A significant percentage of people involved with screening and selecting job candidates fancy themselves detectives, mind-readers, psychics and psychologists. They’re almost always willing to trust their own gut. But not much else slips unscathed through the scrutiny of these trust deficient evaluators of talent.…

Recently the big news story was Brendan Eich and his stepping down as the CEO of Mozilla under pressure from his board due to the calls for his firing by OKCupid and their followers. Six years earlier, Mr. Eich wrote a personal check to a cause that he supported aimed at defeating a gay marriage law in…

“Before beginning a Hunt, it is wise to ask someone what you are looking for before you begin looking for it.“– Winnie the Pooh

I lost my passport a few years ago. It sucked. As I was due to fly to India for a friend’s wedding in less than two…

Want to get recruiters all riled up? Tell them they ARE sales people. Or, tell them they ARE NOT sales people. Then watch the PASSION ignite. 

Whatever label anyone identifies with, isn’t recruiting just a series of conversations?

We are all familiar with how the 4 Ps…

In today's economy, companies are flooded with applications for each position that they post as job seekers apply for more positions than ever. One recent study revealed that companies were seeing as many as 211…

This is a fairly consistent opinion of most agency recruiters and is, for the most part, only partly true.

Unfortunately, most buyers of recruitment agency services wish it wasn’t true at all.

That’s not because these buyers don’t like being sold to – many of them do, because buying the right stuff is part of their job and one of the ways they add value to their…

I have made a decision. I think I am going to write a book on the safest way to skydive. Now, I've never been skydiving, nor is it likely that I ever will as I am afraid of heights. But really, how hard can it be? Stick a parachute in a backpack - hitch a ride on a plane - open the door - jump - scream -…

I read the article by Kyle Lagunas about recruiting, and how it’s not like selling at all. And while I appreciate his thoughts, I think they are misguided, and frankly, I still think he’s speaking as an "expert" in an area where he doesn’t have any applicable experience. This is akin to me giving stock advice. Sure, I have a brokerage account, but I lack the Series 7 that would be critical for me…

Recruiters have lots of metrics that they are measured on, but the most worthless of them all is the Phone Time Report. This is the report that shows how much time a recruiter spends on the phone each day/week/month.

Some live by this report, and for the life of me, I just can't see why. It is filled with abuses and does not accurately reflect the production level or successes of a…

Applying for jobs using mobile devices is becoming increasingly common. According the Pew Research Internet Project, 58 percent of Americans own a smartphone and 32 percent own a tablet. With the increasing proliferation of mobile devices, recruiters need to develop…

“No matter what business you’re in, you can’t run in place or someone will pass you by. It doesn’t matter how many games you’ve won.” – Jim Valvano

Well, it’s that time a year again, when business productivity slows to a crawl as “strategy sessions” are temporarily replaced by “bracket…

I've never found that to be a good "call"

I've been hearing from people that they are getting contacted by companies and staffing firms to come right in for an in-person interview without going through an initial phone screen first. These are educated, experienced mid- to senior-level career workers pursuing professional positions.

In my personal experience as a job seeker I never had a worthwhile interview experience with a company that skipped the phone interview. And,…

It's that mad time of the year again! By now, you've done your research, crunched the numbers, or gone with your gut, and you've submitted your pool-winning bracket. Luckily, though, there's still time to work on your Recruiter Madness bracket. This year, 16 of the most popular recruiting methods are going toe-to-toe in a win-or-go-home tournament. Have a look at the final bracket and read the breakdown of the matchups below!

1.…

A few of us non-traditional, mold-breaker, non-conformist, square pegs in a land of round holes occasionally jokingly refer to ourselves as unemployable. And, in certain ways that isn’t far from accurate.

If we look throughout history we find plenty of well-known business and leadership success stories that…

As I shared in many previous writings, the biggest engine for jobs growth is small companies and the entrepreneurs that run them. Research from the Small Business Administration (SBA) proves that these business risk takers created almost 70% of the net new jobs in the U.S. over…

Ask a recruiter why they do what they do, and you're likely to get a wide variety of answers. Among them may be:

• "I sort of just fell into recruitment"
• "I'm an extrovert, this was a good fit"
• "I didn't want to do sales"
• "I like helping people"

The fact is, most of us got into this business because deep down we love helping people, just as much if not more than making money. Yes this is true. Fortunately, we've…

Hooey. If you aren't familiar with this term, it's a nicer and friendlier way of calling "BS" on something or someone. It's when your words and your actions don't line up and your hypocrisy has been exposed. Such is the case with Recruiters. I am calling "hooey" on you today.

I have been in recruiting for around 10 years. During that time, I have interviewed and hired countless…

I am now going on my 11^th year of recruiting within the GOV space and within that time I have seen quite a few changes, albeit nothing like the changes that I am seeing now.  Usually I write with a little humor in my posts. but what is coming is no laughing matter and something recruiters…