Humour at the hiring table

June 27, 2018 12:03 pm | Updated June 28, 2018 03:13 pm IST

Sometimes, there is a funny side to headhunting undertaken to fill the top position.

Here are a few anecdotes that bring out this side of the process.

A short-lived tie

During an exercise to find a Chief Executive Officer, a British bank was surprised to see a short-listed candidate from an American bank attend the breakfast meet, dressed casually. “It was a Friday and he did not come dressed in a suit; he was not even wearing a tie. We sensed that many of the associates were not happy with a tie-less candidate. I quickly left the breakfast in search of a tie,” recalls Aditya Narayan Mishra, CEO of CIEL HR Services.

All over again

A candidate and a client had met multiple times over a five-month period and were close to signing the deal, when the candidate did not seem very keen on taking up the the offer and dropped out.

“Later, the same candidate and client met at a conference and were asked to resume the talks. They again started discussion about compensation and other numbers,” says Ankit Bansal, founder and CEO, Sapphire Human Solutions

A point proven

While hiring a CFO for a company, an executive search firm was surprised to learn that the person had asked for a salary that is 25% higher than the CEO’s.

“We thought that this would bring his chances down. To our amazement, the CEO was happy as this meant his management would realise that he was being underpaid,” says Ankit.

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