A recent article in The Washington Post, “Metro’s search for general manager set back by 3 finalists’ withdrawals”, highlighted the often-overlooked consequences of information about recruited candidates becoming public during the process. The three finalists for the WMATA General Manager position all withdrew from consideration out of concern that their names would become public before the selection was made. While Metro seemingly did everything right, from engaging an executive search firm and interviewing candidates off-site to keeping information about the search tightly held among members of the board of directors, a reporter still managed to surface enough identifying information about the candidates to disrupt the project. Now Metro is in the distressing position of restarting the search, with the added challenge of having more attention focused on the process.
Concern about exposure is the biggest impediment to getting qualified candidates to consider new opportunities. Candidates take the most risk when they throw their hat in the ring. They might place their current position in jeopardy if word gets out that they are interviewing elsewhere. There are additional adverse effects if it is known that a candidate was considered for and did not get offered the new role. For a strong number two in an organization, public knowledge that they failed to land a number one role can be devastating and may prevent them from ever being considered for the number one role in their current company.
Confidentiality is important in all searches, not just high-profile ones. Do your hiring practices work in ways that allow your firm to see the most talented candidates? Does your executive management team understand the importance of complete confidentiality, not just during the recruitment process but even afterwards? Are your confidential candidates signing in on a visitor log book that exposes their identities to other visitors? Is someone on your team doing independent reference checking by calling mutual acquaintances of the candidate? All of those seemingly innocuous actions can expose a candidate, kill their enthusiasm and land you back at square one in the recruiting process. It’s an avoidable situation if everyone remembers the old adage, “Loose lips sink ships.”
TMG’s Take is a regular e-mail advisory produced by The McCormick Group. The company’s Government Contracting group combines the expertise of our knowledgeable consultants to help government contractors fulfill all of their recruiting needs. TMG’s Take covers topics across the spectrum of the government contracting industry, including business development, proposals, contract management, cyber security, compliance, R&D, technology, and finance. Please direct all inquiries to Brian McCormick, Executive Vice President at (703) 841-1700 or bmccormi@tmg-dc.com
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