focus on the current state: where you are now with your relationships.
Think about your relationship with your manager, your peers, customers, and clients. How can you better understand what you're doing now to build relationships?
Spend more time talking with people, getting to know them, understanding how you contribute, and how you need to grow in relationship skills.
Maybe you clashed with leadership in your last role. Maybe you pushed back on a toxic culture two jobs ago?
You can't do much about that now. But you can do so much about your current relationships.
Which relationships are you focusing on now and why?