It’s no secret how hard it can be to recruit programmers, designers, or anyone with a technical background. Finding a candidate with the precise skill set you’re searching for can be like looking for a needle in a haystack, and matters are made more difficult by the fact that you’re competing with the noise of no doubt hundreds of other recruiters. It should come as no surprise that some very common recruiting tactics are rubbing talent the wrong way,…

I work in a complicated recruiting area –IP law.

Recently, two firms have presented me with oddly inequitable fee agreements during contract negotiations, as though there was no equity in our bargaining powers.

In addition to significant downward pressure on the amount of the fees the companies might pay, 1) the employment guarantees stretched out for a year;…

I got this in my email:

16 years ago I started my recruiting career with a pretty typical IT recruiting agency in Downtown Toronto. I was green and eager to learn. I was surrounded by a blend of savvy and slippery sales guys, shifty-eyed recruiters hovering over sacred databases, juniors weeping in the bathrooms and cracking under the pressure of call metrics, and a handful of solid ethical pros who wanted to do the right thing for customers who treated them like partners. I carefully aligned myself with the later…

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…

SellHack is one of those rare tools that actually delivers as promised, meets a real recruiting need and actually lives up to the hype - which isn't easy to do, considering the amount of buzz and word of mouth that this emerging startup has built up in a relatively short amount of time.  What makes SellHack really unique, however, is the fact that unlike so many other point…

The other night I was out having dinner with my wife and friends.  It is always interesting when our group gets together.  The guys sit on one side of the table and the women sit on the other. The guys talk sports, talk about our favorite beer and whiskey, and work.  The women talk about kitchen redesigns and manicures, botox and… hell really, and truly- I have no…

Engineering jobs continue to be in-demand and hard-to-fill. According to WANTED Analytics, there were more than 228,100 engineering job ads posted online in February 2014, which was up slightly from the same time last…

If you're actually on the front lines and have something to say, don't let not having an idea keep you from getting your voice out there.  We're all sick and tired of hearing about "authenticity" and "transparency" from marketers, but if you actually make placements or hires for a living, you can actually achieve what marketers can only talk about.  

Here are 15 blog post prompts to put in your pocket if you ever decide to get started.  And the…

For the past few weeks I have been “playing” with a new tool called…

While some people may like the idea of death by chocolate, most would probably agree that killing the success of a business with ineffectual approaches is a really bad idea. Unfortunately, that’s what’s happening in many companies across the globe.

While the use of Repetitive Practices in their businesses may not close the doors, they are hampering…

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…

Another day another twitter discussion about how resumes are unnecessary and anyone who is anyone has a reputation and no need of a paper representation of his or her work.

I don't think that is true.  I really, really don't think that is true.  

Not captured in that exchange was this tweet:…

I got into recruiting by accident, replying to a job posting for a talent scout while looking for a steadier job than my part time gig working the talent desk at Comedy Central, which entailed mostly phones and photocopies.  

I sometimes got to go get Starbucks for the Reno 911! producers or find a sassy black supporting type for a two liner out of a room full of…

I am going to take a short break form my series on lesser known sites to source from, to address …well something that is pretty silly. 

So first we have…

“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 sessions.” Yes, March Madness is in full swing as we head into…

If you missed last week’s post, be sure to read it first HERE.

If you have read it, you know that I came clean and told you that there really are no secrets to great recruiting. The real secret is just following through on the standards of recruiting that we…

In an excellent Barron’s article from earlier this year titled “It’s Not the Earnings, It’s ‘The Metrics’ That Really Matter,” Tiernan Ray writes:

“The Metrics are those details of an earnings announcement that defy…

Organizers are calling for the immediate cessation of all activities related to recruiting and hiring with hopes candidate shortage will fix candidate experience

Washington, DC - Do you think the job search is broken?  If so, you’re not alone.  According to a recent survey by the National Institute of Subjective Statistics, 79% of job seekers…

On a discussion forum this week, advice was sought for dealing with a reluctant buyer who was viewing the salesperson’s attempts to sell as competition to her own efforts. This all too common attitude by some buyers is exactly why they need your help.

Unfortunately, advice on this topic often perpetuates the subservient mentality of many who sell. This “you have to prove yourself approach” is the beginning of a losing battle for the hearts and minds of those who’ve already decided…