Insiders’ Interview Tips

Going for an interview? Then “True Confessions of a Recruiter,” by Connie Thanasoulis-Cerrachio is a must-read. Connie, a former Fortune 500 recruiter, confesses how she weeds out candidates starting the first second she sees them.

No Debby Downers

As a Dead Company Club member you have unique experiences that can be booby traps in an interview.  Watch out for the invitation to complain about how your company failed, how employees got screwed and how bad your life got.  Even though you may have a strong opinion about who is to blame, hold that thought. According to Connie, “anything negative will immediately shift me to the next candidate.”

Do you know your strengths?

Rolling your eyes isn’t an answer to the question, “Tell me about your strengths.” Recruiters expect a thoughtful, serious answer, and you have something unique to offer.

Remember: you’ve been through the fire. When your company died, your assumptions and plans blew up. You had to start over, maybe reeducate, possibly relocate.  You discovered you can march through dramatic changes. You’re more aware of risks and appreciate contingency planning now. Your expectations of an employer have changed. Non-members can’t offer these strengths.

Seeing the good in your hard-won experience — and not whining — might be what wins the job.

Laurie Phillips writes for and about businesses. She is a multi-time member of The Dead Company Club.

cool photo courtesy of flikr.com/emilio_labrador

Post from: The Dead Company Club The Dead Company Club is a hobby of the writers at Sundance Research. Sometimes they just need to write about their own stuff.

Interview Tips for Club Members

Lehman Brothers Dick Fuld

Former Lehman Brothers employees keep getting a pitchfork in the butt. The latest round of abuse comes from Dick Fuld, Lehman’s former CEO, in response to a bankruptcy examiner’s report released March 11, 2010.

Ex-employees were understandably pissed by the 2,200 page report. A March 13th Wall Street Journal article titled “Lehman Report Confirms Former Employees’ Suspicions” begins:

“For Ted Larkin, a Lehman Brothers technology executive when the firm collapsed, the revelations from a bankruptcy examiner Thursday reinforced his angry hypothesis: That it only took a few executives to put thousands of people out of work.

“It confirms my feelings that the majority of the firm were honest, hard-working people that suffered from the hubris of a few individuals,” said Mr. Larkin.”

Yet four days later, the New York Post reported that Fuld – The Boss – felt vindicated by the same bankruptcy examiner’s report. The article reads:

“Fuld privately believes that the report by examiner Anton Valukas provides proof that he did nothing illegal as he steered Lehman through a financial mess that ultimately led the firm to file the largest bankruptcy in US history…”

Confused? Let’s give Dick some help.

Dear Dick:

Illegal or not, you have screwed thousands of employees. You have trashed the financial world. The ripple effect has been more like a tsunami. Vindicated? PLEASE go to dictionary.com and read the definition, Dick.

Sincerely,

The Dead Company Club

Laurie Phillips is a member of The Dead Company Club. She hasn’t yet seen a company that was destroyed by excellent leadership.

Post from: The Dead Company Club The Dead Company Club is a hobby of the writers at Sundance Research. Sometimes they just need to write about their own stuff.

Lehman Leadership Vindicated?

“You are not alone.”                                                                                                                                         – Michael Jackson

In a Sigourney Weaver movie, “You are not alone” is a lot less comforting than it is here. There are lots of us, we who “used to work at…” Some of our former companies made a big enough splash with their final cannonball that they’ll be remembered for some time. In that spirit, here are two great articles that take a roll call of the best known companies who no longer exist.

2001 to 2009 was fertile ground for famous corporate bankruptcies.  Gary Bartzel begins with Pacific Gas & Electric in 2001 and covers the great collapses that hit the energy, transportation, communications and financial industries. He ends in 2009 with the annihilation of the Fortune 500 and business as a whole. Just kidding. Only part of the Fortune 500 tanked, but almost all the U.S. auto industry is vying for inclusion.

BloggingStocks.com also took a walk down memory lane and featured this group of defunct companies.  There are some classic names like DeLorean and Pullman (as in choo-choo). There’s a catch-all for “dot-com busts”. They didn’t forget the criminals’ hollow empires like ZZZZ Best, the Ponzi scheme disguised as a carpet cleaning company. Carpet cleaning? Pretty unimaginative but, on the plus side, the work jumpsuit fits about the same as the prison jumpsuit.

