Need Urgent Advice - To Mention or not to Mention?

Society Business and Career
1

I’m facing a serious dilemma guys, and need your advice about this like real soon :frowning:

My company has to choose between two candidates. One of them is my friend and everyone knows that coz I brought her in. I don’t want her to be chosen coz she’s my friend though, but she is more qualified than the other candidate as per the test, but there is not that great of a difference. She’s quiet and less communicative though. The other candidate is more confident and cheerful, plus has an equivalent degree from the UK while my friend has the degree from Pakistan. I think, but I’m not sure though, that my friend asked for a less salary than the other candidate.

My friend from Pakistan is not that close of a friend and the friendship is not the reason here but she has serious household financial problems though. They are a family of three females and she is going to be supporting her immediate family, ailing mother and younger sister who goes to college, with this job. Their money situation is not good. Because of this I really want her to get this job. The other candidate told me that her primary reason for wanting this job is because she desperately wants to work from Karachi, as right now she is posted in Lahore but it was obvious she didn’t really need the money.

Beyond giving my initial green signal, which I have already given to both candidates, I don’t have a further official say in the decision, unless I try to influence it unofficially.

I was talking to mummy about this yesterday and she said mention it to your boss that she’s needy and that will be a plus. Papa was a bit hesitant about that but didn’t think it was an out of the question option. Their experience has been in desi working environments though and the atmosphere there is not so extremely professional and more open to such things though so they told me to think about everything and decide. Ours is an American company and is much more Americanised in the way it is managed and run.

Our company is going to be making the decision and job offer pretty soon.

Spoke to two colleagues about this. One said mention it very subtly. She’s a close friend, not involved in making the decision, but not a professional minded girl. The other colleague, whom I’m not as close to, a nice but professional minded guy, who’ll also have an input in the final decision, said don’t mention it to the boss, offerred to mention it himself if I wanted, but we decided it was not a good idea. He said, he can’t see how it will help, but it might harm, as the company might make a lesser job offer as in the end its all about money, thinking she’ll take it anyway. Plus, we decided if it has to be mentioned, I, not him, should be the one to mention it.

Now, I’m just really confused. I want my friend to get this job. But I don’t want to do anything unfair or bad. Plus, in case she is getting it anyway, I don’t want to mess things for her in any way. Our boss is a nice person but he’s answerable to his bosses in the US and there is a whole management network. I don’t know if I should mention it to my boss that my friend is financially needy or not?

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since its urgent and 0 responses for 35 views:

a usual ethical doublebind....
i dont think its always about the money for a successful company. its more about what the candidate brings to the table and its image in business circles. if your employer works along the lines of the western standards, he might want a west-trained employee. does your company recruit a lot of foriegn graduates? just cuz the UK guy said he wants to move to karachi as his primary motivation doesnt mean he doesnt need this job as badly. maybe he didnt mention his situation cuz he may not be that close to you. while its saddening to know ur friend's situation, it is important to realize that most people hunting for jobs are not much different. especially those who are willing to give up their old jobs and move to a new city, thats like starting over.
on the flip side, contacts have always been important in job-seeking and acquiring. so yeah, if you can do ur friend a favour why shouldnt you. just keep in mind that in doing so you are asking for someone else's favour too. you should have avoided the whole merit-based selection process and handed the job to ur friend. still, what you can do is pull some strings (ask for some favours) and do ur friend a favour.

from the outside, with no feelings at all, i see the UK guy more worthy of the job just cuz he is better qualified and could be more productive (confident and all).

3

hey, The Rainmaker, thanks a lot for your reply.

Hmmm...

some things:

1 - I don't have the authority to appoint people. I was only one of the preliminary interviewers. So it was not upto me to appoint her. The only string I can pull now is give her very good reviews [which I have, and which she deserved merit wise anyway]. Other than that, I could mention this thing to my boss that she is really qualified, interested and needy as well? I've mentioned the qualified and interested part to my top most boss in the office and the needy part to the guy in the middle who has a strong say [the colleague I took advice from]...but he said he will keep it to himself. The final decision will be taken by our topmost boss and our bosses in the US.

  1. As per what my colleague said though, mentioning this might have an opposite effect, maybe if the company knows she is needy, they'll offer her a lower salary package thinking she'll accept it anyway?

  2. The UK girl definitely did not need the money coz of financial reasons, I'm pretty sure of that. However ye she was clearly more confident and social and yes, our company does employ a lot of foreign graduates and image is a big thing.

  3. This job is still a PC based job and doesn't need confidence and social skills as such.

4

Irem
from the ethical point of view when you are hiring people you dont look at them as needy or friends but rather that they can perform the job at the lowest total cost (meaning they wont leave in a day and so on).

My serious suggestion to you would be not talk about this any further. Let the people who are making the decsion do the talking, you should in fact take yourself out of the equation if you feel that you are making a biased opinion because of your friendship. Secondly, the issue of personal hardship is not really a criteria that should be coming up in job offer or lack there off. At least not in a professional setting - in the first place the question should not be asked and in the second the interviewee should not have really given you that information.

The best a person should do for their friends, is recommend them to people so that they get a leg up on getting the job and be able to recommend them if asked about their work ethics, but you shouldnt really be talking to people around you asking if you need to bias the outcome. That would be in my experience regarded as highly unusual (unless you have worked a lot with this person and they you want to recommend them for a job) and also rather unprofessional. Now my thots are based on the western working environment but I a similar setup should apply to your company as well.

Just give people your thougths and see how it goes and if your friend doesnt get the job then keep her in mind and see if any of the other companies you work work are looking for people and recommend her there.

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Hmmm...

hmcq thanks for your advice.

After considering everything guys....your responses aboce, plus thinking about it more, and talking to another old class fellow who works in karachi too about this (he also said don't mention it and gave some more reasons), I've decided not to mention it to my boss about the needy part. I think that's the better approach.

Thanks to all once again who replied :)