when i called james with a great opprotunity, he told me that he knew the company and that he would never go to work for them…he knew the management and didn’t like them…didn’t like waht they sold and besides, he was under a non-compete…and they couldn’t afford him anyhow
the V.P. and hirng authority was a reasonable guy and my candidate’s reputation in that field was excellent even though his ego is gigantic…
the V.P. agreeed to talk to him on the phone…the company had just fired a disasterous employee so this replacement needed to be a sperfect as possible…
after two telephone interviews, the V.P. said that the next step was to come to corporate…but he warned james that he didn’t want him to go to corporate unless he was committed to “take the job”…well, james couldn’t committ to that…
so james took another job with a money guarantee that sounded too good to be true…they were going to guarantee him $250,000 to simply show up…
the V.P. was irritated but understood…meanwhile, i find him another great candidate…almost as good a james…in fact, he was a peer of james at one time…
steve goes thru the whole interview process with the V.P….gets the same instruction, “don’t come to corporate unless you are willing to do the job”…he agrees…goes to corproate..impresses the CEO and everyone else…gets the offer..
he turns the job down..$4500 in travel expenses…a committment to take the job if offered, and he turns it down…
the V.P. is furious…can’t blame him..
it has been three weeks since james had gracefully bowed out…out of some whim (..i.e. desperation) i called james… asking him how his new deal is going..
that day he laerned that his new company had just had their next round of funding postponed…that guarantee he got wouldn’t mean a darn thing if they didn’t get funding…and the woudn’t know for another month…
james was still reluctant to speak with the V.P. who he had turned down…but the very smart V.P. had just hired a V.P. of marketing that worked with james at one time…
the V.P. has his new hire call james…james gets excited… because his reference was excellent and his reputation was so good, he meets with the V.P. and accepts the job…
lesson: …it ain’t over till it’s over…some things are just meant to be
