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http://careers.games-workshop.com/2014/09/18/chief-executive-games-workshop-group-plc-nottingham-uk/

Anyone

Done. Wrote that "letter" in about 40 seconds

So what's the joke here?

If I was about 5 years further into my career and had a reasonable shot at getting some sort of interview, I'd absolutely apply. Incredibly high paying job in an industry I love?

Yes, please.

I think the part that would be funny if it wasn't happening to a company I have a great interest in, is the incredibly brief description that isn't a copy/paste from every other job posting they put up:

Chief Executive, Games Workshop Group PLC: Nottingham, UK
Thursday 18 September, 2014
About the Job

Do you want to run Games Workshop Group PLC?

Are you excited by the challenge of growing our unique business?

You will need to:

Deliver a sustainable increase in return on capital
Have the right people in the right jobs at the right time
Set the operational agenda in agreement with the board and deliver it on time
Keep our owners appropriately informed
Perform the normal legal duties and responsibilities of a director whilst championing Games Workshop’s culture and ethics.

We know being a chief executive is always hard, but this job is a humdinger!

Followed by the copy/paste part, with 2 of the 3 paragraphs being devoted to "attitude is more important than skill" and their "strong internal culture":

About Games Workshop

Games Workshop is a business with a strong internal culture which means we have a very definite set of ideas, beliefs and ways of doing business. We believe that how you behave does matter, therefore, we believe that attitudes – such as honesty and integrity – are even more important than skills. We will happily teach you the skills needed for many roles if you bring a great attitude to your work.

Every staff member is dedicated to constantly making things better for our customers, whether this is by providing ever better products or delivering ever greater service. We are hard working, committed and cheerful and above all we put the needs of the business first in our decision-making.

We have a strong culture of personal development at Games Workshop and there are many resources and opportunities for both personal and professional development. If the way you behave at work and the attitudes you display fit with ours, it is highly likely you will be successful, well rewarded and happy. However, it is only fair to say that people who don’t fit with our culture, or who play at fitting, will be unhappy and consequently unsuccessful. You can read more about Games Workshop’s business culture at careers.games-workshop.com.

I've gone to that link and looked around, and there is barely any more information than they list in their postings about that "strong internal culture". They continually tout it as if it is the reason for their success, when in fact it is the main reason they're struggling, despite the momentum of having the far most popular tabletop gaming brand and IP, basically having the market cornered previously (but no longer).

Finally, this:

Other Essential Information

Closing date: Applications must be received by midnight, UK time, on Friday 10 October 2014.

Interviews: If your application is successful, you must be available for an interview on Friday 7 November 2014, in Nottingham.

How to Apply

Please write a letter telling us why you want this job. No letter, no interview.

Please send your letter to ‘Recruitment@gwplc.com’.

Ah, yes. Just a letter. No reason to request a CV or list of qualifications for your CEO. After all, this is a company that prides itself on doing no market research, so why should they do so for their CEO

I feel I'm a little too negative today, but come on, this is an amateur hour posting for such an important position. Either they already have someone in mind, or they really are just sticking to their philosophy come what may.

 RiTides wrote:


I feel I'm a little too negative today, but come on, this is an amateur hour posting for such an important position. Either they already have someone in mind, or they really are just sticking to their philosophy come what may.

Maybe they just really want to get rid of Kirby

The reason this is a joke to me is because, companies of this size do not do open applications for the position of CEO. This is a position usually selected from a curent board member or by the board as a whole from individuals in the business world curently holding high level exec positions. When you allow any joe shmoe to apply for the position of CEO, what does that say about the compentency of the board of directors to A) either choose from within or B) find qualified aplicants on their own.

 cincydooley wrote:
So what's the joke here?

If I was about 5 years further into my career and had a reasonable shot at getting some sort of interview, I'd absolutely apply. Incredibly high paying job in an industry I love?

Yes, please.

Because they're advertising it on their website like any other job in their company and they're basically saying they'll ignore anything in your CV as they hire for attitude and not skills.

Any schmuck from off the street could get it if they had the right "yes man" attitude to do what Kirby tells them.

