Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2004-11-21 23:33:13 - Graham Ellis
"Graham - do you know someone who could do xxxxx job for us?"
You would be amazed how often I'm asked that, and I have two things I say in reply:
a) The people who come on our courses are sent and paid for by their employers, and they send them to learn a skill for the job they're currently in. It would be a conflict of interest for me to put our trainees in touch with others who are looking to poach them from the very employers who are good customer of our and send their staff to learn.
b) Our trainees are here to learn and that means that they're new to the skills we teach. I have no formal way of knowing how any particular individual gets on once they have left us, though we keep in touch with many, see them again for other courses, get recommended, and do have a pretty good idea.
When approached for an introduction, I WILL see if I can think of anyone appropriate who has either paid for himself/herself on our courses, has let me know that he/she has moved on, or was sent in the first place by an employer as a "golden handshake" - an employer restructuring and helping the employee retrain to make him / her more employable elsewhere. In such a circumstance, I'm happy to make introductions.