Should I share my opinion of my former manager (from a different company) who's interviewing to be my new manager?

Question

I previously worked under "Mr Jones", who was a terrible team leader/manager - no shielding from stakeholders, no support with issues, promised the world to stakeholders and the team but never delivered and the entire team ended up leaving.

Enter my new job, where my new manager is resigning and they are interviewing replacements.

Mr Jones just had his interview here for that role and word is they're keen on him.

Would it be unethical for me to voice my opinion of him to the hiring director?

I know part of my disapproval is on a personal basis (promising me a comparable salary to my colleagues for 18 months but never actually signing it off is big grudge) but I'm genuinely concerned after seeing how people work in this business that he'd cause a lot of stuff to collapse (projects and teams included) as I've seen in the last company. Also, it might be reactionary and childish, but I'd immediately resign if he was my manager again.

Answer 1

You have first-hand, relevant experience with how he manages teams. You'd be negligent as a team-player and employee if you did not offer that input, as long as it is objective and non-personal. This is why companies try to cajole frank references from people who have worked with prospective candidates - they feel this information is valuable, when they can get it.

If he's not competent as a group leader/manager, then bringing him on board is not going to help your organization or your team. Stating, while later standing in the ashes of your once fine team "Yeah, I knew this was coming..... I used to work under him" will probably get you burned at the stake, figuratively.

Don't offer any ultimatums ("I'd quit if you hire him as my boss,"), because that would seem personal. Pointing out that there was a mass exodus from your previous team under his supervision, and stating that you'd be afraid of that happening if he was brought in, is a legitimate point, though.

FYI - the second half of your opening paragraph struck me as an objective, relevant analysis of the overall aptitude of that manager, and seemed entirely non-personal. If you tell the hiring manager that, specifically, it should be clearly useful feedback.

Answer 2

If you have legitimate concerns about his performance, speak up. If the entire team effectively quit because he ran the projects into the ground, that's something these people will find quite interesting.

Don't disparage his character, etc. Simply stick to the facts.

They may listen to you, or they may not. But at least you'll know who you're dealing with, and whether you should start looking for a new job.

Answer 3

Let it be known you've worked with the person before in the same role and you're wiling to give feedback. If they don't want it, I wouldn't volunteer any information.

If you have a discussion, first find out why they like this person for this job. Many people want to do things the right way, but are often put into situations where they're not allowed. They are leaving the past job after-all, so something is wrong. Determine if the structure of this company will allow this manager to address these problems.

My guess is, this current company isn't asking for your input which could be more of a problem for your team than this new manager. You may want a manager to push-back and fight for the team, but the company does not and will make the manger's life very difficult if he tries. Sure we'd all like the manager to do it anyway, but may not have a choice.

Answer 4

Here are the possible outcomes:

1. You don't provide the feedback, and Mr Jones is hired
2. You don't provide the feedback, and Mr Jones isn't hired (apparently, not going to happen)
3. You provide the feedback, and Mr Jones is hired
4. You provide the feedback, and Mr Jones isn't hired

The scenario you specifically want to avoid is #3. If that happens, there's a chance that Mr Jones learns about your negative feedback while being your manager.

Therefore, you should share your opinion with as few people as possible (ideally, the person which makes the decision), and make sure that your feedback will be actually acted upon.

One way of doing this is to mention to HR that you have worked with Mr Jones, without volunteering any further information. If they don't ask your opinion, the decision to hire Mr Jones is probably already taken and by badmouthing him now you will only harm yourself.

If HR asks you for feedback, find out what kind of doubts they have, and prove/disprove those doubts, preferably with facts.

Answer 5

Managers are employees too. They are (or should be) evaluated on their skills as managers. The people who have this information are the people who report to them. Good senior leadership will evaluate managers in part by asking individual contributors to review the manager.

You have first-hand, relevant information about the (poor) quality of a potential hire's past work. You not only can, but should and are in some ways ethically required to speak up.

If you fail to do so you do your company a disservice (they don't get the benefit of your relevant knowledge when making a hiring decision). You do yourself a disservice and everyone who would be reporting to this person.

Also, a final note: making promises and not being able to or willing to follow through is not a personal issue, it's a professional one.

Answer 6

Would it be unethical for me to voice my opinion of him to the hiring director?

Usually it is not a good idea to badmouth former/current colleagues, you never know when one of them will end up being your manager.

You can see that expressing your opinion here can have some possible outcomes: they can either listen to you and reconsider, or not, and they can also hire him or not regardless of the other aspect.

It is understandable that you have your doubts on this one, but you don't know if Mr Jones has changed his managerial style in this time. Chances are he realized his mistakes from before and learned.

You also don't know if him being hired will mean to throw away all the good practices the company has; I doubt it, but if this happens they will surely notice the drop in performance.

Still, seems you already have strong opinions on him due to negative experiences on last jobs, so you could probably consider looking for jobs in case he actually landed this one. That or try to think if you are willing to try and give him the chance to work with him once more.

If, after thinking all this, you still fear he can damage this team then I also suggest you raise your concerns in a polite and professional way. Don't phrase it like you hold something against him, just state that you have not had positive experience with him before and that it could be wise to double check his capabilities before deciding.

Answer 7

Perhaps approach it from a different perspective?

As opposed to openly bad mouthing him and/or his character, speak to both his strengths and weaknesses. It's possible to make your new employers aware of his skillset, and whether or not he'd be the right fit for the company.

For example, from the brief description alone;

"He's focused on motivation and is incredibly ambitious; but eventually, when promises remained unfulfilled, he was unable to keep the team in cohesion... which ultimately led former colleagues to look for new opportunities."

If they're truly interested in your opinion, they will ask you to elaborate. Tell them the entire team left, but don't lay the blame directly at his feet (it may not have been everyone's reason to move on). Explain the projects failings, and his role in it's management truthfully, without exaggeration. If they're only asking you out of lip-service, and aren't really interested in your opinion; you still haven't said anything untrue.

Answer 8

One other consideration before you provide feedback.

If you are the ONLY former colleague from "Company A" at "Company B", this can be readily discovered (LinkedIn?) and the manager has a good first interview followed by a bad second interview with a lot of pointed questions about staff turnover and non-delivery at Company A there is every chance that your old manager will guess that you are behind it and blame you for his failure to get the job.

He may therefore retaliate in the future if the opportunity presents itself. If he's quick witted enough to figure this out during the second interview and is as good at stakeholder management as you say he is then there's a chance that he could divert blame onto you and make it harder for you to progress in the company.

That might sound paranoid but I have seen this sort of thing done.