1 month ago, we sent out a job offer to an Irish guy who was raised in mid-west America. He accepted the job and was excited about it. It was a permanent role (of value in a slowing economy) and would offer him the chance to get into server administration in an advanced infrastructure (it’s pretty leading edge). We would expose him to lots of stuff and he was bringing some valued skills, i.e. Linux.
In the meantime we made plans for him. He was going to have lots of interesting work, not just "pressing buttons". I spent time preparing his laptop, getting his accounts ready in our data centre, and planning his induction.
"Heavy-D" was due in the office yesterday morning. Nothing. No sign of him. I tried to ring but his phone rang out. I mailed him to let him know that we were assuming he didn’t want to join the company. Then he decided to call our MD. He claimed that he got his dates mixed up. Huh!?!? That seems like a lack of attention to detail because it was clearly printed in his employment contract. He was told to be in today at 9 sharp.
10:00am comes and goes and "Heavy-D" still didn’t turn up. OK, I was done with this chump. I wasn’t having some one start their job reporting to me like this. I reported it to the MD. My opinion of Heavy-D now is that he has a lack of attention to detail, is unprofessional and unreliable, i.e. I deem him to be unemployable. The only excuse is if he fell under the #72 bus.
If you’re not from Dublin or not experienced it then here’s the crux of the story. Dublin may have 1+ million residents but it is a small town. No one in business is more than 1 or 2 degrees away from anyone else (like the Kevin Bacon game), e.g. if you want to know about someone then you ask around a little and you find someone who has worked with them, sold to them or bought from them. Ruining your reputation with one person is not a good career move because people in Dublin like to talk. Example, I had looked into "Heavy-D" through a friend. I’m now telling that friend about "Heavy-D" who’ll probably tell "Heavy-D’s" former workmates about the story.
So, "Heavy-D", you’ve lost out on the chance to work on a super infrastructure. You’ve also gone and shot your career in Dublin. Maybe you should go click your heels like Dorothy and vamoose back from whence you came.