When the new job is a bad fit, who’s to blame?

My breakfast companion was talking about an organisation he’d recently joined. After the interviews and flights back to the US for final rounds, the job was his for the taking. He took it, but had done little due diligence or spoken much with the Asia team, mostly US HQ.

He was given a big title, the word “regional” at the front. Only after he started did he realise that the title was in name only. It was actually a lower level admin role, no influence or management, but came with an inflated title.

The regional heads he thought he was to manage told him to go away, that he wasn’t needed. “If you want to talk,” one said when he showed up at their office, “first make an appointment with my PA. We’ll get back to you.”

And he got a similar reception elsewhere.

He read the org chart (for the first time..) and saw it was like a Rube Goldberg design–impossible to decipher–multiple bosses in multiple places, as it had been for years. Because of all the zany reporting lines, everyone went directly to the global CEO, who micro-managed it all. “He must get over 300 emails a day,” my friend commented, “I have no idea how he does it.” Well, he’d been doing it for years, so clearly he could.

Spurned by staff he didn’t manage, working in an environment that made little sense, and feeling increasingly anxious, he called the global head of HR as a sounding board. She too had only recently started, and commiserated with his plight. And doing what most HR people do, she went to the CEO to discuss it with him.

The CEO called my friend, said he wasn’t sure it was a good fit for either of them, and maybe the best thing was for him to leave. He agreed, and it was announced internally the following week. A 10 week run.

He admitted he knew it felt wrong and off-key at the outset, and should have immediately addressed it with the CEO. He decided instead to tough it out and build rapport, overriding his gut instinct of hesitancy.

Partly his fault, partly theirs. But I think he knows his missteps and has learned from it, never before having had a 10 week job.

The company? Not likely. How did they react? A short internal announcement and “Next!”, immediately started to go through their short list again.

They’ll get someone else in soon, and the same thing will happen. Those jobs are called “widow-makers”; no one can do ’em. When such failure happens again and again, the dysfunctional company says “Find someone who can do the damned job” rather than “What are we not doing right here?”

Structuring a position that is sound, on which people can grow and thrive, takes thought, precision. collaboration and an understanding that a senior job must be made wide enough not to be outgrown easily.

If a company “sells” a job as something it is not, they are doomed to repeat failed hires. A cavalier toss of the head of “get someone else in” won’t sustain over time–it can’t.

Be wary of such organisations; the management is not managing.. And it will not end until the employee leaves or the company blows up the old guard and brings in sunlight.

My friend is still shopping the market–much more cautiously..