I used to have a friend, and I use that term loosely, that was the cheapest human being who has ever walked this green planet that God bestowed up on us poor wretched souls. It’s impossible for me to explain to you how unbelievably cheap this d-bag was without just providing you with some examples to muddle through:
1. He once made his high school girlfriend pay him back after loaning her lunch money one day.
2. He would keep a 12 pack of Sprite under his bed to hide from his college roommates. Then he would promptly drink the Sprite that THEY bought and kept in the refrigerator.
3. He once ran the fastest 40-yard-dash ever recorded by another human being in an attempt to knock both me and a friend of mine out of the way so that he could reach into the cabinet, grab a box of Coco Crispies and hide it in another room, which he then locked…all so we couldn’t eat his cereal.
4. He used to spend the night at my house in high school so he could go and see his girlfriend until the wee hours of the morning. No, that’s not cheap, it’s just pissed me off for so many years that I felt like including it. Apparently, MY parents were OK to sneak out on…and don’t even get me started on his creepy, weird mother!
Anyway, point is, this cat was cheap! For some reason, girls still went out with him. But, he did manage to somehow piss most of his friends off enough to where we don’t keep in touch with him anymore…and to the point that I’ve actually given him about three paragraphs worth of blog time. So, I guess the egg’s on my face for that one!
Ladies and Gentleman, I can’t stress this enough: Please don’t be cheap! I understand you have a budget to stick to. I really do. But, sometimes you have to roll out the red carpet for a really damn good candidate! There are some things that candidates have just come to expect…and that they’re GETTING from every other agency.Few pointers Lance? Sure thing bucko:Always pay for the candidate to come out for a visit! If you’re expecting that super badass Account Director to pay their own way out to your agency, you might as well kiss their ass goodbye and consider them hired by another agency. I mean really, how much does a plane ticket cost?
Take them to lunch, and take them to a good place. Everything about the interview process is impression, impression, impression. Pick a place that’s comfy but that will leave a good taste in their mouth (no pun intended). I like Ryan’s Steakhouse just as much as the next guy, but I’d never take a date there…well, not that you know of anyway. This is one of those things that candidates take back home with them. If they just dined on cold mac-n-cheese and chicken pot pie, they’re gonna be a little less likely to remember it fondly.Pay the relo up front. I’ve never understood why some agencies practice the “refund relo” situation. It’s hard enough for these candidates to pack up the Clampett Family Truckster and jump ship to another location with family, dog and grandma in check. The last piece of stress they need in their life is coming up with $7K cash to make the move. Not to mention the fact that I’ve seen, in way to many cases, it take months and months for the agency to get past all the red tape and get a check cut to the candidate. That’s WAY too stressful a way to start a new job!
Just a couple of things that I’ve seen in the past for you to chew on and digest. Careful, if you eat too fast you’ll get heartburn!
One final note: Does anyone out there watch Rachel Ray? I don’t. I love the Food Network more than anything in this world, but when she comes on I just turn the channel. Piece of advice Rachel: it takes just as long to say EVOO as it does to say Extra Virgin Olive Oil! And, it does no good to use an acronym if you’re going to say the damn phrase right after you use it! Rachel Ray, that’ll be quite enough thank you!
“On second thought, let’s not go to Camelot. It is a silly place.”
King Arthur – “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”
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i dig it yo. coming out of an executive search firm, i’ve seen some silly things in relation to the above. you got yourself a new reader now! take care.
gina
April 30th, 2008