June 16, 2015
It’s a shame that LinkedIn does allow all truthful endorsements especially for medical sales recruiters. Pete Dowd, of HealthCo search out of Nashville, TN, was by far the most unethical recruiter I worked with in my 13+ years in the industry; and, that’s saying something for an industry where reps joke the recruiter would sell their own mother’s soul for a dollar.
Pete Dowd in either late 2011 or early 2012 contacted me relentlessly for a rep position in Phoenix for a medical device startup with a questionable history. It is however always good to know your value in a market at any given time and since I was already in Texas on business, where the interview was being held, I agreed to meet with the hiring manager. I remember this interview quite vividly as I had some very special credible friends drive me to it and also pick me up after the interview (a story for another time).
The interview went well and I was thinking more seriously about the position than I previously had as there was a marketing element with room for quick advancement. I spoke with Pete after the interview where he assured me the hiring manager was impressed and really wanted to move me forward in the hiring process and that he’d be in touch. I received a call from Pete a few days later on my return flight to Phoenix when he unethically told me that he decided that since my male manager at my previous company had just been fired he told the hiring manager where I was up for the position, that I was no longer a fit for the position and he had a better candidate in mind. An ethical recruiter would have put my male former newly fired boss in the running and would have allowed the client to decide who was the better fit.
Ironically my former male manger wrongfully had terminated me from the company where sexism was pervasive where we both worked (Karma is not always swift but she’s accurate) (despite HR forcing him into sensitivity training–twice), a point Pete was all too aware of and yet he glibly without shame, remorse, guilt or accountability chose to put the male in the running over a woman which is not only unethical it’s sexist.
This type of behavior from a recruiter fits right into a corrupt business model I often write about known as The Sociopathic Business Model™ which is usually trigger by sexism or racism where the workplace abuser (in this case an unethical recruiter) will continue to engage in unethical and or illegal behavior for financial gain without regard for others.
Pete Dowd looked at my LinkedIn page today which prompted this post and serves as a cautionary tale for any company or rep to make sure you do your homework when you when allowing someone the privilege of working with you. Jobs come and go but how we treat people within an industry matters; and it appears Mr. Dowd has many fans in my now former industry of medical device sales.