The Lie, The Bargain & Zombies

By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter

A few weeks ago, a young analyst called me up. She is someone I mentor had just started a new position.

“I just started work for this firm and started thinking about all the incongruous things that have been said to me since I began interviewing here,” she said. “I realize that all the seduction firms give to potential hire . . . they’re lying and try to clean it up on start day when HR comes into the picture.”

I laughed because she now understood what I have said for a long time.

Words in any language have meaning and you in human resources and in recruiting are the special guardians of the words that organizations use to express and explain themselves to potential new hires.

Thus, when a firm calls me and discusses a permanent position on their staff, I am obligated to follow up and ask, “So during the last economic down turn when your company did layoffs, weren’t those ‘permanent employees?’ It doesn’t seem like their jobs were particularly ‘permanent.’”

Or when a hiring manager speaks at an interview about everyone in the firm, everyone on the team, feels just like family, is a part of a big family, all motivated to the success of the firm.” Then you arrive at HR for orientation and are told your employment is “at will” and…