Crazy Recruiting Story: ‘What’s Up With the Snake Around His Neck?’
Some of the crazy recruiting stories that we’ve relayed during the past month or so have involved animals, specifically those that dealt with jobs in the Animal Science and/or Animal Nutrition industries. However, this week’s story deviates from that pattern—it’s a crazy recruiting story that involves an animal and doesn’t involve either of those industries.
A Top Echelon Network Preferred Member recruiter submitted this story to us recently, and according to Jenkins, it happened approximately two years ago. If you’re afraid of snakes, you might find this story to be as unsettling as it is “crazy.” Enjoy!
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“My client was a very large telecom company in need of an excellent software developer. Many recruiting calls were made, and I felt that I found the perfect candidate. He answered all of the ‘test’ questions very well, was available, and had wonderful references from his past three positions. He admitted he was shy in a crowd, loved animals, was an excellent marksman, and had hockey tickets to the [Colorado] Avalanche pro hockey team. He even offered to take me to their next game. He also mentioned that he suffered from Asperger’s Syndrome. According to him, the effect was that he was very very good at discussing one topic at a time with people, but if he was in a crowd of people and had to jump from conversation to conversation, it was incredibly hard for him.
“Though his comment about being awkward in a crowd gave me pause, I did not feel it would be a problem, since the position would be dealing with people over the phone and not face-to-face. I felt the position would fit him well and introduced his credentials to the client. They loved his background and immediately asked me to set up a face-to-face interview for the very next day. The candidate was kind enough to call me from his cell phone, saying he was en route to the interview and would was on schedule to arrive about five minutes before the appointed time. Thoughts of invoicing the client before the end of the day entered my mind as I commenced making my routine phone calls.
“About five minutes before the interview was to begin, and right in the midst of a rather in-depth marketing call, up pops an instant message on my computer from the guy who had recommended our firm for the search. All it said was, “What’s up with the freaking snake around his neck?” As you can imagine, my attention was diverted to this issue, and I called my contact immediately. It turns out that the candidate loved animals so well that he took his pet boa constrictor most everywhere—even to a job interview. To make a long story short, he cleared out an entire floor of workers as he entered the building. I did not get the placement. The upside is that two days later he called as if nothing was wrong and asked if we were still on for the hockey game.”
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Remember, there are three ways you can submit your “Craziest Recruiting Story”:
- You can email your story to marketing@TopEchelon.com.
- You can post the story by including it in the comments section at the end of this blog.
- You can give me a call and relay your story to me.
The deadline for submitting your “Craziest Recruiting Story of 2011” is midnight on Saturday, December 31. We’ll announce the winner during the first part of January in The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog and the Recruiter Training Blog.
Halloween is just around the corner, so send us your recruiting stories of the strange and unusual . . . and of course, the crazy.
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MDeutsch@TopEchelon.com
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