I am floored that they have an open posting for this job. That is absolutely unreal. They should have some candidates lined up well in advance of Kirby leaving. Interviews should have started, NOT TO MENTION they should have SOMEONE there already that is CAPABLE of succeeding him or being promoted. What an absolute clusterfeth this company is.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 namiel wrote:
The reason this is a joke to me is because, companies of this size do not do open applications for the position of CEO. This is a position usually selected from a curent board member or by the board as a whole from individuals in the business world curently holding high level exec positions. When you allow any joe shmoe to apply for the position of CEO, what does that say about the compentency of the board of directors to A) either choose from within or B) find qualified aplicants on their own.

ding ding ding

Man, if I lived in the UK, I'd totally apply...

This is sort of like applying to be the captain of the Titanic. What a joke. I think I might write a letter just saying, I have no qualifications to run a company of your magnitude, other than to guarantee I couldn't feth up any worse than you've already done over the past 10 years.

 CthuluIsSpy wrote:

 RiTides wrote:


I feel I'm a little too negative today, but come on, this is an amateur hour posting for such an important position. Either they already have someone in mind, or they really are just sticking to their philosophy come what may.

Maybe they just really want to get rid of Kirby

Except Kirby is the one who will be doing the interviews for the next patsy...errr...CEO.

Yeah, it does also ring a bit of bringing on a fall guy, to later depose and reinstate Kirby to "re-establish" their "strong internal culture"

But I'm hoping the new CEO will not just be a yes-man, and actually point out to them some of the basics... like doing some market research... as it is they are bleeding market share (although, perhaps they don't track it ) so you'd think a new CEO would have some ammo to justify changes. But the board likely won't pick such a person.

The bigger question is why would anyone want this job? You're taking over leadership of a company that is hopelessly screwed and shows no desire that they're even aware of their problems, which means any CEO who does offer realistic solutions will probably be ignored. So you'll probably end up with a black mark on your record when you're fired in a desperate attempt to appease the shareholders after the inevitable drop in profit. And if you're someone who has any hope of a management career elsewhere I can't imagine why you'd want to take that risk. So really, GW probably is showing some desperation with this, and I wouldn't be surprised if they end up hiring someone who any sane company would consider laughably unqualified.

 Peregrine wrote:
and I wouldn't be surprised if they end up hiring someone who any sane company would consider laughably unqualified.

I think this is the point, considering they don't want your CV, just a cover letter explaining why you're a good option for the position.

Tescos would be the ideal place to recruit from.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-29306444

 Mr. Burning wrote:
Tescos would be the ideal place to recruit from.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-29306444

Especially as a lot of Tesco's problems stem from spending too much time yes-manning and not tackling the actual issues they have, they'd fit right in.

I don't understand why they are doing this... even if all they want is an unqualified scapegoat why would they advertise this way? All they're going to get is a giant stack of letters from 15 year olds, they won't even be able to go through them all, unless their plan was to jsut read the first one.

AllSeeingSkink wrote:
I don't understand why they are doing this... even if all they want is an unqualified scapegoat why would they advertise this way? All they're going to get is a giant stack of letters from 15 year olds, they won't even be able to go through them all, unless their plan was to jsut read the first one.

Two options I can think of:

1) "Well, we tried to find a new CEO and nobody appealing sent in an application, so I guess I'll just have to continue my 'temporary' CEO role a while longer."

2) GW sincerely believes their own propaganda about attitude being more important than experience and doesn't have the professionalism to treat hiring a CEO as something that shouldn't be done the same way you hire a manager for a new retail store.

I do also wonder what the investors will think if they happen to read the GW site "wait what, this is how they're trying to pick a new CEO? Ummmm, ok, why are we invested in this company again?".

I think they probably do want to see your qualifications and CV, the letter is a starting point.

I do think it's funny that they advertise the most important position in the company on their website just as they would for any other lowly position. 90% of the advert being a cut and paste job about 'attitude not skills' and their 'ethos'. I'm sure a future CEO will create their own ethos.

I thought you advertise CEO positions though other professional channels and contacts, you don't just do a cut and paste job on your webpage like you would for someone working the warehouse. It's really quite wierd.

The only explanation I can think of is that they know who is getting the job and they're just paying lip service to their legal requirements to externally advertise the position. Still, it looks unprofessional.

