Federal Agents Arrested the New CFO on His First Day [The Bad Hire Ep. 52]
He came in early. He got his badge photo taken. He sat down with the quarterly numbers like he'd been there for years.
Episode Recap
He came in early.
He got his badge photo taken.
He sat down with the quarterly numbers like he'd been there for years.
Around 10 a.m., four federal agents walked into the lobby and asked for him by name.
He'd been in the chair for less than three hours.
And somehow, that's only one of the stories in Episode 52.
This week on The Bad Hire, Ken, Nathan, and Kylie react to another collection of unbelievable workplace stories involving a new hire who asked the CEO when she's retiring, a day-three cold call to the biggest client, a CRM expert trained on YouTube, a self-performance review nobody asked for, a reference who called after the hire, an eleven-minute trip to the parking lot that cost $100,900, and a lunch rush that ended a career in three hours. Plus, Mackenzie Wieser, CEO of Sacramento Splash, shares her best hiring advice, and Ken explains Good Job, Bchex's behavioral hiring tool.
What's Covered in This Episode
- "When are you planning to retire?"
- The day-three cold call
- Mackenzie Wieser: trust your gut, hire slow, fire fast
- Six hours of YouTube
- Ken on Good Job and behavioral matching
- The self-review two weeks in
- The reference who wasn't on the list
- Eleven minutes in the parking lot
- Slow, and then the other kind of slow
- Four federal agents in the lobby
Key Takeaways
- What you say to leadership shapes how they see you.
- Access isn't permission.
- Hire for behaviors, not just the résumé.
- When someone shows you who they are, believe them.
- Ask for federal court searches on your background checks.
Chapters
- 00:00 Cold open
- 00:17 Welcome to The Bad Hire
- 00:51 The CEO Q&A with every new hire cohort
- 01:28 "When are you planning to retire?"
- 02:30 Let go at the end of probation
- 03:02 Compliment or rude question?
- 04:53 The iced coffee interview debate
- 07:56 Sponsor: Bchex
- 08:36 A new sales hire finds the client list
- 09:05 He cold calls a top ten client on day three
- 10:22 Let go that afternoon
- 10:51 Ken's op-ed: potato chip tricks and the death of a salesman
- 14:10 Meet Mackenzie Wieser of Sacramento Splash
- 14:55 Mackenzie: trust your gut, hire slow, fire fast
- 16:04 "When someone shows you who they are, believe them"
- 17:08 Bad hires and volunteers in nonprofits
- 18:35 His CRM proficiency came from YouTube
- 20:35 LinkedIn skill: CRM, "learning"
- 21:23 Résumés are a 10% predictor of success
- 22:52 Ken on Good Job and behavioral matching
- 26:05 Taking the Good Job assessment
- 28:05 A self-performance review two weeks in
- 28:30 "Exceptional" in four out of five categories
- 29:33 "She appreciated his initiative"
- 32:12 The former manager who called after the hire
- 34:08 "Who does that lady think she is?"
- 36:55 First day at a cash logistics company
- 37:54 Eleven minutes in the parking lot
- 38:16 $100,900 short
- 38:28 Caught on tape, charged within the week
- 40:05 Slow, and the other kind of slow
- 41:07 Sent home after three hours
- 41:23 He posts about it online
- 43:08 Four months to find a CFO
- 43:50 Four federal agents walk into the lobby
- 44:26 Less than three hours in the chair
- 45:15 Why the background check didn't catch it
- 47:14 Always include federal court searches
- 48:35 Wrapping the 52-episode year and the $10,000 contest
- 49:43 Final thoughts and show wrap up
Full Transcript
Ken is CEO of Bchex, where he leads a platform spanning background checks, continuous monitoring, visitor management and volunteer screening. He created the Screening Hero Masterclass, a free SHRM-certified course on building FCRA-compliant screening programs. After a career spent in screening, what still gets his attention is what good hiring builds: safer workplaces and stronger teams.
Recent Episodes
She Showed Up to Work in the Wrong City
She walked into the office on her first day. The receptionist had no idea who she was. It took 18 minutes for anyone to figure out what was wrong:
Watch Now →
Fired on Day One for Going Home on Time
She worked nine and a half hours on her first day. She got paid $28 for it. Then, at 7:30 that night, her phone rang.
Watch Now →
She Took the Job Just to Meet Men
She got the job. She showed up for her first day. Then she realized there was a problem: There were no men. Turns out, she was newly single and had ...
Watch Now →