As the hiring executive for one of your most important roles, you have worked your way through many candidates, narrowed the pool down to a few finalists, and have developed a strong preference for one candidate. Suddenly, someone in your organization, either solicited or unsolicited, delivers some dark feedback on the candidate. Perhaps they heard from someone who worked directly with your finalist in another organization, either as a supervisor, peer, or subordinate, and that person has provided less than flattering, or even decisively unflattering feedback. Worse yet, it’s your boss, another senior executive in your organization, or someone on the Board who brings this information to you. How do you handle it?
Perhaps the safest thing to do is to pass on the candidate – after all, you don’t have to hire any particular person. Of course, you need to weigh the importance of having the role filled now versus settling for a lesser candidate in your candidate pool, or perhaps starting the search from scratch again. Yet, you don’t want your decision to hire in the face of this negative feedback hanging over you, as any potential hiccup in performance or cultural fit by this candidate is potentially an “I told you so” moment by those in your organization, particularly if it’s your boss or another senior level executive. Why needlessly put your own career in jeopardy?
As a hiring executive myself for many years in the biopharma industry, I encountered this situation more than a few times. Now as an executive search professional, I see it with our clients. I really can’t blame anyone for not moving forward with a finalist under these circumstances. It’s hard to un-hear the doubt cast on your candidate. It’s even harder, or maybe even foolish, to put yourself out on a limb.
On the other hand, I can say that there were at least a couple times when I wished I had been more resolute regarding my finalist. In one case, I had insight into the candidate from personal experience, and understood why there might be some less flattering opinions of this person. Unfortunately, my boss heard an offhand comment directly from another C-level executive who had been a couple levels above my finalist in his most recent organization. I was aware that he had ruffled some feathers in that organization by raising the performance bar and holding people accountable. I caved and passed on him.
In retrospect, I wish I had maintained my confidence, carefully explained my understanding of the concerns expressed, outlined my own process for mitigation of any potential risks associated with the candidate, and provided my vision for the significantly net positive benefits that I expected from this individual. I was confident, and remain so to this day, that this person would have been a huge asset to my organization. Yet I lacked the courage of these convictions being relatively new in my position, and so chose the path I perceived to be safer with my boss. Did I do the right thing?
So how do you best manage these situations? The full answer lies beyond the scope of this short article which is more meant to be thought provoking than a how-to resource. A potential starting list of considerations:
- Explore the credibility of the source of the negative information including any unusual aspects of the source’s relationship and recency or relevancy to the candidate. I once heard negative feedback from an industry vendor whose firm had been fired by my finalist, which was not clear at the time he delivered the negative assessment.
- Pursue your own trusted sources to dig further into the concerns raised. In my experience, former bosses are the most likely to provide a wholistic and objective view of a candidate.
- Reflect on how robust your interview process has been in leading to this candidate. Senior level executives, especially if they have been a force for significant organizational change at different points in their career, will often have detractors. After all, people aren’t wired to love change or authority. Does your hiring system (sourcing, screening, interviewing, reference checking) give you the confidence that you can assess accurately, even with the less than positive feedback that may find its way to your ears? If so, proceed. If not, find the weaknesses in your process and strengthen those areas.
Effective hiring practices will always bring competitive advantages to you and your organization, and even then, your courage may be tested.
Barry Duke, Managing Partner
