1. Have a caste system that relegates large portions of your team to second or third class status.
2. Do not do what you say you will do.
3. Arbitrarily enforce vague standards.
4. Play favorites.
5. Reward incompetents and office politicians.
6. Tolerate abusive or bullying behavior.
7. Fail to tell people that you appreciate them.
8. Give plenty of meaningless assignments.
9. Shoot any bearers of bad news.
10. Focus on being right instead of doing right.
11. Scrimp on providing the resources to do the job.
12. Never lead by example.

If we think of recruitment as simply a means to fill a vacancy, we may be missing the bigger picture.

For example, when a vacancy occurs in the management or executive ranks and an obvious candidate is already inside the organization, does it make sense to go through a costly recruitment process if everyone knows that – barring a major surprise - Tom or Mary will get the job?

It may not seem so at first glance - Why waste the time of the other applicants? – and yet the process serves a larger purpose: To learn about the skills of the other candidates while assuring yourself that the likely choice is indeed the best person for the position.

This concept of the recruitment process as part of a larger candidate assessment is one that we are examining in greater detail. In the months ahead, the newsletter will provide tips on how to change the process from one in which there is only one winner to one in which it becomes a learning process for the other contenders.

For recommended articles on management topics, visit the following links:

Courageous Patience

Coercion in the Workplace

A Very Unusual College Application

The Employee You'll Never Forget

Thoughts on Office Politics

Concentration and Counseling

Mavericks

Blame Games

We received such a politive response to these guidelines, we've included them again. Click here.