I was the operations guy at my previous job, so I would chair the hiring committees and be the one to take care of the details of the actual hiring and firing. Firing is typically the better platform for storytelling, but at least one good story comes from hiring.
During one interview, of a young man that we really thought would be good for our company, the man kept referring to a blank spot in his resume very generally as “family issues” or “trouble” etc. So after the interview, I started my Google research. Long story short, I found that the man was arrested for cocaine distribution and jailed for a short spell to be released early for cooperating with the police.
Being the Real Estate industry, where no college education, drug test, experience or actual skill is required, the CEO decided to hire the guy anyway seeing as he knew the boy’s mother.
So I brought the guy back in to talk and process. I told him that I found his terrible secret, welcomed him to the land of second chances and told him that if he ever lied to me again we’d have one more meeting.
A few months later he sold his first house. He celebrated with his first clients, the new homeowners, with champagne, was pulled over on the way home and taken to jail for 3 months for DUI while still on probation.
He asked me to speak at his hearing, which I refused only because being in front of a judge is something I do not relish in any capacity.
So, I read this article this morning and recollected…
