One night in snowy February, as I was walking to my car, I happened into a former employee, who left Staffwell last Spring. She was dressed like an Eskimo and at first I thought she was someone else. In the shock of the moment we were all excited to see each other and did a quick happy catch up on things.
She was surprised Staffwell’s lights were still on after 8pm. I told her that as usual some of the team was still working away and as always, focused on success. She said Staffwell is the greatest firm and she missed it so much. I asked her how things were for her, and she replied not well. She said it was impossible for her company to find recruitment work and things were really looking bad.
I started to remember who she really was. She was OK, not a star but a solid worker, and a steady, nice personality. She asked how things were with Staffwell. I said ‘good’ and that we were just trying to survive like everyone else, but that we were getting new vacancies in and the team was working on them. She was surprised a little bit and went on again to talk about how great it was working at Staffwell.
Not remembering and then also not sure if she would have told us a truthful story at the time anyway, I asked her why she left last year. She was honest and said that she got an offer to join a start-up that was specializing in banking. She was regretful though and said it was not what she thought it was going to be and that it was nothing like Staffwell.
She said the management and management style was terrible and they could not get any business, and that nobody wanted to work with them. She said everyone loves Staffwell. She said another former colleague was always pushing her to go back to Staffwell, to try to go back. She then went on to praise Staffwell in every area.
We don’t usually hire back people that have left us for competing firms, of any level, but we have on occasion when the situation seemed favorable to us. Real grudges are really only held toward those that leave and steal from us on the way out, and I have a small list of those people always on hand, should a company be smart enough to check references on them.
I told this person that I was sorry to hear about her troubles and told her to keep in touch with us when the market picks up and we are actively in full speed hiring again; that we would consider her in the selection process.
Sometimes it is hard to see just how green the grass is just where you are. However, even bad experiences can be good in life, because they put reality in perspective again for you, so that you can make better decision going forward.
Tags : career, negative experience, right decisions, карьера, негативный опыт, правильные решения
Marina, so great to hear from you and ‘cheers’ regarding your comment -so nice to hear! Let us know how the job market is in Australia and count on me for a great reference. We are still focused on marketing and PR here! Take care, Teri
Teri, you know what I praise about Staffwell at my job interviews? In fact I praise you.
People outside Russia know nothing about Russia. In fact they are scared of it. And when I tell them I used to work with one American lady who didn’t speak much Russian but was so damn successful in the market, their jaws drop. I am not even sure if they believe me… ahaha!
Great to hear you are doing well!
Regards from Australia