Mama Said "Knock You Out"... But You're Still Hired?

A favorite old school rapper, LL Cool J, was in heavy rotation on my Walkman with his hit, "Mama Said Knock You Out".  My guess is Mark Cuban doesn't have it on his iPod these days.  The vocal owner of the Dallas Mavericks is under investigation by the SEC for allegedly illegally selling his investment in Mama.com after learning of a stock offering that would have reduced his shares' value.  The commission indicated he salvaged a loss of $750,000.  Cuban has denied the charges.

Other than interesting reading, why should this matter to HR types?  After all, Mr. Cuban has already been fined approximately $1.7 million by the NBA for his unappreciated banter with league officials over the years.  Who knows if he is guilty or not, but most consider this inconsequential.  Why?  Well, aside from "Dancing with the Stars" he is considered extremely successful, innovative and he probably won't have a hard time finding his next gig.

I'd argue that this is another example of how those perceived to be top talent can get away with things that others cannot - like throwing a fit when a call doesn't go your way, or absurdly elevating your status on a resume. The issue of "the end justifying the means" is played out often in and out of corporate America, and HR is often called in to help make a decision.

What happens to people who do lie and get caught?  You may be surprised to learn that sometimes, they get hired.  I was struck by an article, "Outrageous Resume Lies", at CareerBuilder.com in August, that indicated, based on a recent survey, 38% embellished their job responsibilities, 18% lied about their skill set and 10% lied about having a degree on their resume. And we're not talking about candidates tweaking a resume or forgetting that they co-led a project - but boldface lies about where they've worked, what they've done and whether or not they graduated from college.

Now, I'm not so naive to think that every resume I've ever reviewed is 100% truthful, but the magnitude of some of these stats really threw me.  I do have to wonder if the recruiting industry has perpetuated this issue.  Is a resume any more than a creative writing exercise?  Is the fact that I can get 8 different versions of a candidate's resume disturbing to anyone but me? 

Did you also know that 658 people who have been convicted of a Federal Violation have asked for an executive pardon from President Bush before he leaves office, including Michael Milken and Marion Jones?

At times, it seems asking for forgiveness after the fact has become part of our society, as demonstrated by those participating in insider trading, stretching the truth on a resume, or forgetting that performance enhancing drugs are a "no-no".

In my book, it doesn't matter if you're hiring the next top executive or an intern; if there is any question about the "how" that person gets results, you (HR or otherwise) should not only "knock them out" but make it clear that getting ahead in your company requires ethics and integrity.

Mama AND LL Cool J wouldn't have it any other way...

Editors Note - Kathy Rapp is a Managing Director for HR Search Firm in Houston, where she helps progressive companies find groovy HR Talent to drive business results.  Prior to joining HR Search firm, Kathy booked more than 15 years of progressive human resources leadership experience working for such companies as Morgan Stanley and First Data Corporation.  A connoisseur of the intersection between pop culture and business, Kathy believes many talent issues can be addressed via the succession planning lessons experienced by Van Halen (David Lee/Sammy and sadly, Gary Cherone). 

Comments

[jessica lee]

what's a walkman?

i kid.

it's interesting that you raise getting ahead requires ethics and integrity because i feel like with gen Y and millennials, there's a heightened awareness and expectation that their employer be good corporate citizens and speak to their ethics and not only that they do, but speak to how they conduct business with integrity. i've seen it brought up more and more in interviews - millennial candidates want to know that they are working for an organization that really cares. the communication piece around this is something that i think HR pros are going to have to become more savvy to.

[Jason Pankow]

This is a great post. I feel like I see this more and more in the gaming space. There are so many testers out there who want to break into the full time game world that the are coached to tell people that they can code in C++ or C# when really they have seen it a couple times while doing their testing. I feel like our pre-screening involves a lot of "work checking" to make sure they can do what they say they can. I could probably get much more done if we didn't have to pre-pre screen so many people.

Also...great with the Cuban referrence. I bet KD is proud.

[Scott Gordon]

I think this will be happening more the tighter the market gets fully based on desperation. It's sad that it's come to that but it's also allowed us as recruiters/sources and HR pro's to sharpen our swords. In the past, I've scanned over the "ever been convicted of a felony" question as well as what type of degree or certification a candidate might or might not have. Funny that I've started to ask types of questions today that I'd forgotten about but used to ask when I started 10 years ago.

[Kathy]

Nice. You should have seen what I had pre-Walkman.

Great points and another element to this story...HR/Hiring Managers/External Recruiters will all have to be able to articulate the compelling story of why "us vs. them" AND include tangible elements around corporate responsibility.

[Kathy Rapp]

Jason - Thanks, and since KD is a Rockets fan, I figured I could bag on the Mav's leadership a bit.

It's true about the pre-pre screen - and when I notice variations on multi-version resumes (and seriously, I've gotten 8 different versions before)I do make people explain the discrepancies - and the squirming begins!