BloggingStocks.com reached way back, reminding us that company closures are not a new thing. Remember Standard Oil? Liar. It was shut down by the Sherman Anti-Trust act in 1911. Those wily bastards  split the company into three parts and named them Chevron, Exxon and ConocoPhillips (no relation). Perhaps this arrangement allowed Standard Oil to live on and compete with…itself?

There are more classic bits of Americana such as Burger Chef, PanAm and American Motors. If you were alive at the time, you can’t forget the Gremlin. How about that Pacer? AMC was a specialty manufacturer of truly ugly cars.

Ahhh, the good old days. What other companies do you remember fondly?

Post from: The Dead Company Club The Dead Company Club is a hobby of the writers at Sundance Research. Sometimes they just need to write about their own stuff.

You Are Not Alone

“Do you want to know a secret? Do you promise not to tell?”                                                                                                   – Snow White

Have you ever worked for a moron? Thief? Leech? Welcome to the club. If your company is dead there was a stinker somewhere, maybe even a full-blown level 5 toxic environment. Here’s the Seven Dwarfs Standard, developed when I had the misfortune of working for all of them at once. See which fairy tale character you worked for.

Happy: Optimistic beyond reason, only pays attention to good news. Blissfully unaware.

Nosy: Wants to know all the gossip. Calls meetings to brainstorm what other gossip-worthy things might be happening.

Stinky: Always kissing ass, will follow any order no matter how destructive it is.

Sleazy: Sells anything to anyone whether the customer needs it or not. Dodges phone calls from irate clients.

Bossy: Arrogant and derogatory. Doesn’t want anyone else’s opinion. Is often wrong.

Snoozy: Oblivious but pleasant. Employees envy him because they want to be like him.

Piggy: Power hungry, fills up at the expense of co-workers. Sucks the corporate teat until it’s dry.

How it works

The Seven Dwarfs dynamic is predictable. It goes like this.

1. Bossy: “The economy isn’t soft. That’s a bunch of crap. We’re going to build a huge office complex and Snoozy, you find out how to finance it.”

2. Nosy corners Bossy and asks who will be in charge. He then spends speeds through the office telling everyone and talking about why Bossy is an idiot for making his choice.

3. Sleazy goes to Salesforce.com and figures out who he can sucker into renting space in the new complex at a ridiculous rate.

4. Happy emails everyone the news, complete with smiley emoticons. Ignores the absurdity of the idea.

5. Piggy takes credit for the idea and schedules a boondoggle to Costa Rica and Riyad to check out similar complexes.

6. Stinky comes to Bossy’s office and tells him repeatedly what a great idea this is.

7. Nothing ever happens because Snoozy goes back to watching YouTube.

Repeat.

OK, which ones did you work for?

Post from: The Dead Company Club The Dead Company Club is a hobby of the writers at Sundance Research. Sometimes they just need to write about their own stuff.

Fairy Tale Bosses

YIKES. This was the prescient license plate of a former investment broker who can’t afford the car anymore. It’s my G-rated exclamation when I read about the growing stacks of worthless stock certificates, old employee IDs and the latest additions to the club.

American pastimes closed indefinitely

Closings have gone way beyond what you read in the headlines. Our pastimes and culture- loosely defined – are getting hammered. Across the country bookstores, opera houses, gyms, race tracks, daycare centers, even museums are getting whacked. Gone. It’s a true Catch-22. These businesses exist on discretionary income. But if your company closes, you don’t have discretionary income which causes these companies to close.

“Discretionary” redefined

And what the hell is happening to state and local government jobs? Schools are closing. DMV offices – yes, the quick service centers in New York – are closed. Prisons! Freakin’ prisons! And how about this one: Virginia closed 18 highway rest areas in the midst of summer travel. Only 19 are still open. The average distance between rest stops now: 120 miles.  The new state motto ought to be “Virginia is for lovers (and people with strong bladders, parents be strongly advised.)” Are these really discretionary services?

Get a GPS

If you’re thinking “Oh, I’ll just stop at the next exit,” let me share some experience. The facilities at fast food stops and convenience stores aren’t designed for summer travel volume. You’ll need a GPS to find your way to the nearest library or state park to use their services – if they haven’t cut back their hours. At least Garmin, the GPS leader, will still thrive. Ironic that their stuff is manufactured in Taiwan. Now that’s a pisser.

