Now, we meet thousands of candidates and clients over time and there are simply too many stories to share, but there were 2 incidents that I will always remember.
Now, these stories may or may not have a moral lesson behind them, but they are simply fascinating studies of human nature that I thought would be interesting for you to ruminate on.
Let me share these experiences with you. (Identities have been concealed to protect the actual individuals)
Story 1: The Wife’s Dream Job
I still recall the time when I had just started out in my headhunting career and was about to place a Finance Manager into the dream job she always wanted.
In terms of career progression, this was the perfect move for her and she was about to sign the offer letter – but she declined at the last minute.
I asked her why and she said sheepishly that her husband did not think it was a good idea as they were currently working in the same area and could car-pool together, but in her new role, she would be at the other end of the island, so it was going to be inconvenient for them.
Sensing something fishy, I reminded her that this new role had a company car included in the package and she didn’t need to carpool anymore, but she insisted that her husband disapproved of the new role.
Upon further prodding, she broke down and revealed the real reason for her man’s unhappiness.
Given her new salary package, she was going to earn considerably more than he did.
And the husband did not like the idea that she would be earning way more than him – so he forbade her to take on that job.
“What can I do?” She sighed quietly. “My marriage is more important than the job. A wife must support her husband.”
Was she correct? Should she have asserted her right to her career? Would it have damaged her marriage? I guess I’d never know.
Story 2: Easy Money
I met a manager who called me for coffee. He was looking for a job
Some time back, he had been approached by a Recruiter for a role at Company XXX and he had met the Managing Director.
They got along splendidly with each other and at the end of the interview, the MD leaned over and said, “I really like you. I’d like to make you an offer on the spot. But let’s not tell the Recruiter, so we don’t have to pay him the commission, ok? I’ll give you a $10,000 sign-on bonus if you do.”
This manager naively agreed and went ahead to sign the offer letter without telling the Recruiter.
Six months later, here he was, buying me a cup of coffee, asking me if I had a job for him.
Apparently, three months after he had started work with that MD, he was still not paid his promised sign-on bonus and was not even reimbursed for any of his business expenses.
His fists were curled into balls when he angrily told me, “How could he be so dishonest?!? If only I could have seen it coming!!!”
I smiled and bit my tongue, then, chuckled under my breath, “Yeah…if only.”
What are some of the Career Lessons we can learn from these 2 stories?
I will leave it to you to draw your own conclusions, suffice to say that interesting things happen all the time and all we can do is to learn from other peoples’ stories.
Be wise and stay wise!