How Do You Manage? Case Study: A Candidate for Trouble

"Good luck, Herb," Dorothy Frieling whispered, smiling. Her comment was joined by several similar statements from a handful of staffers, great and small. Michael Marino simply winked and grinned.

McDonald placed his briefcase on his desk and plopped into his chair. Rose Santino, the assistant who served both McDonald and Library Director Susan Vought, entered his office with a "good morning" and told him that the 11 a.m. meeting was being pushed back 30 minutes. At the same time, Sal Bovino knocked on the door jam and gave McDonald a thumb's up before moving on.

"Okay, is something going on that I don't know about?"

Santino smiled for a moment. "Come on, Herb, everyone knows it. It's in the library press."

"What's in the library press?"

"You know, the new job."

"What new job?" McDonald asked, perplexed.

Santino held up a finger and walked around the desk to McDonald's computer. She typed a few letters and hit enter. "Voilà!"

"Oh, no," McDonald exclaimed, sinking down into the chair as if he were melting into it.

Santino had toggled to the online component of Library Journal, which contained a story in its News section listing him as one of two contenders for the directorship of a library system in another city.

"I hope you get it," Santino said.

"Oh, I'm going to get it, all right," McDonald said. "Right between the eyes."

"What do you mean?"

"Come on, Rose," McDonald said, "you know how funny bosses get when they think you're looking for another job. It's like you're a traitor or something. How many people go around shouting that they're looking for new jobs?"

"You have a point," Santino said.

"If I get the job, fine, but if I don't, it'll be hanging over my head, not to mention how embarrassing if everyone knew I was rejected. Besides that, it could affect my raise and heaven knows what else. You know the kind of office politics that come into play in this kind of thing."

"What do you think your chances are?" Santino queried.

"I don't know," McDonald said. "I applied for the job ages ago and had one subsequent interview. I haven't heard anything from them in quite a while. I wasn't even sure if I was still in the running. I wish they had told me I was before the press found out about it. I would have asked them to keep it quiet."

"So what are you going to do?" Santino asked.

By Saul J. Amdursky, Director, Kalamazoo Public Library, MI

McDonald should concern himself with three issues. Two are absolutely within his control, and the third may help him decide if he wants to accept a new job if it is offered.

McDonald as assistant director is presumably in a position of authority within the Navarino Public Library. While his colleagues seem universally supportive, McDonald needs to think before he speaks. He should not share his thoughts about how his boss will treat the situation or how he believes others will view him if the job is offered to the other candidate. This behavior does not reflect well on McDonald's professionalism or preparation to accept a library directorship.

The second issue is McDonald's self-confidence. Why does he think his boss will think he is a traitor or his salary will be affected? Why does he believe that not being offered a job, when he has clearly made the final cut, is a failure?

McDonald should see himself as a highly desirable free agent whose expertise has placed him as one of the top two candidates in a highly competitive field. He is giving notice that he has the potential to move on to a new and more responsible level of leadership.

If he stays in his current job, either by choice or because the new job was offered to the other candidate, he should use the situation to leverage things he wants from his current employer.

One can question whether McDonald should have advised his boss that he was interviewing for another post. The fact he apparently did not use his director as a reference could indicate a less than ideal working relationship or may be consistent with his seeming lack of self-confidence.

Advising those to whom one reports about interviews when one knows the media is involved is generally a good idea and would have ameliorated the present situation, but it is not a required. McDonald owes his employer high-quality performance and appropriate notice if he takes a new job, nothing more and nothing less.

This situation also calls into questions how the potential employer operates and should cause McDonald to think long and hard about accepting the position if it is offered. Virtually all states have open meetings acts that affect the release of the names of candidates for leadership positions to the media.

This fact, if applicable, should have been made clear to McDonald from the very beginning of the interview process. Even if this information was given to the candidates and ignored, McDonald's discovery that he is a finalist for the position through the library media is absolutely unforgivable.

If he returns for a second interview, he should use this incident as an example of something that will not happen under his administration. If he is offered the job, he should use it to improve his contract position.

McDonald's situation was best summed up by Shakespeare as Much Ado About Nothing. He needs to learn to be more tight-lipped, improve his self-esteem, and perhaps make a decision about a future employer. He may want to acknowledge that his interest in a new job has been mentioned in the library press and thank his colleagues for their good wishes in a simple e-mail.

By Carol Simmons, Assistant Director, Daly City Library, CA

McDonald finds himself in a very delicate position. Discovering that he is a finalist for a director position in another city through the press, and via his staff, he must now contend with the inevitable rumors and gossip that attend this sort of news. His first step should be to go immediately to his director, Susan Vought, and explain the situation.

Vought should not find it unusual that the assistant director aspires to be a director himself; in the current environment talented individuals are often approached about applying for attractive promotions. Additionally, it is a commonly accepted practice that an employee does not in general inform his employer when s/he is seeking a new position.

Although Vought may be surprised and dismayed to realize that McDonald could be offered the director position and leave Navarino, her primary concern should be how this news will affect the library and staff. It appears that McDonald enjoys the support and appreciation of his fellow workers, so the news will continue to be an item of discussion. Vought and McDonald should discuss and agree upon what their responses should be to questions about this situation.

In this case, a short and straightforward reply to inquiries such as, "What are your chances?" should give enough information to answer the question without going into unnecessary detail. McDonald should simply say, "I really don't know any more than you do at this time."

McDonald's next step, on his own time, should be to contact whoever is responsible for hiring at the library system, which has named him as one of two contenders for the director's job, and find out what is going on. It would certainly be in his best interest to discover why he was named in the press without being consulted first, and he must determine whether he is to be offered the position and on what terms.

He should also let this person know that the premature release of his name has put him in an awkward position in his current job and that he would appreciate being informed about the progress of the recruitment in advance of any further press releases. McDonald must keep Vought updated as the situation progresses in order to be fair to her and to Navarino Public.

The manner in which the prospective library system handles the recruitment from this stage onward should provide McDonald with some insight into how the system is managed and could help him determine whether he truly is interested in becoming its director. The situation is fluid at this point. If McDonald is candid and forthright with Vought about the situation as it unfolds, he should be able to minimize any hard feelings that may have been caused by the news article and give her the opportunity to respond appropriately to future developments.

He should continue to maintain the positive relationships he has with the library staff and let them know that he and Vought will inform them if there is anything further to report.