Etydhv

everyone in my team (3 people) is very much dissatisfied with the direction that the company is going. The hours are long, the pay mediocre and the pressure huge. We're all actively looking to change jobs. Right now we're also recruiting a new team member to replace the one who left last month.

We had a great candidate, who I really liked not only as a potential coworker but also as a person. Right now he's reluctant to change jobs, afraid of the consequences as his present job is not at all bad. Our HR is working hard on convincing him what a great workplace we are. Personally, I would hate for him to start working in this toxic place, especially after the entire team leaves.

I think I would like to contact him and let him know that we're all looking to leave soon. Can I? Or do I have to stay loyal to the company - what are the possible consequences of warning him?

EDIT: I am not working in HR. I was directly running the first round of interviews as a team member. I don't expect to have any more official interactions with him until he joins our team, so I'd have to reach out to him.

Are you anticipating talking to the candidate as part of the interview process?

If so, then you should answer his questions honestly. You could make him aware of specific problems that he may come across, but don't badmouth the company. Ultimately it's his decision and his responsibility to do due diligence.

If not, and you're proposing contacting him unsolicited outside the process, then you are in risky territory. You are certainly exposing yourself to disciplinary action if the company finds out, which may well happen if the candidate declines an offer and the company ask why. (Though I accept you may not care about your current job, being fired will still make your next job hunt harder). There might also be data protection issues around obtaining the candidate's contact details without authority.

Can you? Yes. There is nothing stopping you, physically or legally. There are a variety of options on how to do this, if you choose to do it.

Possible consequences of telling him? If you tell him, and the word gets back to the company that it was you, you are reasonably likely to get fired before you can get a new job. The company would be correct to do it - you're being pretty blatantly disloyal - but that doesn't mean that it's the wrong decision, morally speaking. If the company finds out that someone warned him away, but doesn't find out who, then they might not fire you all, but it's likely that your relationship with your bosses will get even more toxic before you flee. If the company finds out from this that you're all planning on leaving, that could have similar results, but at the end of the day, the worst they can do to you is either fire you without severance or make your work life suck more.

You can control for this somewhat by reducing the information you provide to the potential new hire, and asking him to keep quiet on it. Make a throwaway email account, and give him a warning about the troubles with the company that doesn't directly say "and we're all leaving". It'll make it notably less likely that he'll say anything about his reasons, and even if he does, he won't know that it's you, and he won't know that you're all planning on leaving. It won't be as compelling as you telling him directly, but if he's uncertain, then it should be enough to ward him off.

If it's not him, another soul will get into the same problem. You cannot prevent everyone to join your team, and only giving heads up to the people you like would also be wrong.
As long as you are part of the team, you should stay out of this, if you are asked to be part of the interview process either you decline or make sure you are not screwing it up.
After you leave if someone ask you about the company you can say whatever you want.
If you screw your company because they are screwing you, you are not much better than them. Just do your job well till the las day and move on when you can.

1. Do not misrepresent your company.

Important part of the interview is when you ask the candidate about his expectations of the new job and give him the overall idea about the work processes in your company. One of the points here is to make sure that your company doesn't, by any chance, have the same traits that were getting on candidate's nerves at his last workplace. Because if it does - the candidate would find that out the day he joins in, and he would certainly be unhappy about not knowing that up front. While you (and your team, and your company) want a happy colleague who wouldn't think that he's been tricked. Hence, put the facts plain and square, neither concealing them, nor decorating nor disfiguring your company. It is the right thing on many levels: making sure that the prospective candidate would stay; maintaining honest company profile; identifying weak points of your company and bringing them to the management.

2. Protective advices are for close friends.

To begin with, taking a personal advice requires trust. Are you sure he trusts you enough to take such advice from an interviewer?
The second reason is that once he has all the facts he would make his own conclusions and wouldn't need that advice anyway.

3. Let him have his opinion and be his own master.

People who has left (or are going to leave) often tend to paint the things more grim than they appear to an uninvolved person. It's not about being dishonest, it's more about accumulated dissatisfaction. His opinion may vary. If he thinks that those facts are a molehill - so be it. Perhaps, he values that particular job higher then possible long hours. If after a few years he changes his mind - so be it, too.

4. Speak only for yourself.

Don't speak for other people. Statement like "we all think that ..." sounds like you're striving to give your claim all the weight it may get, while at the same time excusing yourself of sole responsibility for such opinion. Sorry, that just wouldn't smell good.

Edit:
At the current stage, when your communication with the candidate is over, I wouldn't advice you to contact him behind the company's back. The best thing (in terms of honour) I can think of is to persuade the HR person to give the prospective candidate the key facts about the job. On the ground of representing the company in a fair way and hiring a consciously willing candidate.

I'd say, stay within a proper employer (you are interviewing) and employee (the prospective candidate) relationship.

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  If, during the scheduled discussion, they ask

  
  
  

  
  

  If selected, are we going to work together?

  
  

  
  
  

  You can respond

  
  
  

  
  

  Most likely not, I will be leaving the organization soon.

  
  

  
  
  

  If they ask

  
  
  

  
  

  Why?

  
  

  
  
  

  Say

  
  
  

  
  

  I have my personal reasons.

  
  

  
  
  

  and leave it there.

  
  



• No, you don't need to discuss / inform about others, staying or leaving.




• You MUST NOT try to solicit them in any other ways/ channel apart of the official channel through which you're supposed to communicate. Remember, the candidate is not communicating with you in some personal capacity, they will be communicating with you in a professional capacity. I understand your feelings, but that said, there's professionalism. It's not about being loyal, it's about being ethical and legal.

Based on my own Personal Opinion I would say, contact him via phone after work and clue him in. Again this is my own personal opinion. But I were to looking to join a new team, and I was running blindly into a toxic, unstable environment I would really appreciate a heads up from someone on the inside.

However, that being said. If your current office got wind of your warning that would prove most difficult for you including you getting fired. So be prepared for that.

As a side note, I suggested calling him vs an email to not leave any kind of paper trail.
if the candidate were to tell HR someone called him and warned him you could deny deny deny deny. But if the candidate were to forward an email he received to your HR it would be hard to deny.