It’s Not Just The Résumé That Matters

My boss often asks me to look over prospective CVs (résumés), mainly just as a second pair of eyes in case I spot something he didn’t. He hands me a CV for a role in our department.

Me: “I wouldn’t employ him if I were you.”

Boss: “Really? He has such a great CV.”

Me: “Yeah, but the guy does the bare minimum. He’s a real ‘not my job,’ ‘they don’t pay me to care’ type of guy.”

Boss: “Are you sure?”

Me: “Oh, yeah. I worked with him. Wouldn’t help out others, left me in the s*** a few times when I needed help, and he just clocked out.”

Boss: “Fair enough.”

He screws up the CV and throws it in the bin.

A few months later, the “new starters” email comes out and it’s the guy we were talking about. He must have applied for another position and gotten it. The last few months were tough, and we couldn’t find anyone for the job, so everyone in the department was really busy.

Boss: “Listen, I’m not doubting you, but [Other Department] offered to lend us [New Guy]. I do have an interview later with a really inexperienced candidate. Are you sure we don’t want [New Guy]?”

Me: “Trust me.”

He reluctantly did. The interview went well and they hired the woman to take on the role. On the day she started, they fired [New Guy] for his attitude. It must have been bad as it was right when we were about to get really busy.

With so few candidates, we would have been really stuck if my boss had kept up the swap. The new woman did really well and was a great help in the months after