Agenda - Council - 03/27/2007 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Follow up question: Do you feel that public networking would be the best starting position? Ms. DiMenna replied Harry is clear about bringing in the best candidates right away. In saying he has a wide net, it is wider than anything she has ever seen because he has been in this business for so long. A lot of people call Harry when looking for a job. PDI sees people all the time that come from out of state. 5c. Ms. DiMenna replied PDI has 15 offices around the country and 14 offices around the world. They are a global firm. PDI has a strong local presence, but also in other cities around the country. 6. Ms. DiMenna replied PDI has been doing this a long time. They have the methodology other organizations do not have. PDI really has a name around the country. Harry is a prolific public sector person, and PDI has many resources available to them. They have been doing this for 40 years and they are good at it. 7. Ms. DiMenna stated there was a situation about one year ago where PDI went through the process, and it was a good process. They made a recommendation and the individual ended up not staying in the position long because it wasn't the fit they thought it was. PDI had done their due diligence and put the candidate through the process, and made a good fit with the community, but the individual decided it was not the place for them. With all the pieces of PDI's process, including the personality assessment, the interview process, and the background check, they have a lot of data about people, but no one can know another individual that well, and the city probably felt they were left high and dry. Follow up question: Did PDI then find another candidate for the city, and was that free of charge? Ms. DiMenna replied they found another candidate, but it was not free of charge. It was a situation where PDI had made a recommendation on three candidates. The city chose the individual where it didn't work out. Follow up question: Did you find out why the individual decided not stay? What follow up did you do to ensure this does not happen? Ms. DiMenna replied given this situation, the individual said they had a different sense of the council and the organization, and when they got involved there were some personal conflicts they could not resolve. The individual decided they did not want the position. Everyone was likely on their best behavior, and when they started working together the styles didn't work. It was just with a couple of people and the individual said he could not manage those relationships. Follow up question: What failures have you had as an organization in a placement you recommended, other than a failure of the candidate to get along with the council? Ms. DiMenna replied they usually inform the council of the best candidate with potential development areas and strengths, and may say this seems like a good fit given what the city told PDI. At the end of the day this may not always turn out to be true. While there is a science to this, there is an art to it as well. This type of situation does not happen often; there is almost too much data to make bad decisions. City Council Work Session / February 6, 2007 Page 7 of 14