The Line Between a Recommendation and a Stolen Opportunity

I will start by saying a lot of people are against nepotism because they are not benefiting from it. Just like some will say corruption is not bad so long as they are gaining something directly from it. Do not get me wrong; these things are bad and should not be encouraged even if you are benefiting directly or indirectly because no one should be given a position they do not merit just because they know someone who knows someone.

If it comes down to me, nepotism is not a criminal offense because it does not involve the exchange of bribes, false documents, or anything incriminating that can be proven or someone can point to in court. And when there is a free vacancy, and someone in a higher authority thought of someone close to them first to fill that space, that is not a criminal act but a mental preference translated into a private decision. So in that case, the best thing that can be done is to regulate such activities when it comes to the private sector, government organizations, the public, and even in our families today.

I know of a close family friend; the elder brother is the current Vice Chancellor of a big reputable university in this country; he has all the power to do and undo some things because of his position. His younger sister was looking for employment or a transfer to the university that he is at because her husband also works there. Even though the younger sister has a lecturing job at another university, it is far from home.

Telling her elder brother, a VC, to work on her transfer to the university, the response he gave was that he could not do it and she has to pass through the right process and be interviewed just like others. Well, I don't think she was happy; neither was her husband.

But at the end of the day, when others were being interviewed, she also did hers, passing through the right process and without the intervention of her elder brother. She got the job, even though her professorship will be delayed for a year or so, which she should have gotten this year assuming she stayed in her former workplace. In my honest opinion, that is how things should be done.

And yes, it is sometimes right not to utilize every advantage we have at our disposal, and for the advantages we use, that doesn't make us a fool. One way or another, we are all beneficiaries of something inherited because it is our surname, connection, and network, and refusing all of it isn't possible or even coherent. But the sincere truth here today is not advantage versus no advantage. It is whether using it to displace someone more qualified from a position they should have entered freely.

And talking about how far is too far, I will also give the same answer I have given up there. Because the advantage that gets someone with a better CV and best qualifications hired is different from the advantage that gets someone with no experience but nothing but a phone call from a powerful person hired. One is access the other is theft.

Thank you for reading.

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