Adventures In Recruiting: The Candidate Who Could Not Make Up Her Mind

Not long ago, a recruiter friend of mine told me this story.

   

It seems that there was an account supervisor working on a cosmetics account.  She was underpaid and her responsibilities were actually below her experience level.  As a result, she was vulnerable to being recruited to another job.  Through the recruiter who told me the story, this account supervisor received an offer on a competitive cosmetics account, still as an account supervisor, but for about 50% more than she was making.

She accepted immediately.  It was a great offer at a good agency on one of the most visible accounts in the category. When she went to resign, her agency came right back at her telling her how much they valued her and asked her to wait a couple of days.  In a day or two they came back at her with a counter offer.  They promised that they would give her a title of senior account supervisor (the agency had no such title) and give her a raise to meet the other agency’s offer. Both the salary increase and the title would occur in six months.  The recruiter told the AS that she was playing with fire and that six months was ample time for her to be replaced. And because nothing would happen for half a year, the agency would have no additional expenses.

I have written many times about not accepting counter offers.  This story illustrates what can happen. A counter offer that meets the new salary is not a counter offer; a counter offer, if it is a real counter, should actually be higher and better than the new offer. It should be immediate and not in the future, especially not in six months. Offers for more money from a current employer may be flattering, but do not resolve the underlying issues for wanting to leave in the first place.

Well, nevertheless, this account supervisor accepted this non-counter offer to stay with her current agency.

The recruiter told the new agency and they were very disappointed.  The new agency really liked her and added another $5,000 to their offer and a promise, which they would put in writing, of a promotion within six months.

So the account supervisor again accepted this new offer, agreed to a new start date and then again told her existing agency she was leaving.  They came back to her and agreed to meet the new agency’s promise of title and salary in three months. It was clear that the existing agency was just buying time.

The recruiter warned her not to take the counter offer and to move on.  Of course, the candidate figured that the recruiter was only trying to make a placement and was exaggerating the negative aspects of staying where she was.

In effect, the account person played it badly with both agencies. Why she would stay at her existing agency was incomprehensible.  Not surprising, both agencies were furious.  Her existing agency saw her as disloyal; the new agency realized that she was wishy-washy. 

The recruiter was so angry that she actually called many other recruiters as well as other people she knew who worked on cosmetics and tried to blacklist this person.

Well, guess what? The candidate was replaced and terminated about six weeks later.  She actually called the second agency and asked if the job was still available.  Very correctly they would have nothing to do with her.  The recruiter who was involved told this supervisor that she would never again work with her. Surprise.

As told to me by the recruiter, this account supervisor was out of work so long that she had to take a job that was paying less than she was making when this whole business started.

When I heard the story about a year later, she had lost her new job when the agency lost the account she was working on.  She ended up leaving the business.

The whole point of this post is that once you make up your mind to leave your job and you get a good offer, you must leave.

Adventures In Advertising: How Business Was Once Pitched - And Won

Once upon a time, long before new business consultants conducted paid searches for companies, new business was quite different.   If an agency wanted to pitch an account, they had to figure out how to get to the person in charge of the account; usually the president or chairman of the company.  President, chairman or other CEO's were totally involved in their company's advertising.

I love this story.

As many of you know, my dad and his brother had an agency, Lawrence C. Gumbinner Advertising (It later became known as Gumbinner-North).  By the 1960’s it was the twentieth largest agency in the world.  This is the story of how they won the business that helped get them there.  They were fairly small, but aggressive. Shortly after they started, they contacted the legendary George Washington Hill, who was president of American Tobacco.  They were the manufacturers of, among many cigarette brands, Lucky Strike, which actually had about a 20% share of the tobacco market. It was one of the world’s largest advertisers.  Mr. Hill was notoriously difficult and highly successful.  Nevertheless, he agreed to meet my dad, my uncle and Milton Goodman, who was the creative director.

They had an idea for one of the company’s smaller brands. They made whatever kind of presentation they made in those days. It was only to Mr. Hill.  There were no other client people there as was common in those days.  Mr. Hill was impressed.  Unfortunately, he told them that their agency was too small for the account. It was not an unexpected response.  Apparently, they had pitched one of the company’s smaller brands, but Mr. Hill said no, their agency was just too small.  Milton Goodman looked at him and, as my dad told the story, said, “Mr. Hill, the difference between a small agency and a large agency is your account.”

He thought for a moment and then, on the spot, Mr. Hill rewarded the agency with a brand of cigar, Roi-Tan. (“What this country needs is a good 5¢ cigar”). 

 

The campaign ran for over 40 years (eventually becoming 10¢). Over time, the agency was given other brands and eventually was given Tareyton cigarettes which was a multi-million dollar account. During the time that they had the business and Mr. Hill was president of the company, they always had full access to him and he approved all the advertising, there were no issues between them despite his reputation for being difficult.

I doubt a story like that could happen today.

Adventures In Recruiting: Do You Know A Good Recruiter?

This post is hard to believe.  But it is the honest truth. I thought it would be a fun read before the holidays.

I have been recruiting for over 30 years. My specialty is advertising.  During that time, dozens, no, hundreds, of candidates have asked me for the names of recruiters who recruit for related businesses -  marketing companies, brand managers, in-house ad agencies, corporate communications and public relations.  I actually don’t know anyone who specializes in those areas. 

Each time I have been asked this question, I give the same response. “If you find someone you like, please, please, please give me their name so I can establish a relationship with them. I would love to be able to send candidates to a recruiter who does what I don't do.”  Every person I have asked has told me that they would call with a recommendation.

Now here is the truth: Not one single person, no one, has ever given me a single name.  Ever. Not once in 30+ years.  Hard to believe, isn’t it?

So this is a plea.  I would love recommendations on good recruiters in other fields.