For the past six months, you’ve been heading a hiring committeein charge of hiring a new division manager. It’s been a gruelingprocess—filtering through thousands of applications, seeminglyendless meetings and discussions debating people’s qualifications,so many interviews in different cities that it’s hard to rememberwhom you met and where, and even more debates about who should beflown to your headquarters for a day of final interviews.
But it’s almost over now. After so many interviews, meetings,and discussions the committee has settled on a candidate thateveryone thinks is ideal for the job—Ivy-league educated, lots ofmanagement experience, a great personality, driven to succeed,willing to learn etc. He was near the top of your list when youbegan this process six months ago, and here he is now, in firstplace at the finish line.
You head into the last hiring committee meeting with lots ofrelief. Not only are you happy that you found the right person forthe job, but you’re really glad that this meeting is just going bea formality. No more debates or arguments about applicants’ workexperiences, education, or hobbies. Just walk on in, take a quickvote, and then make a call with the job offer.
But as you walk into the committee meeting, there’s a strangevibe. Some people look quite worried, whereas others are justangry. When you ask what’s going on, one of the committee membersresponds that in the past few days, she added the final candidateas a friend on Facebook, and what she found on his profile wasquite disturbing. There were several photos of him passed out onthe sidewalk after drinking too much. Other photos showed himsmoking marijuana at a friend’s apartment. Another photo shows himwearing a Nazi costume for what you assume is a Halloween party.And then there’s the language—almost all of his posts are filledwith obscenities.
After seeing all of this, half the committee wants to go withanother candidate. They can’t imagine that this is the kind ofperson they want leading your company’s most important division.The other half of the committee thinks it’s not a big deal at all.They believe that how he spends his personal time has absolutely noreflection on his ability to manage, and they’re angry thatcommittee members would try to use it against him.
So here you are, faced with a split (and angry) committee.They’re looking to you to make or break the deadlock—should we hirethis guy or move on to someone else?
- What decision would you make? Would you hire this person orre-open the search?
- In your opinion, are companies justified in using anapplicant’s Facebook or Twitter account when considering them for ajob?
- Do you believe that a company should be concerned with how apotential employee spends his or her personal time?
