Over the past week I have been going through some family issues which began with a medical emergency last Friday. Everyone we talked to from our family practitioner to the ER medical team believed that the signs pointed towards one thing. When the surgeons went in to operate on Saturday morning, they found an entirely different problem was manifested in the same environment. Upon reflection we do the same steps in the HR world we work in.

Every single day we are confronted with…

Well here it is, my first blog post. That is not entirely true. I have blogged before on various different subjects from running to firearms. I even started a few blogs just to get free stuff. Who can blame me?

I am gearing this blog towards, you guessed it, recruiting. I am going to be talking about the military side of recruiting. The kind where you get forced into doing it. So, you will see some good things, some random things, and probably a bunch of ranting about stupid things.…

Wasn’t it Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz who said something about not looking beyond your own backyard to find what you need? I believe she had a point.

 Your best business ambassadors may just be your own employees. If you have built a nurturing environment and created an atmosphere that breeds loyalty, you probably have the best promoters of your company right in front of you. After all, who among us doesn’t love to brag?

 I was at a wedding a few weeks ago when someone asked…

The economy is recovering, but there are still millions of people desperately searching to find a job.  The irony is that many jobs are remaining unfilled.  Why?  The employers say that it is because they cannot find enough qualified applicants to fill them!  The recruitment vendors say it is because the good people are hard to find and they have responded by developing a wide assortment of cutting edge tools to help employers find the good people.  On the other hand, veterans from the old…

In this episode of "The Jim Stroud Show," Jim demonstrates how to find candidates on Twitter using a free tool - Favstar. Plus, he plugs his new book - Resume Forensics and gives a shout out. Did he shout-out to you? Tune in and find out.…

For the independent recruiter, the demands on your time are often overwhelming from day 1. There are so many moving  parts and things to do that there are never enough hours in the day. Even for the seasoned business owner, it’s difficult to relinquish control of any part of their…

Twitterland is a real place.  Well, that is what I keep telling myself.  There are people from all over the world there.  It is like having them next door to you.  No time zones, and instant communication. All you need to go there is a computer or a smart phone.  Before you go to Twitterland though, understand it…

Recruiters get terrible press.

And it’s worse now then ever before. Everyone has a ‘terrible recruiter’ story. They are ‘lazy, sleazy, pushy and incompetent’. And those are just the nicer things said. Every day brings more abuse and increasingly, gleeful…

Way back in 2008, I created a training guide called Resume Forensics. In a nutshell, it was a how-to for finding resumes and passive candidates on Google, Yahoo, Bing and a few other resources. In all modesty, it was an underground hit. I…

Having a professional brand is not a new concept for job hunters. It’s the image you present to potential employers wherever you are. In a competitive job market, it’s essential to build your own professional brand so that you will stand out from the rest of the pack and build a consistent reputation. Your…

Each month, the New York City metro area consistently outnumbers all other metros in hiring demand. In March, there were more than 437,000 ads available online in the greater New York area. (Los Angeles was in 2nd place with about 258,000 ads.) This ad volume represents a 1% decline in demand compared to March of 2012. Approximately 89% of available job ads during March were posted by employers, whereas staffing firms and recruiting agencies only accounted for about 11% of ads.…

When Gerry Crispin was a boy hiring was so easy. There was lots of talent just lying all over the place.

All you had to do was put an ad in the paper and hire a secretary to open the resumes.



But,…

I have long held the view that people need to be a little braver with their CV's and resumes. Far too many people write their CV/resume so it offends nobody. Trouble is, it attracts nobody either.

Just last week I had a candidate who sent me their CV.…

Many people have started to consider business cards a bit ‘old hat’ in this new era of social networking and direct online portfolios. However don’t be fooled, when used right business cards can help streamline your recruitment operations and help generate more positive leads.

(Images courtesy of VistaPrint)…

In November 2012, I wrote a post called Whiskey, Wine and Root Beer http://wthomsonjr.com/november-2012/whiskey-wine-and-root-beer/ .  It was a fan favorite, and still to this day one of my favorite posts.  This weekend  my family and I…

The laws surrounding email SPAM are somewhat of a mystery to many recruiters, with many actually violating the law on a regular basis without even know it. And that's scary because EACH separate email sent in violation of the CAN-SPAM Act may be subject to penalties of up to $16,000. That’s right, per email sent.

"Yikes", you say. "That’s a crap load of money," you exclaim.

"Yup it…

Oh, did this did just happen to me?

Recently I was called by a recruiting agency recruiter.  The person, from Manpower, called me about a position that he was looking to fill for an engineering/technical recruiter.  I am not shocked by this as that is what we do for a living.  However what did shock me was the pedantic way in which the person went about it while leaving a message.  It was almost robotic in its…

Top 3 Items to Bring to Your Interview  

Don’t arrive to an interview empty-handed! Being well prepared demonstrates to your…

4 years ago this month I was asked to leave one of the largest contingency recruiting firms that I’d been with for 10 years. I had reached burnout and the grace to carry struggling recruiters had ceased regardless of past success as my company went from 40 recruiters to 10 in no time. As I sent my resume out to sales gigs I had offers left and right for jobs that paid $35k-$40k plus commission to sell a widget.

An independent recruiter and friend called me and reminded me that I…

I hear it too often.  Why hasn’t this position been filled?  We just aren’t getting enough candidates.  The candidates aren’t strong enough.  I was the perfect fit for the job, why wasn’t I invited back for another interview?

See, as a recruiter I am the middleman between the…