Dear Liz,
I'm an HR Manager. I run HR and Recruiting for a mid-sized firm.
Last month we interviewed a young man we can call Alex.
Alex applied for a Procurement role. I shared his resume with the Procurement manager, but the manager wanted someone more senior in that role.
I arranged for Alex to meet with three other managers who had job openings. In one afternoon Alex met our Finance, Operations and Sales Administration managers. They all wanted to hire him.
I called Alex and asked him which of the three departments he was most interested in. I told him the salary ranges for the three open positions.
Alex said "I'm most interested in the Sales Administration job."
I started working on an offer letter. I sent Alex an email message to tell him the steps I was following and how long they would take (about three days).
The next day I heard from our Procurement Manager.
He told me Alex had called him to try to talk him into hiring Alex for his open Procurement position. Alex had never met this manager.
The Procurement Manager said "I need someone with more experience than Alex, but I appreciate his taking the initiative. I understand he already has a job offer from our company, so I'm sure I'll see him around."
I prepared the offer letter for the Sales Administration job and sent it to Alex via email.
I texted him to tell him it was on its way. I got a reply text from Alex.
He said "I want to talk to your Finance and Operations managers before I accept the Sales Administration job. Maybe one of them will make me a better offer." He included a smiley emoji in his text.
I called him right back. I said "Alex, I asked you which of the three jobs you were most interested in. You had the salary details for all three jobs at that time. We can't get into a bidding war internally. Our managers won't do it and I won't do it, either. It's not appropriate."
I was very nervous that we might have to rescind Alex's offer. I didn't want to do that because I think we have to stand behind our job offers, but I thought Alex's move was way out of line.
I told my boss, the VP of HR about it, and she thought I should tell the Sales Administration manager everything Alex had done (including calling the Purchasing Manager and asking me to help him start a bidding war with two other managers). However, I didn't do that.
The Procurement Manager said Alex was very polite on the phone, and he said he admired Alex's initiative so I didn't want to give our Sales Administration manager the idea that Alex had done something terrible.
Alex accepted the Sales Administration job. He signed the offer letter and sent it back. We confirmed a start date -- and then he didn't show up. He texted me on Friday afternoon before his Monday start date to say he had accepted a job with another firm.
Am I crazy or is this out-of-bounds behavior for a job candidate? As I think through the whole situation, I feel that Alex was extremely unprofessional, but I'd love to hear your opinion.
Thanks Liz -
Yours,
Natalie
Dear Natalie,
The working world has changed dramatically. Yes, Alex was out of line asking you to facilitate an auction for his services, but we have to look at his inelegant behavior in the context of the changes going on around us.
Alex wanted to start a bidding war in your company and that isn't appropriate, as you pointed out to him.
However, Alex is operating in a recruiting environment where the only people who get paid what they're worth are the people who argue for their own value.
Alex is young. He doesn't know that you don't get to enlist a company's HR manager to help you solicit bids from competing department managers.
He doesn't know that because no one has ever taught him how to navigate in this new, tumultuous environment. No one has ever taught anyone how to do it!
That's why I write about the topics I do.
Years ago, hiring was a straightforward, orderly process. You interviewed for a job and you either got the job or you didn't. If you got an offer, you could negotiate the offer, accept it or reject it. When you started the job, you had certain expectations that you could rely on. You would expect to have more or less competent and ethical managers. You could expect to get regular performance increases and to grow with the company. Most of all, you could expect to keep your job if you met your goals.
All of that has disappeared!
Working people feel desperate, and for good reason. As an HR Manager you need to know that when people like Alex break the rules, it's because they have seen and/or heard from others that following the rules doesn't work. Don't hate on Alex. He is young. He will learn.
Instead, look at the forces that drive Alex and other people to think that they have to look out for themselves in the working world. The truth is that they do!
Employers still treat recruiting as the entry point to a long-term relationship between an employer and an employee. We need to wake up and realize that every job is a temp job these days. Companies should acknowledge that.
A question Alex may have wanted to ask but felt afraid to is "Which job in your company will last the longest?"
We should hire more people on short-term employment contracts that offer them more security than traditional at-will employment does, but unfortunately employers are slow to realize that the world has changed and isn't going to change back soon.
Evidently Alex had other irons in the fire in his job search. He probably figured "It isn't standard practice for me to call this Procurement guy and try to get him to hire me, but what's the worst that can happen if I do? If they rescind the Sales Administration offer, so what? I'm job-hunting. I can find something else."
Alex's brashness is something to study and learn from.
Young people and even older job seekers are realizing that no one will look out for their interests if they don't.
We can scold Alex for his rudeness but we can't ignore the fact that employers have become incredibly rude to job applicants, too.
My inbox is filled with stories of unspeakable rudeness perpetrated on job applicants by employers, so maybe we should give Alex a pass.
Alex tried to wheel and deal with you and it didn't work. Your company doesn't want to work that way, and that's fine -- but maybe your competitors do. Maybe they would overlook a communication bobble like the one Alex experienced. Maybe they would say "Heck, this guy is young. We can polish up his rough edges. Let's get him on board -- he's obviously smart and we could use his ideas."
These days the more entrepreneurial someone is, the more successful they will be.
We have to give up the idea that a candidate who advocates for themselves is a bad apple. We have to get over the idea that a person who negotiates for a higher salary has a bad attitude.
Maybe Alex needs a little coaching but possesses an entrepreneurial fire other companies fight over. You will run into more and more candidates like Alex and each time you do, your muscles will grow.
We are all stepping into new territory now. As long as we stay open to the learning, we will grow together!
All the best,
Liz
