Treat people with respect, even in business.

A few years ago, I left @IBM, the biggest career mistake I ever made, and ever since life has been lousy.

I joined a company where, on the day I started and even before I got through security my new manager came to see me.  He told me that the job had changed, it was UK role and not EMEA one, it wasn't selling through partners but bringing their solutions in-house for our teams to sell, it wouldn't be around financial crime but something about financial services, and he was going back to the States a few days later.  I was left in limbo for six weeks until I got a new manager who headed this new team.  I was warned about this individual and these warnings of her being a bully were all true.  Not that this did me any good she didn't like me, so I was forced out after six months.

After a few years in the wilderness, dealing with a divorce and its aftermath, I started work and it was great.  I applied for a new job and got it after several rounds of interviews and final approval by the CEO.  With great excitement, I started this role in December 2022.  What a mistake, my manager was fired within a month, and I was laid off after four months.  Why, was it going wrong?  Nothing the simple truth is that the company changed their mind about doing channel.

This was what the CEO said, "Unfortunately, due to the trading of the business and the need for focus on direct sales and account management, we are taking the decision to terminate the role of Strategic Partner Manager within the business.  This is not a reflection on you, nor the work you have been doing, it is a business decision driven by trading performance and focus." So great after only four months I am out in the cold not because of me but because of the lousy way the company was being run.

I recently applied to a company twice in six months, two different roles but the response I got back was exactly the same boilerplate response to both.

I did reach out to the regional VP about this and to my great surprise and appreciation he had one of their senior HR people investigate it.  The HR guy responded to me even though it was a weekend, which again was much appreciated.

He said, "I was asked to review your application by (name removed).  Sadly, we will not be progressing your application.  We have had an internal candidate who we have offered the position.  For all roles, we treat all applicants with equal consideration.  Outside of the internal candidate we had over 100 applications for this particular role."

My response:

"Thanks for your update last evening, I was out hence the short response and I wanted to reach out with a fuller response.  First please pass on my thanks to (name removed).

When I sent the question on a Saturday, I wasn't sure if he would act or reply so it was a welcome surprise when he jumped on it so quickly.  Secondly, thanks to you for your swift action and response.

I would like to take a moment to reflect on this.  I do understand why you would go with an internal candidate; it can be a quick and cost-effective way to fill a vacancy. However, it could be worth asking why you felt it necessary to advertise externally when you had the right person in-house.  I would also think that once a vacancy had been generally advertised it would be prudent to consider each candidate equally irrespective of whether they are internal or external.

It is also great for you that you had over 100 external applicants and I am sure many were well qualified, I am equally sure that many were not.  Perhaps directs sales guys who think they understand channel, those who do not understand the ins and outs of alliances, nor of partner negotiation or conflict resolution for example for example.  I also appreciate that if you took the time to respond to each of these applicants directly it would perhaps take three man days. But these are not just applicants they are people. People who, however misguided, have taken the time to read your job description and put together their CV in response.  It would be great if you, and many other companies out there, would take the time to respond to these people, after all, 10 minutes per response is not that long, is it?   This rather than the boilerplate and identical rejection emails that I received to both of my applications over the past few months.  It would help those who applied to understand how to improve their skills and chance of employment either with your company or another in the future.  It would also enhance your company's status, make it stand out and, perhaps one day in the future that person may be in a position where they need to make a decision when such a professional courtesy would be remembered fondly.

As an FYI and so you don't feel ambushed, I am going to write an article for LinkedIn about my experience, using your response to me and this letter.  This is not to put pressure on anybody, and I will write it in such a way as to not identify either you or your company.  When I reached out, I wasn't looking for a progression of my applications but just an understanding of why I was unsuccessful.  I wish you every success and good luck to the candidate you have moved forward with.  If anything changes you know where to reach me".

My calls to action to all recruiters:

·       Please add your salary range to the job advert, in a recent survey, 90% of respondents said that this should be a requirement, just saves wasting anybody time.

·       Advertise internally before externally, save you costs and time in reviewing the many external applications you will get, most of whom won't be qualified.

·       Be explicit in your job adverts and put all your requirements on there.  I have applied for so many jobs where my CV is a perfect fit for the advert, but I am still rejected out of hand.

·       Respond to each applicant.  I know this will take time, but people have spent a long time applying they deserve more than a stock reply.

To business owners and managers:

·       Before you offer a job make sure it is real.  As a company you can go back if you want, for a person they can't go back to their old jobs because you change your mind or find that you are managing your company so badly that you don't know what you're doing. For you, you’re laying off an employee for them you are screwing over a person.

To legislators:

·       Make it illegal for companies to act the way the two listed above have done. They can get rid of an individual, if they don't fit in, just because they want to within two years.  This needs changing, especially considering the way we work today with people not spending years with a single company, the average tenure is about 30 months these days.  If they simply change their minds, then companies should be required to pay at least two years salary in compensation.

·       In France a company must go through hoops to get rid of a staff member, their system is too far but if the UK wants to be great again, to prosper post-Brexit to be considered somewhere people want to stay and prosper then those people need to be valued.

Today I am doing a little consulting while still wanting to get back into full time employment.