Donna Flagg

Against All Odds: Influencing Others
March 20, 2008

A fascinating thing occurred this week and I’m not even sure what to say about it, other than to raise some questions about employee behavior to which I don’t have the answers. 

Here’s what happened… right after the Bear Sterns implosion was announced, I had a friend who was employed there ask me if I would help him get his resume out. Of course I was happy to do whatever I could. So I immediately forwarded it to two of my former colleagues who now work at 2 of the top 5 investment banks in the world. One is the head of human resources and the other is an assistant, or as she would say, “a secretary.” 

The response back from both of them was similar. That is to say, they expressed the unlikelihood that there would be much hiring going on given the “current climate.” The head of HR basically said nothing can happen now and the “secretary” said that nothing would probably happen now, but that I should send the resume anyway.

Within a half an hour, I had a second reply from the secretary. It was to say that my friend should be expecting a call from the head of staffing to set up an interview. She was very clear to reiterate again that Wall Street was shaken, but the candidate had too strong a resume to overlook. She also said that my friend from Bear should use her name and follow up within a few days if no contact had been made.

Now how does it happen that the guy with all the power sitting at the top echelon of a company comes across so powerless, while the woman at the bottom is so effective, and in the end, produced results?

It beats me.

Posted by Donna Flagg on March 20, 2008 | Comments (0)