Job Applicants Perplexed by Email Notification of Cancellation
Pfizer Korea, a multinational pharmaceutical company whose headquarters is located in New York, is causing controversy by abruptly canceling a recruiting process and notifying job applicants of its sudden decision by email without giving specific reasons. Its official said, “We needed to comply to our headquarters’ global strategy so had to stop the recruiting process.”
Pharmaceutical industry watchers said on July 19 that Pfizer Korea announced an interview date to job applicants who passed the first round of screening, and suddenly sent an email announcing the cancellation of the recruitment process without offering specific reasons. Pfizer Korea was planning to hire 17 of the 61 applicants who passed the first screening process. They are applicants for full-time sales representatives with experience.
A PR official of Pfizer Korea said in a phone interview with BusinessKorea, “While the recruiting was in progress, we reported to the headquarters (in New York), so they were aware we were hiring.” The headquarters, however, suddenly presented a modified business strategy and requested that the recruiting process be stopped, the official said.
"We decided to apply the modified business strategy to the business unit that was to hire the applicants," he added.
An applicant, who requested anonymity, expressed a strong complaint, saying, "The HR confirmed an interview date and I had my documents ready such as a consent form for personal information processing. Then the next day, I received an email that the recruiting was canceled.”