On Monday I returned from the IRC Global Executive Search Partners’ annual conference in Santiago all fired up and inspired from interesting discussions on ‘global best practice’ on the million and one things that we do as executive headhunters.
It was particularly good to note that as the (exclusive) South African partner to this global alliance, we’re right up there when it comes to methodology, process, delivery, client and candidate engagement, and business ‘suss’. What was also fascinating was how people can be so different (member firms came from 30 countries, ranging from Russia to Peru to Finland to Singapore and back again), and yet in the corporate world, so similar……
A discussion on classic interviewing errors just clarified for me how ‘village-like’ we actually are, these days. A colleague from Denmark was talking about how one of her executive candidates had just made the worst mistake in a final interview, by speaking badly of his boss. I then returned home to the very same scenario with a senior candidate who had interviewed for a high level position with one of my clients……and landed up airing all sorts of dirty laundry about his current employer’s executive team.
A rookie mistake, but one made even by experienced senior managers who are lured into this particular interview trap by the question ‘If you were in your boss’s shoes, what would you do differently?’ (or something similar). And all of a sudden, it’s as if the interviewer said ‘Open Sesame’…..all the inside stories, all the pent-up gripes, all the niggles and corporate politics just seem to gush out.
With fatal consequences, unfortunately! Because no matter how justified the complaints and criticisms, it is just not considered professional (in anyone’s language, or in any culture, country or domain) to be loose-lipped about your current employer. You are the one who lands up looking disloyal, indiscreet and disrespectful!
I just wonder what they call ‘dis’ing in Danish.
