The Replacements

It's strange knowing that those around you are looking for your replacement. It's stranger still to be actively involved in finding your own replacement.

My bosses have seen four people today and whilst I've not interviewed them myself, I've reviewed a number of CVs with a view to deciding who to interview, I've tested various skills and assessed the results and helped all three of the people I work for come to a decision as to who to offer the job to.

All while I'm still working in the job myself.

In terms of assessment, it was fairly easy to take the list of four down to three. Candidate B made such a mess of the first exercise with an inability to follow simple instructions, that she seemed a no-go from the start. Adding into the equation a poor performance on the second exercise and an incredibly slow completion of the third was enough to make it clear that she would not be right for the job.

Candidate D was ruled out in an instant as although she had comparable tests, my bosses just didn't feel they liked her overly much.

Candidates A and C were a different matter. Both A and F had different opinions on them. A really liked candidate A, while F preferred candidate C. But, both come with their problems. There is a strong possibility that candidate C will clash with E, one of the other secretaries. She also has rather high demands in terms of salary. Candidate A has a slightly dubious reason for leaving (being dismissed from) her last job (although the information has come from a contact who doesn't necessarily have the full and complete story).

Although A and F agreed to sleep on it, it looks like tomorrow morning they will be offering a job to candidate C, keeping candidate A as a back up, subject to her references.

I'm pleased that they seem to have found someone so quickly, as it worried me to be leaving them without someone to 'look after' them. I just hope they've picked the right person and it all works out.