WIBTA for asking my boss to not hire my best friend?
(using a throwaway account and modified some details just in case).
I (26F) work for a small business (less than 10 people) and we are currently hiring to fill a position for a colleague who is leaving. My best friend (26F) of 11 years and godmother of my 2 year old daughter, Gina, applied to the job and seems excited about possibly working with me.
Gina has been out of steady work for a while due to family issues and has had a hard time finding a new job. I have worked at my job for 5 years now and love it there, it’s a great work environment and my boss (the owner) treats his staff really well. I care about Gina tons and I really do want her to find a good job like what I have. My boss does know that Gina is my friend and because we haven’t had many people apply he has already agreed to interview her. My boss also asked how I felt about working with Gina and I'm torn.
I love Gina, I know she has a good work ethic, and she would be a great fit for the position. I also know that working with friends almost never works out though, either it ruins the friendship, professional reputation, or both. We have worked together in the past and worked really well together (it’s how we met) but it was a totally different line of work and it was nearly 10 years ago.
If she got the position we would be working very closely together, I would be training her and would basically be her boss. The work is very detail oriented and new hires tend to make a lot of mistakes, so I would be responsible for correcting her mistakes and reporting to the owner on how she’s doing. I’m worried about how working together could affect our friendship when I am suddenly in charge of her and have to correct her mistakes. But on the other hand it might be easier for me if we did hire her, because I know she wouldn’t take corrections/constructive criticism personally, and the new-hire’s first impression of me wouldn’t be me constantly correcting their work.
I know how much she needs a job, that she is exactly what we’re looking for, that we’re running out of time to find a replacement, and that Gina and I do work really well together, never fight, and we’re always on the same page. But Gina is my best friend and our friendship means everything to me so I would really hate to lose our friendship because of this. Gina has already promised me that there would be no hard feelings between us if she doesn’t get the job and I genuinely believe her.
I really really don’t want to put our friendship in jeopardy, so WIBTA if I asked my boss to not hire her?