You parted ways with your employee a few weeks, months, or years ago, and now they are reaching out to you hoping to reestablish your previous relationship. How should you respond? The answer will depend on a few key factors, including your level of need and the nature of your past interactions. Before you automatically say yes or no, think carefully and gather all the meaningful data available to you, including answers to the following questions.
How did the relationship end?
If you worked with the employee personally, you already have this information. Trust your own memory. If you recall tension at the end of their term of employment, search your records and figure out why and how that tension occurred. Were they displeased with the company, the salary, the working conditions or your management style? Were you displeased with their productivity or performance? Whatever went wrong before will probably go wrong again unless the two of you have developed the wherewithal to overcome it.
If you weren
