Face it. Even the most well-oiled hiring machines (companies) make ridiculously bad hiring decisions to the point where the powers that be (upper management) are sitting there scratching their heads wondering who made the decision to put this ill-equipped candidate on staff. The next line of questions in dealing with this fiasco is where exactly did this candidate come from? To put things more succinctly what they are trying to ascertain is was this a collective colossal internal gaffe or was this the work of the recruiter?
As a recruiter I always took umbrage when the company that hired my candidate tried to shift blame away from their own inept hiring practices while passing the blame onto me. As I recall the job of the recruiter is to source, recruit and screen the candidate prior to presenting them for consideration. Once the candidate walks into the hallowed halls of where his interviewer sits the responsibility of the making the decision to hire or not to hire the candidate rests squarely on the shoulder of the final decision maker.
The fact is you Mr. Company must have or should have had in place a comprehensive system of checks and balances to make sure you are getting “bank for your buck” for the fee the recruiter is charging. If due diligence was not done why should any shock waves reverberate all through the office? You not I made the decision so therefore transferring blame to me or any other recruiter is exactly as I just said which is trying to fault somebody else for your mistake.
I shudder to think about the nuclear meltdown that would occur should the person that everybody gave the thumbs up to was the new CEO, CFO, Executive Vice President and anywhere else down the line where a minimum six figure salary was being paid to. What happens next is that a “fall guy” must be found (appointed) to do exactly as he was anointed to do which is put all blame himself. Of course this person would have to be handsomely compensated so that he does not “sing.”
Internal corporate recruiters walk around with handcuffs as other than the “boards” with some social media sprinkled in for good measure there is little they can do. Cold calling into a competitor could put them into an antitrust violation. Open the corporate checkbook as these suits cost a ton of money to defend or settle. If nothing else you can blame them for not doing their jobs correctly or for entering into an agreement with either a Contingency or Retained Search Recruiter. Either way a fee was paid out that is not being returned nor should it be. Armed with the knowledge you did your job correctly or sold the right product to the right person give back your money?
Pouring though the company roster another scapegoat can easily be found. Even if this person had no part in the process since they are not irreplaceable make them responsible for the fact that you are incapable of accepting responsibility. This hardly constitutes the markings of a leader of anything except chairmanship of the liars club.
Alternatively you could have made sure you team is all on the same page. Additionally as the company appointed “Commander In Chief) it was your job to oversee the hiring when it came to needing a high dollar value employee. Sitting back in your plush velvet swivel officer chair displays indifference. Your indifference will filter down except any explanations from the “lower echelon” employees will hold no water in your mind.
Instead of using the washroom mirror to admire yourself perhaps you should have used the mirror to take an honest look into yourself to determine where you are as a Corporate Executive while also committing to a more responsive approach to high-level goings on while vowing not to look to place blame on others when you were the one who erred.
Of course the easiest way out of your mess is to simply place the blame on the building maintenance staff since we all know they are responsible for anything that goes wrong. Those vacuums will suck in anything that is near them. So your well laid out plans that were on paper are now gone. So you deduct and conclude it was all their fault. Haven’t you head of a Hard Drive? Those do crash so you have another “out” if you need it.
Being an ex-tv junkie I do remember a detective show or two where the person who committed the dastardly deed was…The Butler! Next time when there is a “goof” quickly hire a butler or somebody who dresses like one and persuade all that THE BUTLER DID IT!
Playing The Blame game will make you the loser practically all the time.
