Just as we don’t like it when the UN or government organizations tempt our quality staff away with the promise of higher salaries, our local partner organizations (and local organizations generally) don’t want to lose all their staff to us when we open or expand an office. And if our purpose is to build up partners, we can’t take all their good staff to work for us.
At the same time, people (staff) are free to choose the type of work they want to do and where they would like to do it.
Here are some guidelines for tackling this issue:
- Never approach partner staff about coming to work for CRS. There is nothing we can do to prevent them coming to us, but we should never initiate the conversation.
- If, when we post a position, a staff person from a partner applies for the job, we can consider his or her application and test and interview the person. People are perfectly free to apply for any job they choose. However, if this candidate is the one we select for the job, we must discuss the issue with the appropriate manager at the partner organization before making the person an offer. We must, in turn, first make sure to get the permission of the candidate to speak with his or her current employer (i.e. the partner).
In the end, we must preserve the relationship with the partner. If that means hiring our second choice candidate, that’s what we will do.