My manager hired a new teammate that I have not met/interviewed. Is this a red flag?

Question

My manager recently notified me that a new team-member will be joining our team, and I believe I will be reporting to them.

Unfortunately, I did not interview this candidate (they were interviewed prior to my joining 8-months ago) or hear anything about potentially hiring her until now. This will be the second hire on my immediate team and, prior to this, I had interviewed all prospective candidates.

In my gut, something feels off. That's the best way I can put it.

A few notes from my perspective:

• Manager delivered this news in a somewhat hurried fashion and in-between discussion of urgent/important operational tasks for the week (i.e. 'by the way, ...'). While this caught me off-guard, it also left little time for discussion.
• Manager asked, 'you met her, right?' referring to the candidate who was just hired. I try to give the benefit of the doubt, but I don't believe she asked this question with the sincere belief that I had met the candidate because A) of how the question was asked and B) two months prior, my manager mentioned a recommendation this person had proposed and noted that she was a candidate I didn't meet.
• The candidate sounds like they will definitely add value, the company is moving extremely fast and our team needs new hires, and my manager is extremely busy; however, hiring is typically rigorous and interviews conclude with debriefs with all team-members. So, if the candidate will add value, why am I complaining? Because something just feels off, perhaps it is just how my manager introduced the news.

Am I over-examining the situation and taking it too personally, or should I be alerted? I realize that I'm unable look at this event in isolation; rather, I'm looking at in the context of other events w/ my manager that caused me to raise an eyebrow.

At a previous employer, it wasn't until I had left the company that I was able to see the early red flags that I reasoned away or simply internalized. I'd like to avoid making that mistake a second time.

Answer 1

In my gut, something feels off.

While I'm a big fan of trusting your gut, it occasionally screws up when you're operating from incorrect assumptions or unreliable experiences. You mention a previous employer that had a lot of red flags, so ask yourself if you've fully broken from that experience. Dysfunctional workplaces can warp norms and behaviour or make you suspect insidious motives behind reasonable policies and management decisions.

Am I over-examining the situation and taking it too personally, or should I be alerted?

You are definitely over-thinking this. Even if your company has a policy of interviewing new hires by all current team members (or just you, your post is unclear on that), it's perfectly normal that you never got that chance as this person was interviewed before you even started! From what you describe she was officially hired months ago and that's not a decision that a company will just reverse on a whim. There would be negative value in having you interview this person again: it wastes everyone's time and would make the new hire very suspicious, since she already accepted an offer.

Your manager asking if you met her is innocuous. He could be fuzzy on the timeline or have assumed that you met her when she came in for paperwork somewhere down the line.

Suppress your gut instinct on this one. It's not a red flag, it's just a normal outcome of hiring someone with a start date months away.

Answer 2

Firstly, you are clearly overthinking this.

Secondly, if you assumption about you reporting to her, is true; then you wouldn't and shouldn't be interviewing her.

As you say that your company is in a high acceleration mode, it would be difficult and sometimes a time-waste to convey the entire recruiting process of a candidate to the prospective team members. Instead, you(and your team) shall directly meet her on her first day, where you can get introduced and learn more about her skills and experience as well as her role and responsibilities.

Answer 3

The only experience I have with this was when our CEO announced we were hiring a COO who had moved from New York just for us. We met her, but she had essentially sought us out and insisted on the position. She brought about lots of positive change to the company, but then ended up resigning. This may be a situation where someone has a lot of swing with your company and decided they want to get in on the action. Thoughts?