Comments on: You Didn’t Pick Things Up Quickly Enough

By: Ann Roberts

Ann Roberts — Fri, 30 May 2008 03:18:00 +0000

Any body have any ideas for recourse for this poor victim? Any legal recourse?

By: Ross Clennett

Ross Clennett — Thu, 22 May 2008 11:39:00 +0000

Thanks Ronald, an excellent article. This is what happens when managers are either ineffective interviewers, ineffective coaches or ineffective communicators (or a combination of all three). How could that company possibly afford to carry, in a position of leadership, a person of such incompetence? To blame the candidate is the antithesis of what leadership is all about.

By: David Rees

David Rees — Thu, 22 May 2008 11:26:00 +0000

It does not sound like a TRP fee was involved, but to take it in another direction, if this happened to a TPRs candidate, would the client be due a credit/refund?

If so, I think that is a huge problem. We tend to assume that any firing is going to be for a legit reason so we exclude layoffs and stuff like that while putting livelihood on the line against another persons irrational whims.

Client should be required to show cause or progressive discipline, not just say ‘we decided to hope for something better to come along…’

By: Ann Roberts

Ann Roberts — Thu, 22 May 2008 06:48:00 +0000

What you have indicated happens much more than we want to recognize or admit. It happens at all levels. This is absolutely the failing and inadequacy of the hiring authority and or direct reporting line. No excuses! These terminations happen, not because the employee failed (assuming they showed up everyday), but because the authority found someone else they liked better or because they decided they just personally do not like this person. So what recourse is available for the terminated employee? What rights can they exercise? What protections are available? Often they have left other lucrative positions, not to mention the personal arrangements or adjustments they have made to accept this position. Where is the help for these mistreated folks?

By: Henry Butler

Henry Butler — Thu, 22 May 2008 05:13:00 +0000

For a moment there I thought you had a crystal ball and saw some of the things that go on in my company. All of our managers are ‘home-grown’, meaning they all started out in an entry level position within our company and they’ve worked their way into a management position. All of them are really knowledgeable in their particular field, yet they sometimes (not all the time) forget where they came from. They have no problem with getting rid of ‘dead weight’ or what presume to be ‘dead weight’ and it’s normally too early (within 2 or 3 weeks) to tell if that’s really the case. This article could/should turn on a light in our management team’s head at least I hope. I’ll be sending this article to all of them ASAP.

By: Gerry Crispin

Gerry Crispin — Thu, 22 May 2008 04:26:00 +0000

I enjoyed this article which puts the responsibility of managing squarely on the manager. While not discussed but relevant to this forum, what is the responsibility of the recruiter who served the hiring manager? At what point did he or she have the responsibility to counsel the manager prior to the hire about the needs of the person he was taking on? What responsibility to the selected candidate to clarify expectations? In my time I’ve lobbied to get the recruiter out of recruiting and the manager out of managing when these situations occur and are not addressed.

By: Karen Swim

Karen Swim — Thu, 22 May 2008 04:15:00 +0000

I am sorry for that your friend had to endure this experience but glad that you shared it here. Companies should prepare identify the essential KSAs that are needed to attain the goals of the position. Far too often I have found companies searching for a list of abilities that are meaningless to actually succeeding in the position. Every company should also spend the time to plan for training and integration. It is worth it to take time to coach and mentor new hires so that they succeed. It is in no one’s best interest to hire and then terminate someone in less than a year. Finally, I always advise clients to ask the interview to step them through the training plan and expectations of the first 90 days on the job. An interviewer’s answers will provide you the information you need to know if they will throw you to the wolves or take time to help you transition.

Karen

By: David Rees

David Rees — Thu, 22 May 2008 03:51:00 +0000

Not to put this to harshly because she is your friend, but nobody else knows her and we can’t make any assumptions.

A few things jumped out to me as possible:

1. Your friend was being terminated for a reason that has nothing to do with the stated reason. (the old ‘the real reason, plus the one that sounds good’). Out of everything I came up with, this sounds like the most likely. I could speculate but the reason could be anything from how she dresses, a client complaint or a rumor to the bosses realization that he does not have a shot at an office romance with her to an annoying habit, technical competence (real or imagined), etc.

2. To let someone go that early in the process is very severe. Either the perceived problem was very severe or the manager felt they made a mistake or the manager is grossly incompetent in at least one key area.

3. Sometimes the culture and environmental fit are just not there and this can contribute to poor performance. If an employee and manager have very different personality styles and values, they may find it nearly impossible to effectively communicate.

At the end of the day, what ever your friend may or may not have done, she was treated poorly and unprofessionally. Sometimes it is best to just move on. You can’t always know what someone else was thinking or why they did what they did.

As an afterthought, this is a good example of why you should go to your new boss with some objectives for the first 30, 90 and 180 days and discuss your progress.

As yet another afterthoughts, her manager did not seem to be managing on results, but on his perception of her competence. Thats just bad managin’ right there.

By: Steve Deighton

Steve Deighton — Thu, 22 May 2008 02:27:00 +0000

Excellent article! What happened to your friend is far too common. The bottom line is the manager made a decision to hire without enough information. This hurt the manager, the company and definitely your friend. Had the manager established criteria to determine core competencies and used occupational assessments to determine personality fit, learning index and occupational interests, then the manager would have probably not hired her for that role. Your friend would have found a job more suitable to her level of expertise and her interests even if it was with someone else. What is very interesting is how the manager did not communicate with your friend and took the easy way out, which is termination. Hopefully that manager’s boss recognizes his/her manager needs training.