Recruiting Andrew Yard

The core problem of this case revolves around a vacant position at Ayoub Company (AC) that needs to be filled as quickly as possible; the candidate that is viewed by the CEO as best suited for the job is not available for 6 months. The candidate, Andrew Yard, is under contract at his current job to provide six months notice of resignation as not to leave his current company blindsided or without adequate replacement. AC is desperate for Yard to assume his new position within their company because they are at a “critical juncture” and need to begin a massive turnaround at the hands of Mr. Yard. Not only is Yard concerned about the financial compensation from his current employer being sacrificed if he were to attempt to leave early, he is also concerned about leaving the company on good terms, ensuring that he held up his end of the agreement. It is not known whether Yard discussed early release from his contract with his current employer.

AC’s situation could have been made significantly better (if not been altogether avoided) had there been proper policies in place regarding recruitment of executive talent. It seems that the company was unprepared for this position to be left vacant. They had no qualified candidates to choose from who were also willing to relocated to the middle east to fill the position. The COO was given extra duties due to the vacancy, and complained about not being able to handle the workload alone. AC should consider including the same type of conditional resignation that Yard has now, to allow adequate time for the company to find a replacement. The company was also unprepared to offer the job to Yard when they wanted to. They said that Yard was “the one” but had to scurry to draft up an offer letter. Their attitude towards recruiting top talent seems to be more aligned with the attitude of recruiting lower-level employees. At a high level, the employer must show the potential executive that they are worthy of employing them. The executive has what the company wants and must be wooed. In contrast, lower level positions are viewed as nearly the opposite. The potential employee has to prove to the company that they