So, Peter left, and now you need to find someone else. As a senior engineer, he left quite a large Peter-shaped hole in the department. He had been with the company for many years, and the position evolved alongside him, with Peter adapting to the role and the role adapting to Peter’s skills and preferences.
You start jotting down some keywords on a piece of paper: education, technical knowledge and skills, personal profile. Then you realize it might be a good idea to involve someone else. You step out of your office to find Jimmy, Peter’s closest colleague for many years. Together, you create a long list of keywords for the job advertisement. It feels good. The list makes sense, even though it’s much longer and more detailed than you initially imagined. You’re also pleased because Jimmy essentially confirmed your own thoughts about the position.
Next, you visit HR to get their help publishing the job offer. The HR consultant, Antonio, is happy to assist and asks what you need. You explain that you need a replacement for Peter and share the list of keywords with him. He asks if the keywords reflect the position Peter held, and you confirm they do. Then he asks if there are any present or future changes to the position. You expected this question and reply that you already discussed it with Jimmy and that there are no changes. Antonio looks at you for a few seconds and then confirms that they will start the recruiting process.
The following day, you receive a draft job post from HR, which you revise and approve with a few minor changes. Later, you meet Antonio on the way back to your office from a meeting. He holds a piece of paper in his hand.
“Do you know what this is?” he asks.
“No,” you reply, taking the paper to have a look. “Ah, it’s the job post.”
“No,” Antonio replies. “This is a description of Peter. Are you sure you absolutely need another Peter?”
“I was sure from the beginning, but as you probably remember, I did check with Jimmy.”
“The same Jimmy who worked with Peter for more than 20 years?”
“Exactly,” you reply. “The very same. There cannot be anyone more qualified to define this position and who we need.”
Antonio tilts his head slightly, looking down. “OK then,” he says. “We will find you another Peter.”
A couple of weeks later, you start conducting interviews. There aren’t many qualified candidates. In fact, there’s only one. His name is Fred, and he has experience with tasks similar to Peter’s and a background in mechanical engineering. Your plant is actually closer to his home than his current workplace, so things look promising. During the interviews, you ask him what it would take to convince him to accept an offer from you, and he mentions that his current salary isn’t particularly impressive.
Things are looking good. You feel positive about Fred, and so does Jimmy, who participated in the second interview. The only issue seems to be the salary, which might need to be slightly higher than you expected. You hope your boss and HR won’t have a problem with that.
There are, of course, other candidates, but none of them seem capable of doing the job. Antonio from HR mysteriously insists on interviewing several of them and even schedules a second interview with one candidate named Alicia. Her experience is limited to about three years, including six months as a trainee. She has some basic knowledge from university and some experience with relevant, but different, technologies. Even though she seems very interested in the job and the technologies you work with, she doesn’t really know much about the specific tasks you would need her to handle.
Despite Antonio’s insistence on dragging out the decision, you finally manage to get your preferred candidate on board. It wasn’t cheap to hire Fred, but it’s important to consider that hiring a much less experienced candidate would have negatively impacted department output for a prolonged period. Fred starts working with you, and in a short time, he’s doing really well. Everything is almost as it was when Peter was still around.
Half a year passes, and suddenly Fred steps into your office to tell you he will resign. You are really surprised and ask him why.
“Well, actually, I received a very good offer,” he says.
“I thought you were happy with your salary?”
“Oh yes,” he replies. “I have absolutely no complaints about that. Actually, I had to accept a somewhat lower salary.”
“But why are you leaving then?”
He explains that he was offered a chance to work with new and highly interesting technologies, still building on his past experience. He will also be managing some of the projects he will work on. Furthermore, he is concerned about the lack of professional challenges and development with you. He has been doing the same kind of work for years with his previous employer, and he is performing very similar tasks with you.
You return to HR to ask them to advertise the position again. But Antonio says there is no need.
“Don’t you remember that young engineer we interviewed?” he asks.
“Sure,” you say. “But she was not really qualified.”
“I don’t know,” he says. “I would guess that if you give her a few months, she will be more or less OK. And give her a year, and she will be good.”
“But Jimmy will refuse to work with her. He said he didn’t want to be a babysitter.”
“I think Jimmy will be happy,” Antonio says. “After working with Peter for 20 years, I am sure having a new colleague will be like opening the window and feeling the fresh air from outside.”
So, you accept hiring that young woman, but with a feeling of having made the wrong decision when you should have stayed firm. You tell Jimmy, who certainly does not look happy, but that is no surprise.
Alicia starts working, and things go quite well from the beginning. At times, you and Jimmy are surprised by how little she knows. However, Jimmy is helping her quite a lot. As he says:
“We cannot blame her for being here. If anyone made a mistake hiring her, then it’s us. So, I am going to do my best to fill these giant knowledge gaps of hers.”
Time passes, and you note that she and Jimmy spend a lot of time together. She is doing fine, and Jimmy seems to have changed. Before, he was sort of grumpy, and now he is laughing and coming up with ideas on how you can improve your work methods. He often credits Alicia for coming up with the ideas or at least triggering them.
One day, you meet Antonio, and he asks you how Alicia is doing.
“Actually, I have to admit that she is doing very well.”
“I am happy to hear that. Then let’s hope that she stays for some time,” Antonio says.
“I believe she will. After all, Jimmy has taught her a lot, and she says she’s very happy learning and being able to contribute more every day. Now I just hope that Jimmy will not leave. For now, he seems satisfied, even more than before. But maybe in a year or two? Then we would have to find another Jimmy.”
“No, please no,” Antonio states with a firm voice. “In two years, Alicia will be Jimmy.”
“Ah, OK, but then we would have to find another Alicia.”
“No, no, no,” Antonio laughs. “There is only one Peter, one Jimmy, and one Alicia. But tell me what is so good about Alicia, and I will tell you who we will be looking for.”
“I don’t know. She’s just so motivated. She likes to learn the things we work with here and to put her learning into practice. It’s like she is following some path she was meant to follow.”
“If Alicia is following a path, then what happened to the first guy we hired? What was his name?”
“Fred. I don’t know,” you say. “I guess that was more like a crossroads. You know, Fred driving on one of the roads and we on the other one. We met at the crossroads, but then Fred decided that he did not like our road and continued on his own.”
“Don’t tell anyone,” Antonio says with a smile. “But when we hired Fred, I actually thought we would be OK. Next time we have to hire someone, let’s talk more about paths and crossroads and less about experience and skills.”
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Written by Arne Beyerholm, International Recruiter at Look Abroad!