What do you do when someone asks you to be on a radio show that you haven’t prepared for? You do it, of course! I was surprised recently when I received an email from both Paul Paris and Heather Huhman asking if I wanted to help out with an episode of the Ex Recruiter Show on blacklisting.
A Little Back Story
Heather is an entrepreneur. She hires her own employees, and she had a bad experience with one candidate who she ended up blacklisting. The whole experience was reported in an interview about blacklisting in the Wall Street Journal. Heather took a lot of flack in the comments from people who seemed to be in one of two groups. Either they didn’t know blacklisting really existed or they thought it was a horrible practice to promote.
When I saw Heather post on the experience on her blog (thanks to a tip from my buddy J.T. at CAREEREALISM), I quickly let her know that I supported her decision as a business owner to refuse to employ a certain person based on prior behavior. I think it was that support that led her to ask me to join her on Paul’s show.
The Show
The episode covered many topics… A few highlights:
- Heather’s mom’s possible blacklist situation
- Pot-stirring appearance by my buddy from the first HRevolution, Johnny Nyk
- How blacklists work for recruiters, companies (no rehire policies), and individuals/entrepreneurs
- Stupid reasons for blacklisting
And the absolute best resource I’ve ever found for making sure you don’t get put on a blacklist (or a “let’s laugh at this idiot” list) is Kerry’s Tales of the Clue Free series. I guarantee a few laughs and maybe even a shudder or two at the crazy antics of the people she highlights there.
