Our office needs a new accounting clerk so I’ve been holding interviews this week.

To be honest, it’s not easy to find good, capable, and willing employees nowadays. Many of the applications I received were from under-qualified candidates or from applicants who priced themselves too high versus their competency. There’s also the issue of fit — even if they are competent and reasonably priced, will they like our straight-talking office culture.

Last Wednesday, there was a candidate my husband and I liked.

Rosa was a failed CPA board tester. She took the test three times and failed, and has now given up her dreams of being a CPA and is looking for long-term employment. She has no kids or a husband, which makes her attractive from a baggage perspective. What’s more, she’s great at filing and according to her, she’s a hard worker.

We didn’t hire her right then and there. We still had a few candidates to interview on Saturday, and we wanted to see the other applicants before making a hiring decision.

Sounds prudent, right?

Well, on Saturday, after seeing all the candidates, we got back to her with a firm offer.

After two hours of waiting, we received the following text:

Good evening. Thank you for your offer. It’s a nice feeling that you chose me for the position. However, I had just signed a contract for a job today. Please do offer it to other qualified applicants that meet your merits. God bless.

DAMN!

After a mere two days, she was already employed!

I felt bad of course.

As I’ve said, good staff are not easy to find, and it’s annoying to be rejected. I asked myself whether we should have given her an offer after her impressive interview, and if so, would that have saved me the trouble of looking further for more help?

I then imagined what if she accepted the offer. If she would be one of our staff who can last decades with us. If she can pull us out of the muck and put our office in order.

My husband berates me.

No he didn’t say, “You Snooze, You Lose,” but for him, having a candidate reject you is not the end of the world. In fact, as a Christian, he believes that maybe there’s someone even better out there.

“Maybe she’ll hurt our company if we hired her,” he said with a shrug. “It’s just not meant to be.”

Sure, maybe it’s similar to the story of The Fox and the Grapes where we justify not having the things we don’t have, but maybe there’s some wisdom in that.

Driven by hunger, a fox tried to reach some grapes hanging high on the vine but was unable to, although he leaped with all his strength. As he went away, the fox remarked ‘Oh, you aren’t even ripe yet! I don’t need any sour grapes.’ People who speak disparagingly of things that they cannot attain would do well to apply this story to themselves.^[4]

Anyway, you snooze you lose. She’s not meant to be so that means we’ll just look again for a candidate better suited for our needs.

So I guess the moral of the story is, if you find someone you like, hire them immediately. If not, be ready to bear the risk that they may be employed elsewhere.

Have a great Sunday everyone!