A Recruiter's Job is to Recruit and not to Repel

Judging a book by its cover may seem like a shallow thing to do, but in my brief experience as a job seeker, I find that the attitude of the HR personnel has impacted my perception of a company. Haughty recruiters at job fairs are a real turn-off.
I still remember the time when I was in my first job and studying ICSA on the side, when I went for a Jobstreet career fair in Midvalley Megamall. This was years back. I had approached a booth of a certain well-known FMCG MNC which had a manufacturing plant somewhere near Section 20, Shah Alam. I spoke to one of the recruiters and enquired whether they had any openings that fit my combination of qualifications. In response, she outright laughed at me and sarcastically asked "What do you want to do?"

In text, that question looks like an innocent enough one, but being face to face with such tone of implication it was quite an uncomfortable encounter. I just ignored the sarcastic tone and replied some bullshit diplomatically neutral statement which I can't recall anymore. I guess she then realised that she had acted unprofessionally and her tone of voice had changed to a more polite one but after that point, I just pretended to listen to her scripted briefing of the company's background. In my heart, I had decided not to even apply for a company with such HR staff on their payroll. What a bad frontliner for the company's image. Imagine what lies beyond the supposedly highly polished HR, into the real working field of the company.

True enough, I had a couple of friends who joined the same company and all of them did not stay on even for a year. The brand was internationally known, but the management was mostly local. They had commented that the work culture was not conducive. I guess some ounce of truth must be in their opinions.

What triggered my memory today was seeing the same company advertisement for the exact position I had enquired about years ago in the daily digest of job openings from Jobstreet. Someone must have had enough of it to quit. I wonder whether the obnoxious lady is still working in the company. It would do the company goof to train their recruiters some basic etiquette when dealing with potential stakeholders.