Anonymous
Larry pension spring guaranteed tail: He'dramrod old, straight, shine success fully putting organization, training and development problems right for the U.S. Army. With his MBA from Stanford, he was prime and he knew it.
Now it was payback time, he was going to make some serious money. And the consulting side of this accounting firm was his first stop. He spent the whole interview day there moving up the pecking order. The higher he got, the more time they spent with him. Good sign. They listened to the army problems he'd solved and how he'd done it, even discussing similarities with some of their current industrial clients. At about 5:45, the consulting division managing partner was all smiles. "Larry, you've had quite a career." And as they walked to the door of his office, "Tell me, any final questions I can answer for you?" More out of curiosity than anything, Larry asked what performance review process the firm itself used.
"Well, that's easy," the partner said, still smiling. "We have annual reviews for all employees. Everybody gets personal goals set for them, quantified where possible, and they're evaluated against those goals. They're told what their strengths are and what needs improvement." Larry couldn't help but respond to that, it was his field after all. "Really? That's surprising, that kind of one-way, top-down evaluation. In business today, it's two-way communication, continuous feedback, questions, coaching. A once-a-year review just isn't enough. I'm surprised you still do that."
The partner kept smiling, but the smile became a little frosty around the edges. "Well, thanks, Larry, I appreciate your opinion. That's my system. I'll try to do better next time. Thank you again for coming in." Two days later Larry got a standard rejection letter.
Criticize a potential employer at your peril. Somebody is responsible for what you criticize, and you don't know who. It could be your interviewer.
