Ok I will share my situation but will keep it very "obfuscated" so as not to shoot myself in the foot here. This is all in New York.I went for an interview at company "A." I met with a number of people in the group (about 10 people), overseen by Mr. Jones (let's say). I also met with Mr. Smith (let's say) who runs a workgroup parallel to Jones.Now, one of the people in the Jones group (Mr. "Baker" let's say) interviewed me when he was at company "B" down the street. That was a couple of years ago and he was a complete asshole during the process. So, I strongly dislike Baker, and don't want to work for Jones. However, Smith has an opening which I would really, really like and would pay well. The question is, how do I do the "switcheroo" and make it clear to Smith that I would like to work for him and not Jones? All the while being diplomatic and not offending Jones?Should I contact Smith directly?Sheesh how do I get myself into these things?

The question is, how do I do the "switcheroo" and make it clear to Smith that I would like to work for him and not Jones? All the while being diplomatic and not offending Jones?Should I contact Smith directly?Sheesh how do I get myself into these things?*****************************************************Is this through a middle man or did you somehow apply directly to Jones opening. If it is indeed through a recruiter maybe (s)he is on good terms with both and could be counted on to do most of the dirty work. The reverse happened to me once. Went in interviewing for a job and before the week was out guy who ran another group and had interviewed me wanted me. The recruiter who was my contact had his/her fingers in both pies so the communication channel was easy.Best,

@slackerThanks for the reply. No actually I don't have a middleman - hence my awkwardness. Jones reached out to me (through a mutual friend) and asked me to come in to meet the team.

ah, thats awkward. So Mr Jones is the lynch pin here. Based on your profile I would surmise this is a reasonably senior-ish hire. In my opinion, the move is not contacting smith directly but somehow getting jones to facilitate. I say this because I imagine a senior level company man hiring for a senior-ish position would be more concerned about getting the right person at the right place and not be offended by honesty. And presumably since they interview together they do have a greater vested interest together.If you wish to contact smith directly I think its better in terms of a longer term more passive ploy. It might involve withdrawing from jones immediate consideration citing whatever reason is appropriate and then to contacting smith a few months later 'out of the blue'.It is indeed tricky and you may end up with no birds in the hand and a burning bridge at the back.

Yes, this is a hard one.First of all you need to wrap this in positivity. Work through what you know and when talking to them emphasize the manager that you really want to and use phrases like "looking forward to working with Smith".Assholes are ummm, errrr, like assholes, all firms have some and also whoever you work for on day one, be clear that the asshole may be moved into your team, or as he is senior to you, it is wholly possible that he is your manager this time next year. That's your value at risk, so one evaluation has to be whether that is a deal breaker for you.Assholeness is not a constant, he may have got better or worse and maybe you need to recalibrate, so one thing I'd do if I was your HH is try to set up a coffee with the asshole for you to see if that was just a bad hair day. One reason for this is that in some teams, one interviewer is either assigned or decides to take the role of bad cop. Back when I had a real job with managers reporting to me, I'd drop in and ask the nasty questions that ought to be asked but sometimes aren't. That left a friendly relationship with the first line manager.But I'm a nice guy, really, honest

That's great feedback Dominic, I appreciate it.