Torn

I just got stood up. Or dumped. Not sure which and not sure how I feel about it.

A young junior art director was to start here Monday and just contacted me to say he can't. Apparently Crispin called and trumped my offer.

One the one hand, I am really bummed. We are crazy busy and this junior was going to be a huge help on a new account. I really liked his book and thought he'd be a great fit. Plus, it kinda sucks to go through all the interviews, approvals, and paperwork it takes to finally get someone hired to have that fall through. So from a business standpoint, bit fat ugh.

On the other hand, I am a sucker for juniors and get weirdly proud when good opportunities abound. This young guy had two great agencies vying for his talent. How cool is that? I can't help but feel happy that good things are still happening on the hiring front in advertising.

On a side note, I'm fairly flattered it was Crispin scooping this guy up. It pays me a somewhat backhanded compliment when I head upstairs to tell finance and HR why he is not coming.

Never, ever, ever. . .

. . .rescind a job acceptance. Seriously. If you think backing out of an offer you have accepted goes over lightly, I am here to tell you it does NOT. Perhaps I am immensely bitter because this particular position had taken forever to fill. I went through no less than 15 interviews and spent months finding the right candidate. Know that an agency works very hard to get to the point where they extend an offer. Even more so an agency that is part of a national or global conglomerate, where layers of approval run thick.

But really, that's not the point. So what I worked hard and my agency is big and it took a long time to find the right person and I was extremely relieved to fill the job. So what for all that. The point is, despite working in a very expansive industry, we are all connected in ways that are getting smaller and smaller. Technology and social networking sites make certain of that.

I will curse your name. I will tell people. I will work somewhere else at some point. So will the people I tell and they too will remember your name (well, maybe they won't but it adds to this dramatic moment). Just bad news all around. We are all part of the six degrees of separation within the advertising industry, and that means my friends (my recruiter friends) know your friends and may even know you (and I made certain of that).

If you are trolling for a counter from your own agency, just putting your feelers out, or testing the job market to see what you are worth, whatever, then don't accept the job in the first place. It's very painful for the agency who full well expects that your acceptance means you are 2 weeks out from becoming an important part of their creative team.