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What Hyman Roth Would Do

HymanFinding the Right Person is what I do as a recruiter. It's what all successful recruiters do. If I get an order from Intel for a director of marketing for their next generation of microprocessors I'll tell you what i am going to do. I am going to find the right person and make the placement.

kinda reminds me of this:

Hyman Roth:There was this kid I grew up with - he was younger than me. Sortalooked up to me - you know. We did our first work together - worked ourway out of the street. Things were good, we made the most of it. DuringProhibition - we ran molasses into Canada - made a fortune - youfather, too. As much as anyone, I loved him - and trusted him. Later onhe had an idea - to build a city out of a desert stop-over for GI's onthe way to the West Coast. That kid's name was Moe Green - and the cityhe invented was Las Vegas. This was a great man - a man of vision andguts. And there isn't even a plaque - or a signpost - or a statue ofhim in that town! Someone put a bullet through his eye. No one knowswho gave the order - when I heard it, I wasn't angry; I knew Moe - Iknew he was head-strong, talking loud, saying stupid things. So when heturned up dead - I let it go. And I said to myself, this is thebusiness we've chosen - I didn't ask who gave the order - because ithad nothing to do with business!

I don't remember the last time a client asked me where or how did I find this candidate. I am also quite sure that the companies don't ask the researchers where they came across the name of the person on the list they are buying.

As Steve Levy says:

"You say Toe-May-Toe and I say Toe-Ma-Toe"

Posted by Jason

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Wed, 10/05/2005 - 10:18pm

That's a very appropriate quotation.

Wed, 10/05/2005 - 10:21pm

Thanks CH. Lots of talk on the blogs in the last few days about the "right" way to get what you are looking for in the recruiting business.

Wed, 10/05/2005 - 10:36pm

I got it I think. The ends justify the means... within reason.

I'm not saying that's wrong. In fact I think I agree. I just want to be clear. Does this go for others... can they use whatever means they believe achieves their ends and you won't object (unreasonably)? After all "this is the business we've chosen" as Roth says.

If there are lines you won't cross (in your business) where are they? Do you disclose them to others so they can decide if you are a match for their ways of doing business?

Thu, 10/06/2005 - 1:20am

The business Moe chose got him a bullet in the eye. No one in that business has any doubts about the consequences.

Putting an ethical patina on what we do and pretending that effective recruiting can only be done with out of work candidates is not honestly addressing the business.

It's pretending we're something we're not to allow us to sleep at night.

I sleep fine because my job is helping clients build better businesses, and I do it by helping candidates match their skills and reputations to companies that best fit their skills.

Everything else is a yes, but..

As my grandmother used to tell me, everything after "but," is bullsh**.

Thu, 10/06/2005 - 1:37am

Goodness... that's one spicy Grandma, Jim.

Thu, 10/06/2005 - 2:43am

Hi Laurence,

I think in most cases, the successful have at times have done things that perhaps cross a line or two.

This post is in response to all the chatter on a number of blogs lately about ethical recruiting.

If a guy takes a job that he wants and then finds out the recruiter obtained his name by less than honest means, what really is the issue. Maybe an honest approach would have never led the recruiter to the candidate in the first place.

I remember reading in a Bill Radin book about a recruiter who knew the person he wanted to recruit worked at this specific company. After many unsuccessful attempts to find the person, he tried another method. He paid off the lunch truck guy and took his route for 2 weeks.

During that time after asking lots of good questions about the company and the technology, he found the guys name and then recruited him. He got a big pay check for it.

I thought it was very clever.

Thu, 10/06/2005 - 6:36am

a) I don't believe the story about 2 weeks on the lunch truck to recruit a guy.

b) recruiters are like sleazy private eyes. only the gumshoes work for more honourable reasons (for instance to expose people who are cheating on their husbands or wives). Recruiters are more like Moe Green.

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