It will hurt your brand. Don’t do it.
What am I talking about? I am currently conducting a Chief People Officer search for a significant non-profit organization. I happen to be on the Board of this organization and have been for about 7 years, so it’s near to my heart. It’s one of the largest of its kind in the country, and currently employs about 1500 employees in four counties in Southern California. In short, this is a big HR leadership job.
I asked our program coordinator for the McDermott & Bull Executive Network to send an email out to our group of 1500 senior executive members to see if they knew anyone that could be a fit. Why not network on this and show it to all our members to find some great qualified candidates? Well, as the saying goes, no good deed goes unpunished. Ok, it wasn’t really that bad. In fact, I received many great responses from a number of qualified members that are interested in the position, as well as a number of great referrals, so I want to thank those that have responded with this kind of help.