Service-Oriented Recruiting

When the economy tanks in one sector, the advice you hear from ABC, CNN, Employment Blogs, HR professionals, and even your second-cousin is that you need to target sectors that are growing. That sounds like really smart advice, but like most mainstream pithy wisdom it has it's flaws doesn't it? And I feel like it is our job as talent identification professionals to knock some sense into the growing ranks of "cross-over applicants".

Only Applicants with Experience Need Apply
The first hur… Continue

An interesting article came out in April about the direct relationship to high levels of testosterone and making money in the day trader profession. The day traders daily world revolves around uncertainty, high-risk, overwhelming information, reliance on instinct, and the having full knowledge that a decision can lead to euphoric wins or catastrophic losses… kinda like a recruiter.

Time Article: http://www.time.com/time/he… Continue

Candidate Control is about as basic as you get with recruiting; right behind picking up the phone and dialing. But time and time again I see it as a best practice that is totally ignored. If you are going to recruit the top talent, you better be respected by that group and LISTEN to them.

Getting Roundkicked into Yesterday
This includes knowing what your candidate knows. I work on the corporate side, so if I tell you as an agency recruiter that I want to speak with a candidate you sent m… Continue

When asking what someone does, what people are often trying to assess is the deeper question of: who are you? (to be a little more cynical: are you worth speaking to?)

And it is much easier to come up with a quick, catchy phrase that sums the total of your professional self then it is to provide a true account of what you "do." It is the way we communicate to others our significance and importance.

This used to be pretty simple, you would start working for a company and you would get a busines… Continue

I can't imagine anyone has not noticed the push to describe top candidates as rockstars lately: "Rockstar DBA wanted", "Only Rockstars need apply", etc. And for the most part I understand this to be kitschy and a way to market your req, but in the end, do the companies we work for/with really need/want rockstars?

Gene Simmons IS NOT the Model Employee
Now who doesn't love Gene? He's witty, he's edgy, he's fun to be around, and he is really cool. Heck his life is so interesting that they… Continue