What Would You Do? Hiring For Success

By John West Hadley

The Stepping Stone, September 2022

Here is our next entry in the “What Would You Do?” series. Write to me at SteppingStone@JHACareers.com to tell me what you would do. In a future issue, I’ll compile the responses received (preserving your anonymity, of course), along with what actually happened in the real-life situation.

Help me craft future case studies. Write to me about your own challenging, surprising or nightmarish situations involving business, leadership, management, or any of the topic areas covered by The Stepping Stone, and what lessons you learned from them. I’ll collaborate with you on turning your situation into a simple case study, being careful to ensure no one is identifiable. And share your own thoughts (pro and con) on the series as a whole at SteppingStone@JHACareers.com.

Hiring For Success

Alan leads a small, growing actuarial department, and seeks to add a mid-level actuarial student to his team. This is a highly visible support role that will lead to officer level upon achieving their FSA.

A recruiter he has worked with before recommends Jennifer, who he flies in for an interview. Alan notices that Jennifer has left her salary expectations blank on the application, and asks about that. Jennifer responds that she would rather not talk about it. Alan decides to let it go for now, and proceeds to have her interview with the series of people he had planned.

At the end of the day, Alan sits down with Jennifer for a wrap-up conversation, and again asks about salary expectations. She again says that she would rather not talk about it. He then tells her that in order to move forward further with considering her candidacy, he needs something to go on. She stammers a bit and says that she hopes he would offer a competitive salary, then asks if she can get back to him the next day. Alan tells her that she can, but that he now has serious concerns about her suitability based on her response.

Alan then calls the recruiter to explain what happened. She tells him that Jennifer also refused to share any salary information with her. She had thought at the time that Jennifer simply wanted to have that discussion directly with Alan, and it never occurred to her that she didn’t plan to answer at all.

The next day, the recruiter tells Alan that Jennifer called her that night in tears, and finally shared her hesitation. She had been harassed at a prior actuarial job, left it for a much lower paying role, and was embarrassed about her current salary and level. She felt she was far below the market level, and worried about whether anyone would pay her what she was worth.

If you were Alan, what would you do?

If you were the recruiter, is there any advice you would give Jennifer?

Statements of fact and opinions expressed herein are those of the individual authors and are not necessarily those of the Society of Actuaries, the editors, or the respective authors’ employers.

John Hadley is a career counselor who works with job seekers frustrated with their search, and professionals struggling to increase their visibility and influence. He can be reached at John@JHACareers.com or 908.725.2437. Find his free Career Tips newsletter and other resources at www.JHACareers.com. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnwesthadley/.