Write things down

Lesson 4 - Always keep an audit trail

A big lesson learnt here is that you always need to document things.

Confirm everything in writing.

It is very difficult to try and prove a conversation, especially when it is only between two people. Whose version is correct and how do you prove that it was said?

Some time ago I went through an 'interesting' recruitment process - where an appointment was made based only on telephonic and Skype interviews (incidentally, steer clear from doing in this way - but more on that another time). On the first day of meeting the person they didn't take kindly to the fact when told that reputation matters and that it did not bode particularly well to be late. During a conversation that ensued, I was told that the person 'was not feeling the vibe'. Not a great first impression or way to start a career in reputation management. To cut a long story short we agreed that this was not going to work out and mutually decided to cut our losses and move on.

In good faith, I believe we had moved on as I had telephonically requested a letter indicating that they did not accept the job offer and this was confirmed. There is no such thing as good faith. Lesson learnt loud and clearly a couple of months down the line when the conversation had to be proved at a CCMA hearing for unfair dismissal.

Keep an audit trail of everything. Keep evidence of conversations, be it through an email,  minutes or scrap of paper if need be, but get it documented.