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From The Interview Site (under construction)
He Ain’t Heavy; He’s My Brother…

    During my salad days as a young personnel assistant at a major hotel chain, I learned one hiring lesson the hard the way. Unfortunately, I had to learn the same lesson over and over during the course of my career. Hiring the brothers, sisters or close relatives of employees is rarely the best idea and is rarely a successful hire.

    More than a few times, I’ve been extremely busy in my position in personnel: training programs, benefits, staff childcare programs… I’ve been too busy doing my job to do my job. In order to save time, I’ve posted available employment positions on the bulletin board outside my office and have hoped that employees would send in a brother or a sister or a cousin, someone with an automatic recommendation who would fit the job description. And though the tactic is an unprofessional one, and I knew I could only hope to find a “loose fit” for the position, I wrongly believed that my objective, saving time, was appropriate to the moment. In fact, I wrongly believed I was saving time. Bad hires are never, never time-saving. They give the personnel department a black eye, hurt the careers of those “busy” individuals who push for the ill-fitted candidates, and they cost the personnel department (in other words me) the time necessary to dismiss the bad hire while avoiding a lawsuit, and hire someone who will actually be an asset to the company and stay in the position. What a phenomenal waste of time and resources!

    I won’t go into each tragic error on my part, but I do want to share one story. I had a capable, hardworking employee named Oliver who was moving up in our security division; he was an ideal employee. In a rush to fill a customer service position, I posted the job and crossed my fingers. Oliver brought in his brother Matthew’s resume. I almost hired him sight-unseen. (His interview was awkward; I couldn’t believe they were brothers.) Matthew was hired to save me time (lol); he was often late, his clothes were wrinkled and sloppy, and he had a difficult time relating to customers and their issues. I moved him to several other positions within the company and never found a niche for him. When I finally let him go, his brother Oliver was irritated and eventually took a position with another company. It was a lose-lose situation, and it fell in my lap.

     Finding the right person for any job is not an easy task; it takes a professional to find a professional. Today, I cast a wide net before I schedule a single interview. Often, I find talented and qualified candidates in surrounding cities and states. I use the web to research potential employees and often conduct interviews via webcam. I have found webcam interviews to be a very effective use of time in that less chitchat and more performance-related discussion occurs. I no longer make rookie mistakes.

    It’s taken me 22 years to finally internalize this lesson: hiring is not a family affair. Be a professional and take the necessary steps to search and interview the right candidate whether that person is local, national or international. He ain’t heavy, but he ain’t right for the job either.