There are many ways the phrase “Purposeful Avoidance”  applies socially as well as professionally.

For business owners, they experience Purposeful Avoidance from clients who purposefully avoid reading their emails or return their phone messages to business owners requesting payment of over due invoices.

For Job seekers, they experience Purposeful Avoidance from recruiters who hammered them to let them represent them in their job search but all of the sudden purposefully avoid them online and offline.

For the Social Networkers, they experience Purposeful Avoidance from the millions who pass their blog or social post to keep from getting involved or fear (falsely as it is) of being scammed or spammed.

What does it mean when someone avoids communications?

Is it due to business person not wanting to deal with their responsibilities? Or their fear of how someone will think of them when they deliver bad news? Or not wanting to deal with the realities associated with dealing with the darkside of the internet.

A couple of these incidents of ‘Purposeful Avoidance’ are excusable.  Like, responding to emails from know scammers.  Or voice mail messages from Nigerian Princesses.

However, the purposeful avoidance of invoice notices in many cases can be seen as unlawful.  In the case of the job seekers not getting responses back from recruiters is seen as being rude more than lawful neglect.

So, what can be done about the increase cases of ‘Purposeful Avoidance’?

Does the business owner seek the help of an attorney or collection agency?  Does the job seeker trash the recruiter’s reputation with social media?

Something needs to be done, but what, is not clear.

The trickle down of purposeful avoidance is getting serious for small businesses depending on client’s honesty.  In the case of business owners not being able to collect funds due usually results in them not being able to pay their bills, employees, vendors and suppliers.  This results in the business possibly joiningg the ranks of bankruptcies that are flooding the judicial system raising the cost of EVERYTHING.

In the case of the job seeker, the lack of feedback from the recruiters who have access to jobs keeps people from being employed which leads to more drain on the economy.

As far as the social networkers seeking acceptance, their lack of gaining attention to what they do professional eventually leads to unemployment and/or the spread of word-of-mouth marketing on the ineptness of social media being a viable marketing strategy which leads to a growing negativity towards entrepreneurs and the hiring of digital marketing agencies.

So don’t be one of the growing number of business people who don’t read their email so to avoid receiving invoices.  Or one of the thousands of recruiters who don’t want to look bad to the job seekers they have bad news to deliver.  Just do what is right and build trust with your suppliers, vendors and customers.

Let me know how I can help.