Enron
K-Mart
Worldcom
Adelphi
Curtiss Wright (they had once purchased Western Union just as it was about to collapse)
Disney (under Eisner)

Have all made enormous, mind-boggling errors often in the presence of external audit and stock holder/director oversight.

Just because a company is a ‘Fortune 500′ (the list itself was first compiled in the 1950s) means little.

They are not above reproach and not above making earth-shattering errors due to arrogance, stubborness, and cockiness.

Take Bank of America & Wachovia. Both headquarted up the street from where I sit and look out my office window. Each have thousands of employees.

Hundreds of MBA’S
HUNDREDS OF ACCOUNTANTS
Many from top national universities!

What in God’s name were these idiots thinking of when they were approving mortgages for $190k condos to employees making barely more than minimum wage at Starbucks or working at a Shell gas station (I know of two such workers that got such mortgages) !?!?!

If you don’t have 20% to put down on a $300k house YOU SHOULD NOT BE BUYING ONE!!

10 floors of MBA’s does not impress me if they uniformly give in to dumb culture and fail at their jobs.

TR

The month before that, one of my candidates rejected an offer because it was over three weeks from the day a (different) client asked me to tell the candidate it wanted to hire him until the date on his offer letter. This particular young superstar was even less charitable with his comments.

Both clients, are, by the way, well-known, respected, successful manufacturers run by world-class leaders.

The hiring managers and HR people I’m working with were confused and unhappy about both outcomes. In a touchingly human effort to reassign blame, all concerned initially questioned my ability to ’sell our opportunity’ or to ‘get your candidates to understand we have other priorities here’. Since I’ve known both hiring managers for nearly 10 and 15 years, respectively, I was able to respond candidly, but with surprisingly (for me) adult restraint, with information and guidance that ultimately convinced all involved to look inward for the root cause of their respective inabilities to get what they wanted.

The upside to these oopsies was that both clients are now a tad more humbled by recruited A-Players’ general intolerance of disconnects between ‘the walk’ and ‘the talk’. Both clients are also more convinced than ever that I know at least a little bit about what I’m talking about.

Of course, the only paycheck affected by this tornado of nonsense was my own, but that’s for a different post.

Hope you all have a great Memorial Day weekend. In the brief moment between the potato salad and the hotdog, please do whatever it takes to reflect on who and what this holiday is really all about. Corny as it may sound, I do this by watching the first 20 minutes of Saving Private Ryan, remembering as I do that my father was one of those terrified souls on Omaha Beach with a Big Red One patch on his shoulder and a picture of my mother stuffed in his helmet.

Dr. Sullivan, this is one of your better writes, for sure. Like speed dating, what looks good in the introduction may not be good for the long haul.

Though Dr. Sullivan states, ‘many corporations have begun to realize the benefits of fast hiring’, I can recall fewer than ten companies I’ve worked with that were truly capable of a fast hire when it was needed, and that spans a 15-year TPR career. Sadly, many mid-size and larger companies have a hiring policy based more on appeasement than hiring wisdom. Mulitiple managers, multiple directors, peers, and subordinates must all be appeased. Next time you hear, ‘We want to be certain everyone is on board’, realize that is a euphemism for, ‘nobody wants to be left out, but nobody wants the total responsibility, either’.

All this appeasement slows down the process to something akin to watching paint dry. Any candidate who can truly bring greatness to an organization is going to be snatched up by a leaner and more decisive company.

The only saving grace is one brought up by Dr. Sullivan, and that is brand. For those who believe they have an awesome brand, think about this: Good candidates will allow themselves to be subjected to your bloated bureacracy simply because they know your brand is going to look great on their resume.

I remember reading research from I believe the Corporate Executive Board that clearly stated the primary driver behind a decision to accept one similar position over another was the speed the offer was received. In my experience the rapid offer sends two clear messages 1. We want you 2. We are an efficient quality origanization able to make decisions.

I have never bought into the argument that lengthy interviews with multiple people ensure a better fit. Or that the process allows the candidate to be impressed by the people they meet. I find the reverse response is more common from the candidate: ‘Why can’t you make up your mind?’

I have implemented rapid offers driven from standard weekly hiring events in several companies, each with their own modification. I always meet with initial resisitance as hiring managers feel more pressure and in some cases fewer managers decide on hires for other managers. However in each case the results speak for themselves - higher offer rates, improved acceptance rates, shorter time to fill and more motivated/impressed candidates. In the Retail Bank I implemented events and we now enjoy an interview to offer ration of greater than 85% with 90%+ offer to accept in a highly competitive market.

I do also support the concept of advance recruiting of prospects, when the position warrants. We have done this for branch managers, loan officers and executives to mixed but generally positive effect.

Keep up the good work by presenting these concepts that speak to the fundamentals of a good recruiting structure.