Sad Sally…

A partner of mine was recruiting for a Denver based client and ran into this “sticky situation”.    The owners of the business had laid out a hiring plan, and included the entire team in the interview process wanting to be sure that they had  everyone’s  buy in when bringing on a new member. After an interview or two it became clear that one of the current employees was sending a less than positive message to the candidates which in turn had them concerned about the culture at this company.   There was a “Sad Sally” working for the client.

You know “Sad Sally” or maybe “Downer Dan” don’t you? They are the member of the team that for personal reasons is not happy with the company, their job, their manager, their clients…the list could go on and on. Matter of fact you might be working  next to a Sally or a Dan right now.

This got me thinking about how common it is that there can be an entire group of people in a department who are happy and one or two that are not.  As a recruiter I find that professionals who are  accomplishing, achieving, top 10% in their field pay little attention to the views and or opinions of the unhappy, under performing members on the team.  They have the same role, manager, customers, and of course work for the same company, but they thrive alongside a downbeat Sally or a negative Dan…

Please keep this in mind if you are interviewing for a new position. If you find a Sally or Dan on the team be sure to dig in deeper. Evaluate the new opportunity against your own measuring stick and not theirs.  Spend time determining if the company is able to offer the environment that YOU need to be successful and pay little attention to the views and or opinions of the unhappy, under performing on the team.   Unless of course you have more in common with Sally or Dan, if this is true then you should have concerns about the opportunity since it may not be a fit for you!