Lost Decorum, Missing Rewards

One of the things I like the most about headhunter Nick Corcodilos's blog, Ask the Headhunter, is that his advice for those who seek jobs (or employees) so readily translates to many other areas. A recent example of this was when he ended up discussing the importance of etiquette -- something that too many people seem to imagine is irrelevant to the hiring process. A hiring manager had written to him that a rejected applicant had seemed surprised to hear back at all. Corcodilos responded in part:

If you don't inspire good people to say nice things about your company, you can't hire good people. It starts with that thank-you note; even with a no-thank-you note. Where it really starts is with your hand writing a personal note; with that hand attached to an arm attached to a warm body that gives a damn. Because if you don't give a damn about people who apply to your jobs, pretty soon everybody will know, including your shareholders.

And that, Mr. CEO and Ms. Member of the Board of Directors, is why you need to make sure your HR department and your managers are polite, wear clean underwear, and write thank-you notes.

Even my limited experience hiring babysitters provides evidence of the value of treating employees and potential employees like human beings. For example, I once managed to hire an excellent sitter months after I'd rejected her, because I mentioned in my "no thank you" letter that the rejection was merely because I'd found two good sitters already and didn't have enough work for a third. She remembered me when I contacted her later, after one of those became unavailable. As another example, I have also not had to advertise at all at least twice because sitters have volunteered that they had friends who also sat. If rudeness has its own penalties, benevolence has its own rewards.

-- CAV