Job hunting is stressful -- more stressful than it needs to be when some simple human decency is missing.

First, though, a couple of reminders. As a job hunter, keep telling yourself that your timetable isn't the same as employers' timetables. And remember that employers care about what you can do for them, more than what they can do for you.

Keeping that perspective helps a tad when the lack-of-decency experiences hit.

A job candidate I learned about was one of two finalists for a top nonprofit job. She learned the other candidate was hired through the community grapevine, not because anyone on the nonprofit board had the courtesy to call and thank her for her time.

Another job candidate had face-to-face job interviews with seven organizations. Some of the organizations conducted more than one interview with the job hunter. Of the seven, only two got back with the candidate to say they had selected someone else.

Then there are the misleading job postings. The postings look like specific job openings, but they're just ways for recruiting companies to find candidates to add to their files.

I want to be sympathetic to understaffed human resource departments. But I can't understand why organizations don't let job candidates know that the job search ended with the selection of someone else.

The only possible positive to come out of such inconsiderate treatment is that disappointed job candidates may comfort themselves, knowing they won't be working for a company that's blind to what unhappy people tell others.