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“Hi Brett, it’s Carlos. Uh…”
“What’s the issue, Carlos?” I asked our HR VP.
“You know the salary you wanted to pay your new engineer, Fred? “Bob” (the CEO) wants to reduce it by $20,000.”
“You’ve gotta be kidding,” I said. “I thought the offer was approved.”
“What can I tell you,” Carlos said. “Bob changed his mind.”
“Unbelievable,” I said laughing sarcastically. “I’ll try and sell it, but don’t hold your breath.”
I paused and said, “This is how you screw up a company.” Then I slammed the phone down in disgust.
You can’t expect to hire A players if you pay them C player salaries.
I hung up the phone with Carlos, and I mentally prepared myself to speak with Fred again. I knew it was a fools errand, but I didn’t have a choice.
I called Fred, and I told him there had been a mistake in his offer. The offer would have to be reduced by $20,000.
Fred reacted as I expected him to. He would take the offer he had from our closest competitor.
I let Carlos know that we lost Fred. Then I asked him why Bob would think of reducing an extended offer.
