Peckman Search Partners wants you to imagine getting a call from an old friend whose company is looking to hire someone who works in your office; your friend is seeking any info you might have on Mr. X. Now, this Mr. X works in another department and you’ve never spoken face-to-face. But he doesn’t smile much and never goes to lunch with everyone, preferring instead to eat at his desk. Clearly standoffish. Plus, someone has been clearing out the supply closet of Sharpies, and he’s your chief suspect because his drawers overflow with all kinds of pens. (No, you weren’t snooping, you just couldn’t help but notice the pen bounty when you happened to walk by one time when he had it open).
Your friend, you realize, is fortunate to have called you before her company extended an offer to this guy. As a good friend and responsible member of the work world, it is your duty to report what you know in your heart to be true about this unfriendly, thieving, shifty-eyed, no-good bastard, right?
Right?
Wrong. It is your duty – to others and to your own professional future – to demur. Repeat after us: “Sorry, he’s in a different department and I just don’t know him well enough to be able to tell you anything that could help you.”
Sure, it feels great to be put in the position of having a wee bit of power – no one’s immune to that kind of ego boost. But admitting to your friend that you personally haven’t interacted enough with Mr. X to help in her vetting mission doesn’t just let your coworker off the hook for any transgressions you think he may have committed but have no proof of, it also helps you.
Certainly by now you’ve heard that the business community in any city or within any particular field is a small town in the most elemental of ways: Everybody knows your business. Don’t think for a second that the backdoor reference you give for Mr. X – “Well, everybody thinks he’s dishonest and shifty, and he doesn’t want anything to do with anyone here” – will stay confidential. At some point in your career, your name will come up in consideration for a new position or promotion, and someone will remember your snarky comments from oh so long ago. And those comments will torpedo your chances at advancement.
Count on it.
Even if it were possible to keep a secret, which it’s not, there’s another reason to keep your mouth shut: Unsubstantiated gossip just isn’t nice. Unless you know for a fact that what you are blabbing about is 1) true and 2) relevant, just zip it.
Think of backdoor vetting as an everyday occurrence and valuable tool, kind of like a chef’s knife. Used properly, it can cut right to the good stuff, paring away the throw-away material that doesn’t do anyone any good. But in the wrong hands, a perfectly good ingredient – the key component to a truly sublime dish or really great executive team – can be carved up into nothing, rendered unusable.
Stay in a profession long enough and that call will come. It is up to you to answer it like the professional you are – or, if you’re new to the workforce, like the professional you aspire to be.
