This is it! Much like the person in the above photo, we’ve just about reached the end of the line . . . with our crazy recruiting stories, that is!
We’ve presented quite a few memorable moments from the long and illustrious careers of recruiters brave enough to submit their tall tales of placement-less woe. (Although we have no reason to believe that these stories are not 100% true. Of course, the names have been omitted to protect the innocent—as well as the guilty.)
To help wrap up this series of blog posts, we’re ending the whole she-bang with our “Real-Life Crazy Recruiting Story Extravaganza.” After all, it’s April 1, otherwise known as April Fools’ Day. What better day to do this than today? No better day, that’s what.
The crazy recruiting stories below are small, bite-sized yarns that weren’t long enough to warrant an entire blog post, but certainly are worthy of distribution. Enjoy!
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“I once had a candidate who had an unusual request before agreeing to an interview. She needed to make sure that she could park her trailer full of livestock for the interview.”
“I once had a candidate who was rejected because he referred to somebody as a ‘knucklehead’ and a ‘good ol’ boy.’ That didn’t go well.”
“I once had a candidate who had his license taken away for drunk driving. He then went on a two-hour drive to interview with a company. He drove there without a license, and then he outright told the company about it. Needless to say, he didn’t get the job.”
“I have many crazy recruiting stories, including one time I had to wait for a candidate to begin his new position a month after he accepted the offer because he had to go on a cattle drive. With another candidate, I had to find stables to board her horses in New Jersey before she would take the offer. One time, another candidate would only consider the opportunity if we could find his son fencing lessons in the new city where the job was.”
“Recently I had to wait for a candidate to take his sheep to another state to get sheared and to be sold before he was available for an interview. Lastly, I recently had a candidate accept a counter-offer because his current employer held him hostage for a week in one part of their building and threatened him with legal action if he left for a competitor. Never a dull moment in recruiting!”
“I had a client in the video distribution business (supplier to Blockbuster in the early days) who was seeking a Chief Financial Officer, and miraculously a video distribution CFO saw my ad and answered. I asked him why he was available, and he explained this story to me. He was CFO of an X-rated movie company, which was not obvious from his resume. To quote him as exactly as I can recall, ‘The owner was banging some of the actresses, and his wife caught him. She blew his brains out in his office and was charged with murder. Her defense is draining the cash out of the company, and we’re in bankruptcy because of it.’
“I also had a candidate who was being considered for a $150K job. A Google search revealed that the guy was being charged with his ex-wife’s recent murder. That was the end of that one!”
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Remember, there are two ways you can submit your craziest recruiting story (that may or may not involve hiring ethics):
- You can email your story to marketing@topechelon.com.
- You can add the story in the comments section at the end of this blog post.
Keep in mind that you can remain anonymous if you would like, and by submitting your story, you give us permission to include the story in a future blog or social media post. And be sure to check back with the Top Echelon Blog.