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Hypothetical

Side Notes and Detours [blog]

May 17, 2006

http://sidenotesanddetours.blogspot.com/2006/05/hypothetical.html

You've met someone who seems really cool, creative, and fun. This person is unemployed at the moment, but really looking hard - meeting with people, getting the word out. They have some unique ideas that seem promising. So you think about hiring them, and you start to check out their resume and references. In doing so, you find a few problems.

First off, their desired salary is way out of budget for the position. And while they have some good ideas, their figures seem inflated. If so, the profit to the company might not even cover their salary.

Secondly, they have been out of work for a very, very long time. In fact, they seem unable to get beyond the first or second interview with anyone. Your sources tell you that while some people are very attracted to this person's creativity and ingenuity, others have found them stubborn, overbearing, and difficult to work with.

Finally, you run a background check and find out that they are unable to get credit, they're constantly moving around and seem unable to establish a stable environment, and they've inexplicably changed their name three times in the past few years.

So, would you hire them?