Drum Roll, Please . . . It’s ‘The Craziest Recruiting Story of 2010’!

We received the stories, we went through them, and we enjoyed reading them.  Just like we said we would.  And at the end of the day . . . we went to sleep.  But before we did that, we chose a winner, the “Craziest Recruiting Story of 2010.”

The story is a simple one, and the reason that we chose it is this one: it met the number-one criteria, the fact that it teetered on the edge of believability.  It wasn’t unbelievable, but we found it difficult to believe that a candidate would actually do this, especially one who was interviewing for the position of Employee Relations Manager.

The recruiter who submitted the story was Top Echelon Network Preferred Member Coleen Balogh-Walther of The Provident Search Group, Inc.  That story, in her own words, is below:

 

“I had a candidate interviewing for an Employee Relations Manager (Human Resources) position.  He had made it through several stages of the interview process and was interviewing with the General Manager and two Assistant General Managers, and throughout the interview, he repeatedly used the f-word!  Needless to say, they were offended and did not hire him.

“When I spoke to the candidate and told him WHY he was not getting the offer, his response was that he was not using the word to be offensive, but he was using it for effect.  I told him that if the effect was to NOT get the job, he succeeded!”

 

Congratulations, Coleen!  As promised, your story is being highlighted in The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog and will also receive mention in this week’s episode of “Top Echelon TV.”  I’d like to thank all of the recruiters who submitted stories to us.  They were all rather crazy, in their own individual ways, but unfortunately . . . there can be only one winner.

However, there was one submission that caught our eye in particular.  That’s because it would have won this year’s award IF it had happened this year.  But alas, it happened in 2009.  It was so crazy and so outrageous, though, that we decided to bestow it with an honorable mention status and also include it in The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog and “Top Echelon TV.”

The recruiter involved is Joe Noto of Regency Search Group.  And the story?  Well, we’ll let Joe tell you how it went down.

 

“A candidate I placed did not show up to start work as a General Manager of Mexican Operations in Juarez, Mexico.  It was four days before he contacted the client and me because he had been abducted by Mexican drug cartel/gang members and held captive.

“They stole his laptop, credit cards, cell phone and other personal items and threatened to kill his family.  They then cleaned out his bank accounts and later released him.  As unbelievable as all this is, it really happened, and the most unbelievable part is he still took the job, starting a couple of weeks later.”

 

We enjoyed some of the submitted stories so much that we might include them in selected future issues of The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog and episodes of “Top Echelon TV.”  In fact, we’ve had so much fun with this that I’d like to encourage you to send in your craziest recruiting stories of all-time.  Let’s open the floodgates.  I know the stories are out there.  They have to be.  This is recruiting we’re talking about!

So write them down and send them in.  The email address is marketing@TopEchelon.com.  We’ll be waiting.

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MDeutsch@TopEchelon.com
(330) 455-1433, Ext. 125