Ericsson Hiring Nortel People: What Do They Know that We Don't?

Some HR coaches will tell you that if you start doing a job, eventually someone will just give it to you.

That must be what Ericsson was thinking when it offered jobs to 680 Nortel employees yesterday, even though its US$1.13 billion Nortel sub acquisition hasn’t closed yet (hat tip OBJ). According to the report, the fuse on the job offer was short and almost everyone accepted their position.

One has to assume that Ericsson lawyers have received some positive nods from officials at Industry Canada that the deal will sail through the system (see prior post “Ericsson’s deal for Nortel very much alive” Sept 10-09). GR 101 tells us that Ericsson execs wouldn’t want to be seen to be putting public pressure on Industry Minister Tony Clement to approve the acquisiton by hiring staff before he had even opined.

They must know something that the rest of us don’t, or else they’d never risk the wrath, would they?

Comments

[JAMES CARLINI:]

ERICCSON is smart to pick up all those employees because to train people costs a lot of money. Why let any slip away???

Telecom companies (AT&T, the Bell System, etc.) used to invest more in their people than they do now, but now if they can find someone that has a lot of training they'll snap them up because the investment has already been made.

I think the quick move might have been to let people know that they still have a job which gives anyone a big boost in these times. A positive move.

Oct 09 11:34 PM