Omaha Steaks, Anyone?

I no longer remember why, but one of our major clients transferred a contract administrative assistant from another staffing agency to Paradigm. It happens. Over the years, we've gained consultants from other agencies, and we've lost a few to them. It's part of the business.

Everything seemed to be going smoothly until we received a call from the client's security department. They were investigating questionable charges made on a company credit card by our new consultant. All the charges had occurred while the consultant was still employed by the previous agency.

Apparently, no one from that agency wanted to get involved. So security asked if we would participate in their interviews with the consultant. Of course, we agreed.

Sitting in on the first interview, I felt as though I'd wandered into an episode of Blue Bloods.

The security officer started off friendly enough, asking routine questions. But gradually, the conversation became more pointed. Why had our consultant used the company credit card to purchase Omaha Steaks? And what about those tickets to Disneyland?

Our consultant was remarkably composed. Perhaps the business card had accidentally been used for personal purchases. An innocent mistake. It could happen to anyone.

Then came the question that really caught my attention.

Why had the Omaha Steaks been purchased just before a trip to Hawaii and shipped to friends the consultant would be staying with?

That was a little harder to explain.

But our consultant was up to the challenge. Throughout the questioning, they managed to avoid admitting anything. At one point, I thought they were about to implicate themselves. They walked right up to the edge of a confession, but never quite crossed the line.

It was an impressive performance, if not a particularly reassuring one.

We continued cooperating with security as they tried to gather enough evidence to take action. The client even asked us to keep our consultant working for a while, believing that doing so might give investigators more leverage.

Later, in a private conversation, I asked the security officer directly, "Do you think they're guilty?"

"Oh, yeah," he replied.

I had reached the same conclusion.

Eventually, we were given the green light to terminate the consultant's assignment. That was the last we heard of the matter.

But something about the experience has stayed with me all these years.

Paradigm had inherited this consultant. The questionable purchases had occurred before we became involved. Technically, this wasn't our problem. Yet when the client needed our help, we were there.

The previous agency, which had employed the consultant when the charges occurred, was nowhere to be found.

I've always believed that running a staffing agency involves more than filling positions and collecting fees. You make a commitment to your clients and your consultants. Sometimes that means celebrating a successful placement. Other times, it means dealing with a situation nobody wants to touch.

You don't get to choose only the easy parts.

At Paradigm, we believe that being there when things go wrong is just as important as being there when things go right.

And sometimes, that commitment comes with a side of Omaha Steaks.