Necessary Roughness

Bizarre corporate email lands in my company inbox:

From: Halliburton Communications
Sent: Thursday, January 20, 2005 4:41 PM
Subject: Interviews for NBC’s The Apprentice

TO: Energy Services Group employees in Houston, Carrollton and Duncan

FROM: Weldon Mire, senior vice president, Human Resources

SUBJECT: Interviews for NBC’s The Apprentice

Do you have what it takes to outsmart Omarosa? Crush Kwame? And most importantly, dazzle The Donald?

If you think you’ve got what it takes to enter the now-famous boardroom and stand your ground with real estate mogul Donald Trump, then plan to audition for the fourth season of NBC’s hit series The Apprentice.

Producers of the hugely popular reality show, now in its third season, chose Halliburton as one of the companies where it will hold auditions next month.

Casting associates from the show will visit three Halliburton locations to interview potential candidates: Houston’s Oak Park facility, Carrollton and Duncan. If chosen during this preliminary round, candidates will go to Los Angeles in March where 16 people will be chosen to go to New York City for eight weeks of taping later this spring. The show will air in September.

The Apprentice is an unscripted drama in which 16 candidates endure rigorous tasks each week while living together in a posh Manhattan apartment. They compete in two teams to win challenging job assignments given to them by Trump. Outside-the-box and over-the-top thinking earns the winning team lavish rewards each week. The losing team reports to the dreaded boardroom where Trump issues to the biggest loser of the week the two most dreaded words in television history: “You’re fired!”

The last man or woman standing becomes a true apprentice in the Trump organization, complete with a six-figure salary.

Applications are limited and are for Halliburton employees only. Please be sure you have management support before pursuing this adventure.

Audition times and deadlines to enter, are:

(snip)¹

Candidates should bring to the interview an updated resume, along with an official application form that can be found (snip)¹ by going to the NBC Web site at: http://www.nbc.com/nbc/The_Apprentice_3/. No videotapes are required.

¹Content removed to avoid releasing potentially sensitive information.

Several questions come to mind:

1. The winner works for the Donald. By auditioning, is an employee stating that he or she wants to leave Halliburton? Is that a wise thing to inform one’s boss?
2. Is this an attempt for Halliburton to gain positive publicity? If so, how does that work, especially if we send our version of Omarosa?
3. How much money is changing hands, and in which direction?
4. Can we suggest fellow employees?