Blog Post

Give Everyone A Second Chance 

It was a Saturday afternoon and everyone was in a relaxed mood. We were discussing various candidates and recruitment cases we’d come across. I felt compelled to share an incident that took place more than a year ago.

We’d sent a candidate for an interview where he got selected and was made an offer too. But the client had called back the very next day showing reluctance in hiring the candidate.  The reason being the candidate’s former boss happened to be the client’s acquaintance. He informed that the candidate was ineligible for the job and was blacklisted for a certain act.

It had gone into the HR records that he was ineligible, which this was meant to stay for life.  In fact, it led him to be rejected in two previous interviews.

I was struck by this incident. I’d gone through his entire past record. It clearly stated except for the mess up at his previous organization, he had always been a productive employee. 

Besides it’s human to make mistakes. We never know what circumstances made him take the wrong steps. If he has learnt from his mistake we had to give him another chance. A single mistake cannot ruin one’s life.

“Sometimes, second chances work out even better than the first because you learn from your mistakes”.

I had a talk with the candidate before sending him for the interview. I could feel he was the right candidate for the position. There was a sheer genuineness about him.

I realized he wouldn’t make another mistake. I called him to my office and had a candid chat with him. It turned out he was not even involved in the case for which he was blacklisted.

I knew what I had to do. I had a meeting with my client and stated the facts before him. I convinced him to hire the candidate with a promise to give a replacement if anything went wrong. In fact, my client’s first instinct was to hire the candidate but he was influenced by the feedback he’d received.

Needless to say, my decision was correct. My client called up six months later to thank me for the employee as he turned out to be one of the best. In fact, he got promoted and is taking care of an entire team now.

Let’s not make decisions based on other’s words.

Rather, let’s listen to our own instincts and give people a chance.

You never know when a piece of coal will turn out to be a diamond.

“Never ignore your first instinct just because it isn’t what you want to believe”.