Post from: The Dead Company Club The Dead Company Club is a hobby of the writers at Sundance Research. Sometimes they just need to write about their own stuff.

What Could Possibly Close Next?

“Success is not built on success. It’s built on failure. It’s built on frustration. Sometimes it’s built on catastrophe.”

-Sumner Redstone, majority owner of CBS, Viacom, MTV Network, Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks studios

I was taught that there are winners and losers. You didn’t hear any of that sissy “Everybody’s a winner, Sweetie!” nonsense in my ‘hood. We kept score during our games.

Our job search winners are…

In that spirit I am announcing the winners of the Corporate Reemployment Awards Program (CRAP). They all came from organizations that failed or otherwise died of natural causes. They experienced the same fears and feelings as the rest of us who found ourselves treading water in a crowded sea of unemployment. Some accepted the challenge and vaulted to greater success, showing character that really shines. Others failed spectacularly. So without further ado, here’s the list.

Winner, Biggest Leap Up The Ladder: Chad Fulgham, formerly of Lehman Brothers, now the CIO of the FBI.

Winner, Most Challenging Career Change: Andy Neff, former Senior Managing Director at Bear Sterns, now full time student of the Torah. Says Andy, “Is this comfortable? No, it’s really not comfortable, it’s disorienting,” but I find it unfortunate that people tend to focus on how much they lost. Coming out of every situation, you need to focus on what you have, not on what you lost.” Amen, Brother.

Winner, Most Reformed: David Walker, former partner at Arthur Andersen who became the Comptroller General of the United States. He subsequently resigned over the “declining moral values” within the U.S. Government which, ironically, is who shut down Arthur Andersen for their accounting ethics.

Winner, Most Dramatic Career Change: Taria Reed, former Enron employee turned Playboy model. Taria’s acceptance speech: “It was personal for me, empowering (and) gave me a little bit of self-assuredness.” Taria gives new meaning to “getting back on your feet.”

Winner, Most Publicly Humiliating Rebound Job: Alberto Gonzales, former Bush Administration U.S. Attorney General, now the professor of a single political science course at Texas Tech University. Gonzales, the most powerful lawyer in the US, said he was “unable to interest law firms in adding his name to their roster.”

Winner, Biggest Loser: Rebecca Mark, former CEO of Enron International, now isolating on her Ranch in New Mexico. “Just say that I’m sitting out here watching the elk migrate across the mesa and raising my cattle.”

Winner of The Job We All Want: He’s only known as “John S.” and he says “I make a little less money, work less, have less work-related stress, great benefits and enjoy my work like never before.” Read more at Alison’s Job Searching Blog.

Do you know someone who should be nominated for our next round of awards?

Post from: The Dead Company Club The Dead Company Club is a hobby of the writers at Sundance Research. Sometimes they just need to write about their own stuff.

New Job Award Winners

“Life’s not fair, is it.” James Earl Jones in The Lion King

2008 was a bad year for Lehman Brothers. It was also the last year for them. Their bankruptcy has been blamed for causing the entire recession and/or depression (your choice), making them the first domino of the worldwide financial crisis.

Who Pushed The Domino?

If Lehman was so central to the US financial system, why was the firm left to die? In the triage of bailout they were tagged as “too small and sound to save,” according to The Spoof, a news site specializing in satire and parody. It’s fiction but my enemies tell me that many a true word has been said in jest.

Overall Business Practices Were Too Sound

“Negotiations broke down between Lehman Brother representatives and that of the feds for a federal bailout when the accounting books disclosed that Lehman Bothers did not qualify under the Bush’s “Too Big to Fail” economic doctrine because their capital to debt ratio was too small and their overall business practices to sound.”

“It’s a race to the bottom”

It goes on to say:

“Rogers [CEO of a multinational bank] advises other CEO not to let on that they are in the market for bad loans, or worse yet, financially sound. As now days, it is considered a sign of weakness.

“Tell me how a financially sound institution is supposed to compete with unsound business practices that get rewarded with bailouts from the federal government,” rhetorically asked Rogers. “It’s a race to the bottom and it’s on.”

