The blame game

Dear Hiring Manager

I was sorry to hear that John has left your business after only 2 months. However I am confused as to why you think this was my fault. My role was to provide you with a qualified shortlist of candidates based on the criteria you gave me. The thorough recruitment process I undertook meant that my shortlist was accurate and I was able to provide you with detailed feedback on each candidate. As well as the positives, I also advised you of any areas of concerns that I felt you should explore further during your own interviews. After each interview, I spoke with the candidates and gave you their honest feedback, good and bad, and continued to update you with any relevant information during the process. After taking references, which again I did thoroughly and fed back to you honestly, you asked me to make John an offer. At no stage did you express any concerns about the quality of the shortlist or John’s suitability for the role. In fact, I remember you being delighted to have found him.

Here's the thing: I did not tell you to make an offer to John, nor did I put you under any pressure to make an offer at all. I am sure that if you thought none of the candidates were suitable then you would have told me to start again. The fact is that you decided to make an offer and you decided to make that offer to John. This was after you interviewed him twice, your boss met him as did your HR.

So why are you blaming me? Your are the Hiring Manager; not me. You make the final decision; not me.

I appreciate that you are not happy with the outcome - trust me neither am I. But recruitment is not an exact science and any hiring decision has risk. My role was partly to do everything possible to mitigate that risk for you, which I did. If you have to blame anyone, blame John for not performing in the role. Blame your boss or HR for not spotting something. Blame yourself for making the wrong decision. Better still, don’t blame anyone. Accept that sometimes it just doesn’t turn out as expected, learn what you can from it and try and get a better result next time.

Yours Sincerely

Luke

PS – Feel free to not use my services again. However, you may find that the next recruiter you use is not as thorough or honest as I was – but at least you can then blame them a little bit more justifiably.

Comment by Sandra McCartt on November 4, 2011 at 1:08am: Surely you did not send this,you would really like to, but tell me you didn't.

Comment by Luke Collard on November 4, 2011 at 1:10am: Would have been nice....but no. Enough therapy just writing it !

Comment by Sandra McCartt on November 4, 2011 at 1:58am: I call those my "private stock hate letters". My fav is one that starts out, "dear asshole ,chickenshit and thief. It's a great collection letter but it has fortunately never been sent. :)

Comment by Tim Spagnola on November 4, 2011 at 11:34am: "private stock hate letters' - perhaps we should create a forum for us all to add a few of those. Even though I did not write it Luke it still offered a bit of therapy to me just reading. Honestly - I would just like to add the PS in some of my correspondence with clients on various issues. Great post!

Comment by Raphael Fang on November 4, 2011 at 12:24pm: When are we allow to let our true feelings to come out? The hiring managers need to know how we feel sometimes. It's the sign of the time that people are blaming others. Even recruiters do that.

Comment by Cora Mae Lengeman on November 4, 2011 at 3:59pm: Kuke, you forgot to tell the client that they managed or mismanaged John while he was there. Not only did they make the hiring decision, they also managed him while there. The blame is the client's - maybe John wasn't a great employee for them but how did they manage that problem? Our job is to find the candidates.

Two reasons I don't offer guarantees - I don't make the hiring decision and I don't get to manage the person after they are hired!

Comment by Raman Ramamurthy on November 6, 2011 at 9:38am: very true! the final decision to hire or not is done by the employer! why blame others, then?