Hands On: The Right Fit

To relieve his hiring headaches, Clifford Public Relations CEO Mike Clifford invites major clients to help pick their own account representatives.

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Hands On

Mike Clifford, CEO of Clifford Public Relations in New York City, had a recurring hiring headache. Often when he would recruit a new account executive to work with a key client, the pairing would eventually flop, and Clifford would be left scrambling for someone else to handle the account. So now he invites major clients to help pick their own account representatives. Those clients review finalists' rÉsumÉs, sit in on interviews, and recommend which candidate should get the gig. If a client rejects an otherwise promising applicant, Clifford typically hires the person anyway -- to work on other accounts, of course. The results are fewer hiring mistakes, reduced turnover in his 18-person staff, and clients who feel like real partners.

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