Work until You’re 90

While I don’t believe Lehman was singularly responsible for starting the financial crisis, should they have been bailed out? Should any of the other financial services bailouts have happened? Did these bailouts actually save any jobs? Or did they just guarantee that we’ll be working into our 90′s in order to pay back the national debt?

Would a bailout have let your company recover or should management have been forced to make tough business decisions to adapt to the economic conditions?

Laurie Phillips never really applied her degree in economics until this past year and now she wishes she had majored in art history. She writes for Sundance Research when she’s not pondering the economy’s effect on people.

Post from: The Dead Company Club The Dead Company Club is a hobby of the writers at Sundance Research. Sometimes they just need to write about their own stuff.

Was Lehman too small to save?

“I didn’t say it was your fault. I said I was going to blame it on you.” — Anonymous

Former Circuit City employees took a direct hit when the company closed. But the fallout is still spreading far beyond the walls of Circuit City’s echoing stores. If you think you aren’t affected, think again.  Here are some random thoughts about who has taken a hit and what might change as a result of The City’s death.

New School Bus Routes

Circuit City left 18.7 million square feet of empty retail and warehouse space. They abandoned over 575 leases.  Across the country, mall and shopping center owners – who were already sweating – are hyperventilating. One well-meaning, ivory tower-dwelling person suggested they use the big-box stores for schools. It’s not a stretch to imagine converting Circuit City’s former headquarters campus, but what municipality has the coin to rent the typical Circuit City store space?

Up Your Credit Limit

You’re going to need it. PCs and TVs are going to get more expensive with the blow that the big electronics manufacturers took. HP may never get the $120 million Circuit City owes it. Samsung is waiting for $115 million and Sony is out $60 million. These companies were already getting flogged by the economy. Another 20+ manufacturers are in the same boat, big names including Toshiba, Garmin, Panasonic, Monster, and Kodak.

No More Newspapers

I’m not very sympathetic of the media. But newspapers are run by people and, although I don’t like what they do, their fates matter. The industry is already fighting to stay afloat, and now Circuit City’s colorful Sunday inserts are gone. This could mean as much as a 10% reduction ad revenue for local papers.

Small Business Shock

Plenty of small businesses are struggling because of Circuit City. Cafe 56 in Cleveland counted on customer and employee business from a neighboring Circuit City store. Freelance photographer Scott Brown hopes to get paid some of the $30,000 he’s owed by Circuit City, but it’s not likely. It’s a shock to realize that big, established companies aren’t dependable any more.

And the Biggest Loser Is…

Shareholders! They won’t get a check worth the postage. On the last day of trading, shares closed at 10 cents. Former employees who held stock in their 401Ks are going to be retiring later, if at all. If you think you’re exempt because you didn’t own any stock, you might want to check your mutual fund holdings. Even moderate risk funds often dabble in high-risk investments, such as in the stock of a company who was looking for a last-minute buyout. It would’ve rewarded those shareholders who had nerves of steel very nicely.

I’m sure there are other businesses that have suffered too. What other stories can you add?

Post from: The Dead Company Club The Dead Company Club is a hobby of the writers at Sundance Research. Sometimes they just need to write about their own stuff.

Circuit City’s Mushroom Cloud

“Life’s a fragile thing Harry… One minute you’re chewin on a burger, the next minute you’re dead meat.”                                                                                                                –Jim Carey in “Dumb and Dumber”

Logic That Defies Logic

There’s death and then there’s senseless death. Last year Heller Ehrman was a top-50 law firm with revenues over $500 million. Now they’re dead. I’ve been trying to ignore this story but I can’t get over one fact: Heller filed bankruptcy to avoid paying what they owed their landlord, screwing their own employees as a result. And their logic? They did it because of the “fiduciary obligations to their creditors,” which include both the landlord and their employees.

Heller and Escher or Escher and Heller?

Escher drawings are endlessly complex and confusing, rarely what they seem to be at first glance. Heller’s end was pretty much the same. The landlord twitched, the court agreed, the banks balked, clients pounced and partners bolted, all scrambling for their own best interests. Heller hasn’t missed the chance to point fingers. “It’s unfortunate that the landlord filed…the partners hurt us when they defected…the bank didn’t have to blah blah blah.” Those actions were all contractually legal. And Heller’s response screwed their employees.

