Burn her...she's a witch!

Looks as if the New York AG, Andrew Cuomo, is getting closer to naming the identities of the Merrill Lynch employees who earned bonuses for last year's performances. Pretty soon, the witch hunt will likely extend to all financial services sectors employees whose employers received TARP funds.

Naturally, this got me thinking about the recruiters who earned a few sheckels placing these star performers into new organizations. Some enterprising politicians going to start following the money and ask the question... You paid someone a fee to recruit these bozos?

It might get bumpy 'round here.

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Permalink Reply by Dan Nuroo on March 19, 2009 at 8:52am

This reminds me of a time when I knew I'd been in agency recruiting for too long, when I heard about a Software Tester, Michael McDermott going "postal" and shooting 7 people dead. Read more here, for those who don't remember. My initial thought, as callous as it sounds was simply... "glad I didn't place him! Imagine the repercussions".

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Permalink Reply by Gino Conti on March 19, 2009 at 9:20am

Dan -

It is almost eerie how close that hits to home here. No more than two years ago when I was still on the agency side something very similar happened to a co-worker and I.

We were working on a position for an accounting firm and found the ideal candidate, but did the honest thing and talked to him before we sent his resume in. Although we thought it was pretty unfortunate at the time, one of our competitors just sent his resume over without so much as a phone call just to win the time stamp battle and have candidate ownership.

They ended up being allowed to rep him, but when he got laid off a few short months later and shot up the lobby of the accounting firm and staffing agency we had a similar sense of relief! I won't be too surprised if recruiters start coming under fire at some point from either the general public for the placement of said 'bozos' or from the bozos who go off the deep end like this guy after losing their jobs.

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Permalink Reply by Gino Conti on March 19, 2009 at 9:21am

I almost forgot - Steve, I loved the MP reference. My brothers and I are huge fans and have a pretty comprehensive collection...

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Permalink Reply by Dan Nuroo on March 19, 2009 at 9:34am

OK something weird just happened.

Let's try again.

BTW. Steve is not the messiah.... he's just a very naughty boy!

Gino Conti said:

I almost forgot - Steve, I loved the MP reference. My brothers and I are huge fans and have a pretty comprehensive collection...

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Permalink Reply by Michael Glenn on March 19, 2009 at 10:51am

One burning question (no pun here) What is the terminal velocity of an African Swallow?? If that was an interview question from the onset, we would never had these problems to begin with.

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Permalink Reply by Jim Sullivan on March 19, 2009 at 11:39am

While that won't happen, it makes you wonder how far our gov't will go into the private business affiars of companies. Andrew Cuomo is chasing headlines like all the rest of them. Give me a break. These politicians are shameless. They all take donations, make backroom deals, and then scream with indignation when something like this happens. I say good for the AIG guys. A contract is a contract. Would you stay if you were going to lose your bonus that was promised in writing? One more thing, the tone coming from TV "stars" like Brian Williams and Matt Lauer is laughable. Do you think if GE gets bailed out, they would not get their contractual bonuses? I don't think so.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Levy on March 19, 2009 at 11:54am

Sully gets it...

Jim Sullivan said:

While that won't happen, it makes you wonder how far our gov't will go into the private business affiars of companies. Andrew Cuomo is chasing headlines like all the rest of them. Give me a break. These politicians are shameless. They all take donations, make backroom deals, and then scream with indignation when something like this happens. I say good for the AIG guys. A contract is a contract. Would you stay if you were going to lose your bonus that was promised in writing? One more thing, the tone coming from TV "stars" like Brian Williams and Matt Lauer is laughable. Do you think if GE gets bailed out, they would not get their contractual bonuses? I don't think so.

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Permalink Reply by Todd Kmiec on March 19, 2009 at 12:14pm

Yes, Sully does get it. As sad as the whole thing is, a little Monty Python really makes my day. Thanks for the post and the laugh. Sheeee's aaaaa WITCH! BURN HER! BURN HER! LOL!

Todd Kmiec
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