Appointments

Andrew Layman:  PCB CEO

For some time I’ve held the view that the person who is appointed to carry certain responsibility should not shoulder the blame for failing to do so.    Let me clarify this statement.    Quite often people do not meet the expectations of employers and when this happens they suffer the consequences for not measuring up.    But in many of these cases, they should not have been appointed in the first place; so the blame for failure really lies with the person who did the appointment.    There are exceptions to this, of course.   Sometimes the appointee comes with impeccable credentials and a sound record of previous performance, but for unforeseen reasons is unable to perform as expected in the new position.  

All this implies that the selection process should be a great deal more rigorous than it often is.    Quite frequently employers find out too late that there are factors relating to the appointee’s past career record that might have resulted in his or her disqualification.    But they never asked when they had the chance to do so.   Nor did they check on the information given in the CV, nor verify claimed qualifications and past experience.     Close scrutiny of an application and the CV that accompanies it is really the first step towards successful employment.    They should not be taken at face value.   Every claim needs to be tested in the knowledge that the applicant has presented these documents as a means of securing the position.    He or she is not going to reveal a dismissal from a previous position unless specifically asked.    Therefore, the reasons given in the application as to why he or she had left a previous job need to be confirmed.    Personally, I am suspicious of applicants who have changed jobs frequently, even though this is becoming a norm in the modern world.   Long service, once an indication of loyalty and admired by would-be employers, is now viewed with concern because it suggests lack of drive and ambition.    Apart from the fact that I would want to see some loyalty to a former employer, I question the value of the experience gained in jobs which are occupied for periods of months rather than years.

It is a wise practice to test all the applicant’s claims in the interview.    While the answers will not all be honest, perhaps, it is the stated lie that protects the employer when the truth emerges down the line.   A vague reason given for a change of job in the CV should not pass muster in the interview when there is the opportunity to tie the applicant down.    If and when it transpires that the employee’s work is unsatisfactory, and it can be shown that some answers in the interview were not true, dismissal is comparatively easy.  But all too often, the leading questions have not been asked, perhaps out of a sense of courtesy.     I suggest that the act of committing to the employment of someone whose performance is germane to the success of a business is more important than polite niceties.  

It has been shown in government spheres, notably at local level, that incompetent people have been appointed to take responsibility that they are simply incapable of carrying.    It is not uncommon for such incompetents to have nothing in their working history that reflects any chance that they may cope with the job to which they are appointed.    Sometimes it appears that people think that competence can be miraculously and suddenly found; just as some people think that experience can be replaced by a two-day training course.     In the context of government, it is also worrying that people who have either disgraced themselves in one organisation, or at least failed to produce the required goods, have ended up in more senior positions in another.     Whether this results from a conscious decision to ignore the prior difficulties and give the person another chance, or from rank inefficiency in not checking properly, one cannot say, but there are few instances where a person actually turns over the proverbial new leaf.     I say therefore, when your appointment turns sour, look first at your own appointment procedures.  Perhaps the signs were all there at the time, but you didn’t see them.          

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