Would Management Please Show Some Backbone

Let’s be blunt. Firm management botched their jobs. Blaming anyone else is an academic argument for a lunch reunion of unemployed lawyers. The dominos fell like this: inept management, partner defections, decreased revenue, unpaid bills, malpractice awards, collection lawsuits, credit defaults, bankruptcy.

Big Legal Fees Result from Not Enough Money

Other firms’ litigation businesses have bloomed from the bankruptcy, filing suit against Heller on behalf of ex-employees. Clients are suing for breach of contract and ignoring their unpaid invoices from the firm. Heller has sued their banks. Former partners are being sued to return their capital they took when they left the firm. The Dissolution Committee has to collect enough money to pay the creditors. Meanwhile, the lawsuits pad other attorneys’ pockets.

What about the Employees?

Hey! Wait a minute – look over here! There are 1,000+ people who lost their jobs and are struggling to recover. Ex-employees haven’t gotten wages due or accrued vacation pay and don’t have COBRA benefits. Because the firm didn’t give WARN’s 60 day notice employees are also due penalty payments. But that’s no consolation when litigation and bankruptcy court stands between you and your money. How do you pay living expenses or hold off mortgage collectors today? Good luck getting a job: the legal industry isn’t hiring. There are hundreds still looking for jobs eight months after D-day. It sucks to be ex-Heller.

Checkmate

Eventually Heller will be just another failed law firm, a footnote in legal history. Other than those who went through the trauma, few will think about them again. Still it’s hard to ignore the irony: Heller got checkmated by their own legal contracts.

Heller employees have set up an informative support network at Heller Highwater.

How long did you wait to get paid what you were owed after your company filed bankruptcy?

Post from: The Dead Company Club The Dead Company Club is a hobby of the writers at Sundance Research. Sometimes they just need to write about their own stuff.

Hell or Heller Ehrman?

“Sometimes I lie awake at night and ask ‘Where have I gone wrong?’ Then a voice says to me, ‘This is going to take more than one night.’”                             – Charles M. Schulz

Prime Parking Available

I was just in time today to see absolutely nothing happen at Circuit City’s headquarters. The parking lot didn’t look this massive when it actually had cars.  For anyone unaware of Circuit City’s demise, the management of this old, established electronics retailer propelled the company nose first into the ground. Their competitors hardly had to break a sweat to overtake them and while leadership rubbed their chins and pondered, The City became a ghost town.

Christmas Lite

Because I live a few miles from HQ I’ve seen former employees’ pain firsthand. The 2008 holidays were not very happy. One thing is clear: Circuit City had a lot of loyal employees. They stayed and worked through the holidays, through their own hardships, and took a load of crap from shoppers. Most didn’t bolt to find another job while there were still jobs to find. They stayed until it hurt, and then some. Consider this:

Employees that lost their jobs: 34,000
Severance: none
Accrued vacation pay: none
Bonuses to associates: promised but not delivered
WARN compliance (60 days notice before layoffs): incomplete (class action pending)
COBRA health insurance plan: none

Suckerfish and Scum Sucking Bottom Dwellers

Bonus bait was used to keep managers and employees in the stores until they were empty. The managers got a bonus. Their employees got nada. Close your eyes and thing about the last time you were a sucker. Stings, doesn’t it?

This bonus thing is a big issue. The same inept corporate management that killed the business will get bonuses to shut down the company. Ironic? They shut down the company without bonuses! 14 “essential employees” will get an average of $116,000 each, and another 135 will get $17,500. 33,850 former employees get no bonus, no severance, no insurance, and get cheated out of pay.

Customer Spittle

Income and benefits weren’t the only disaster. Plenty of customers were truly nasty as stores were liquidated. Employees got comments such as:

Quiz: Who Were The Huns?

I want to believe that most Circuit City employees – I’m excluding management – were good people in a bad situation, not Huns that pillaged the castle. Did you get this kind of abuse? How does your situation compare?

“So You Think You Have It Bad” is a series that profiles a company’s demise  and how it treated its employees. I vote that Circuit City gets an F. What do you think?

Laurie Phillips writes for businesses who want to focus their energy on making money. You can read more about her at Sundance Research.

Post from: The Dead Company Club The Dead Company Club is a hobby of the writers at Sundance Research. Sometimes they just need to write about their own stuff.

So You Think You Have It Bad? The Circuit City Story