During an advising call with a client this week, she reported lackluster performance by one of her company’s locations. As we dug into the issue, it became clear that the members of the sales team were fishing with the wrong net.

Salespeople have the equivalent of nets in their sales efforts. Some use wide nets, like those on a shrimp boat, that bring in many possibilities, allowing them to pick and choose the best customers. Others employ the equivalent of a small aquarium net,…

I’m proud to acknowledge the efforts and results of my clients in this new feature I’m affectionately calling a Standing Ovation.

This month’s Standing Ovation Goes to Amy in Minnesota. Amy is a senior leader in a manufacturing services firm servicing the Twin Cities. As a result of her commitment to Radical Accountability, which has been a focus in our work together, Amy has successfully doubled the size of the sales team in a market where finding…

Boolean Operators and More Updated!!

So this is an update to my all inclusive list of operators. The update is as of 5/14/13, of course I will have other updates as I find new operators. Why you ask, well as I said below there are always new ones…

In just four days, over five million people have viewed the YouTube video of the musical couple featured on Pumpcast News. This hilarious feature shows what happens when a television monitor, normally displaying broadcast news and advertisements over a gas pump, is converted into an interactive video conference for the benefit of The Tonight Show audience. So enthralled were the producers of…

Each week, I feature companies, organizations, industries, and even individuals who exemplify the power of Radical Accountability (the Heroes who have committed to an unwavering responsibility for getting done what really matters most) and the need for it (the Zeroes).

HEROES

Grand Geneva Resort (Lake Geneva, WI)

For your outstanding service and commitment to excellence this week. The entire…

For as long as I can remember, industry experts claimed that the healthcare industry was basically guaranteed to remain a consistent and strong job market forever. The thought was there will always be patients and patients will always need healthcare providers.  Now, I see that rationale is not quite as sound as we all once believed. 

The Federal Sequestration, automatic budget cuts implemented on March 1, 2013, included a…

Making it easy to apply!!

Over the last few weeks, I have gone out to many company sites and check out the style, process, and length of time to apply to an open position. I was amazed at some of the things I saw. About 50% of the companies had easy,…

We've warned candidates about the challenges of interviewing with tired or hungry recruiters, but ultimately we'd like to remove all bias from hiring decisions.  This will require the leadership of talent acquisition teams to change recruitment processes that are vulnerable to bias.  Here are a few interviewing pitfalls to be aware of and our recommendations for removing…

In a brief chat this past weekend a friend shared details of her daughter’s whining about her current circumstances. Being the ever confident and highly competent mom, she did not allow Molly to pull her down into the clutches of a victim spiral. Instead, she pointed out that, while not everything about the situation was of Molly’s making, she had done nothing to try and rectify the problem.

While there are real victims of crimes, even people who have been impacted by some of the most…

Earlier this week, a salesperson told me about a difficult conversation she was about to have with a client. In asking for my advice, she said there was a chance this customer will ask for a price reduction and that she’d have to do a “dog and pony show” to convince them to keep working with her at the current rate.

I told her she needed to “kill the dog and corral the pony.” As you may suspect, there was a long pause on the other end of the phone after such a startling…

Staffing is like hitting in Baseball!!

Staffing or specifically sourcing is like hitting in baseball. To quote the character ‘Jack Elliot” from the movie “Mr. Baseball”, “Hitting is like the…

An often overlooked quality in new hires is their laziness. If you hire more good, lazy people, you’ll find that this is one of the fastest ways to grow your business. Surprised? If so, that’s not a surprise as most hiring managers look at laziness as a detriment instead of the attribute it can be when the right people with lazy streaks are hired strategically in your organization.

Traits, including laziness, can be applied for good or for evil. This all depends on the motives of the…

Worked here before, not good, so never again really?

I know Hiring Managers (HM) have certain predisposition about certain type of candidates, In this case I am talking about people who worked at the company before and their performance was not great. As a result, if they are being looked at…

At Wowzer, since we love video, we love Vine. Vine does for video what Twitter did for blogging: helps people share glimpses of their lives in a minimalist format so that it's fast to create and fast to watch. But is Vine good for presenting yourself to prospective employers?

Vine videos are limited to 6 seconds; they're short, interesting and usually pretty fun to watch, in part because lots of clever users have…

Yeah we said it. HR, Recruiting, Hiring. The people in charge of people are the most important part of any organization. Not only do they bring in the people that make the company who it is and what it is, they also create the culture with which future…

Our televisions were filled with scenes normally reserved for Hollywood and make-believe: gun wielding SWAT teams, military Humvees bristling with weaponry, shots fired, suspects killed and apprehended. A terrible tragedy that started with bombs ended with bittersweet triumph. A job well done. A commitment for justice met.

This is Radical…

First in HR is a series we dreamed up here at Recruiterbox to help those who are hiring for small businesses and startups.

In today's lighting speed business world, it's not always easy to know what to do and how to do it. That's where First in HR comes in. Read the entire series here or just sign up for our inbox updates.…

I know them, well do you really?? 

One of the things I see, and hear about all the time is how someone knows someone, who knows someone and how it either helps them get a job or stops them from getting a job. The interesting part is when the people who know people, knew them…