CEO dismissal reveals flawed HR practices

Dube TradePort has been a disaster zone for CEOs in recent times – because CEOs have been a disaster zone for Dube. After her predecessor Rohan Persad decided to resign after being accused of receiving kickbacks, now latest CEO, Saxen van Coller, has also been shown the door (FTW June 26, 2105). While press reports said the company had been “somewhat unlucky” in its choice of management over the years, Morne Steffens, GM (supply chain/freight) at Communicate Personnel, commented: “It’s more like something is distinctly missing in its curriculum vitae (CV) search procedure.” How can any corporate body take on someone for an important position like CEO, he suggested, without an extensive CV verification procedure being in place. The whole bells and whistles, he said – ID verification, reference verification, criminal record check, academic record check, credit record check, the lot. How could they then miss out on a hidden a record of previous criminal offences and a criminal conviction; falsified information about her qualifications on her CV – qualifications she had claimed as being a BA, an MBA and a doctorate. “Goodness,” said Steffens, “there was even the question of a change of name, said to be in 2008.” According to press reports, Van Coller had been born Yvette Coetzee in Rustenburg, North West. A high-calibre verification weapon is the essence of any professional recruitment agency, Steffens told FTW. “I mean, we even contract a specialist verification outfit to conduct this essential, detailed research for Communicate Personnel,” he added. “You’d be amazed just how many applications are stopped dead when something like a ‘qualifications not verified’ flag comes up.” Steffens agreed that this process was basically “muck raking”. “You have to be sure that even a tiny finger-nail clipping of a skeleton in the cupboard is revealed,” he said. “The reputation and integrity of your company depends on it.” But in this case, it appears they could not see the whole skeleton lurking there, never mind just a sliver of a toe nail.