I remember a few months ago when the most recent financial report came out, and someone found it on the site before it was officially made public. In that period before it was confirmed to be real, some people were saying it had to be a joke, it was that weird.

I sort of feel the same way here, except this time there's no doubt - it's no joke. Remember they supposedly added someone to the board of directors and hadn't read her CV even after she'd started the job (if you believe what Kirby says).

 Howard A Treesong wrote:
The only explanation I can think of is that they know who is getting the job and they're just paying lip service to their legal requirements to externally advertise the position. Still, it looks unprofessional.

I think this is the explanation right here. They already have someone in mind, but they probably have some internal requirement to advertise the position, or at least hold some kind of competitive interview process. They open the position up to yahoos on the internet, then they say "well, we tried!" and hire whoever they wanted originally. Very weird though.

Yes i agree, in the Uk you have to advertise a position externally for a minimum amount of time, you are not allowed to just recruit internally without advertising as it seen as unfair.

However almost all companies get away with this by advertising for the shortest period possible and usually in an obscure place.

I am sure that's what GW is doing right here.

They have to advertise it publicly by law.
The reason they don't ask for much is they probably have the right man for the job lined up.

Wish me luck LOL

 Rayvon wrote:
They have to advertise it publicly by law.

Not actually true. The law requires employers not to discriminate when making appointments, but there is no requirement to advertise externally first.

Where I work it is normal practice to advertise internally first, and then only if there is no internal candidate, to advertise externally. With one exception - the CEO position, where the board decided to advertise internally and externally simultaneously. That was the board's decision though, not the law. The practical upshot is that people tend to shuffle round for promotions, and then the lowest grade job eventually goes to advert. In a small company it makes perfect sense as promotion opportunities tend to be limited, so it is important to maintain motivation for longer serving staff.

Who knows what goes through their minds? When I worked for them they brought in a supposedly successful retail area manager, who then got promoted to head of retail. The amount of gak that flowed out of that man was amazing. He turned each store that was unique into a generic shop that played the same music, had the same layouts and exactly the same stuff in the cabinets. Which stifled what a main part of the hobby is about, creativity. So maybe attitude and love of GW is more important, having said that they need someone with some business savvy so can't employ just anyone. Sucks to be them at this moment in time.

But if they get the right person for the job, then OMG it could be so great!

 Peregrine wrote:
The bigger question is why would anyone want this job? You're taking over leadership of a company that is hopelessly screwed and shows no desire that they're even aware of their problems, which means any CEO who does offer realistic solutions will probably be ignored. So you'll probably end up with a black mark on your record when you're fired in a desperate attempt to appease the shareholders after the inevitable drop in profit. And if you're someone who has any hope of a management career elsewhere I can't imagine why you'd want to take that risk. So really, GW probably is showing some desperation with this, and I wouldn't be surprised if they end up hiring someone who any sane company would consider laughably unqualified.

This actually might be an accurate representation.

Typically, for this kind of job, a company would have head-hunted up a candidate interested in taking the position before they even announced that the existing CEO was leaving.

I'm so tempted to do this, just to write "I'd actually do market research and not treat my customers like social pariahs."

 Peregrine wrote:
The bigger question is why would anyone want this job? You're taking over leadership of a company that is hopelessly screwed and shows no desire that they're even aware of their problems, which means any CEO who does offer realistic solutions will probably be ignored. So you'll probably end up with a black mark on your record when you're fired in a desperate attempt to appease the shareholders after the inevitable drop in profit. And if you're someone who has any hope of a management career elsewhere I can't imagine why you'd want to take that risk. So really, GW probably is showing some desperation with this, and I wouldn't be surprised if they end up hiring someone who any sane company would consider laughably unqualified.

Well, speaking as a manager (albeit not at this level) it is a win-win situation.

If you take the job and improve turnover and profit, it's a result. If you don't, well, the company is already showing signs of financial decline, and you can simply cite those reasons as being too entrenched/you weren't given sufficient time or power by the board to turn it around.

It is much better to take over at a point in time when things aren't looking so good than to step in when things are flying and be under pressure to maintain it.

So, how many fanboys-that-think-they-are-khornes-gift-to-gw will also be there on Nov 7th for an interview? I get the idea it's gonna be more like an audition