I just listened to the cast about hiring: "Setting the bar high" from about a year ago.
I work in a small company and my boss, the CEO, tends to hire friends of his kids or his kids themselves. This has happened 3 times now and has always ended in disaster. It's about to happen again and I'm not optimistic, obviously. I have a good enough relationship with him to be able to say, "Look, this really hasn't worked in the past," but there is a MAJOR blind spot there. People are hired without ever even being interviewed! Is there anything that I can do?
Re: Hiring Friends?
[quote="rgbiv99"]I have a good enough relationship with him to be able to say, "Look, this really hasn't worked in the past," [/quote]
How about instead offering to conduct the search yourself? "Hey Boss, I know your busy with project X for the next several weeks. Would you mind me taking a shot at replacing in ?"
Hiring Friends?
A rare time that I disagree with Tom - I'd say DON'T take on the responsibility and risk being undercut at the end with the boss ignoring your recommendation and going ahead and hiring whoever he wats anyway.
You've got the relationship with the boss to do it, so do it: Make the case (with as much quantifiable evidence like cost of turnover and replacement, comparison of tenure with other positions, etc). Show him it's been a disaster. If you're arguing from the standpoint of the financial good of the business, you're on the side of angels on this one...
-Hugh
Hiring Friends?
My only advice is don't try to manage your boss.
I agree with HMac.
It is good to point out cases where previous poor process has resulted in bad hires, and how the bad hires have affected the business. Going beyond that probably won't be helpful. I would not suggest trying to take over the process. You may find you're expected to interview a bunch of people and then hire the boss's kid anyway.
tc>
Hiring Friends?
[quote="tcomeau"] You may find you're expected to interview a bunch of people and then hire the boss's kid anyway.
[/quote]
Yes, this is precisely what happens. Initially I felt dishonest because I'm interviewing these people that are excited about the position when the truth is that it's already taken; but listening to some of these podcasts I'm starting to think of these "faux" interviews as lining people up to "wait in the wings," as they put it. I suppose it never hurts to make the connections.