Although we Canadians all know who the Trailer Park Boys are, there is a minute possibility that some of you non-Canadians reading this don’t.  So aside from the surprisingly detailed Wikipedia entry, let me add briefly that most seasons of the Trailer Park Boys would go somewhat along these lines:

Julian (the visionary trailer park boy) would devise a big picture, potentially lucrative (but illegal) scheme…

Do overs. We all want them from time to time. We find ourselves in regrettable situations and second guess the actions and thoughts that got us there in the first place, and then wish we could "turn myself around" and do it over again. Of course, there's no guaranty that our do-over would be any better than our original action/decision - but we always assume so. Maybe it's…

Remember when you were young and just starting your adult life and you said that you wanted to get married, but you wanted to wait a while "until we can afford it"? Or when you were a newlywed and people started asking you what your plans were for having kids, and you answered with, "We've discussed it and we're going to wait until we can afford it."  In…

What a presumptuous title, huh? Speaking from personal experience and observation, I have found that no matter what circumstance you find yourself in currently, if you look around you, you can almost always find someone else who is going through an even more difficult circumstance.

Two Thanksgivings ago, I was not in a good place. I had just been diagnosed with cancer…

I just wrapped up a webcast for SHRM today on a new recruitment model that I believe will allow all organizations to have the most effective and efficient recruitment strategy available. It's called IRM (Integrated Recruitment Model). Below is the transcript of the session. Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments. A LinkedIn group has been created specifically for this topic to discuss IRM in an open fashion.…

If you Google time management techniques you get 99 Million results! Obviously a lot of people are searching for the Holy Grail and there are a lot of opinions on how to find it. Let’s make it 99 million and 1 by adding my 5 cents worth on “Time Management”.

Having sat in and even delivered my fair share of Time Management sessions I’ve often pondered why the penny drops for some however others go back to their messy desks and pending…

Remember Recruiting in the 90's. Life was easy. Life was simple. You had a fax machine, job boards, and your new computer running AOL and Windows 95 with your SPAM free email box. Then came dot com bust, and then social media and just basically upended your simple recruiting ways. It's time to join Recruiters on Facebook. We need some people to talk about what they know (or don't) about the latest Recruiting trends, jobs, and whatever that you think is important to: Recruiters, Sourcers,…

I was looking at a number of ways for recruiters to automatically post jobs and other content onto Twitter, LinkedIn and all the other social channels. There are lots of ways to do this and it is really very simple to set this up. I've put together a short video demonstrating how to use the free version of Hootsuite to schedule posts and also connect to an RSS feed to do this automatically.

While I'm using Hootsuite to automate and schedule my content it is very easy to see how this…

In an attempt at emasculation, people say things like:

• “Man up!”
• “Quit being such a girl.”
• “Why don’t you go put your big girl/boy panties on?”
• “Suck it up, buttercup.”

While some stereotypes have roots in reality, these are by no means a permanent condition, even when based on a kernel of truth. Women have proven they are highly capable at handling “traditionally male” roles that require assertiveness, tenacity, and fearlessly bucking…

Hi Recruiters!

Earlier this week I stumbled across a basic Boolean search string generator from a London based company called Clever Biscuit. 

I wrote an AvidCareerist post about it, directed to the job seeker audience, here: Find the Hiring Manager with This Free, New Tool. 

The post has everything you need to use the tool for recruiting. It's so easy to use, you don't even have…

When your vendor talks about SEO for Recruiting, what they really mean is that SEO for Recruiting is one of those terms that sounds really cool, even though they have no idea what the hell SEO for Recruiting actually means.  Which is ironic, because they’re using excellent keyword…

While recruiting is ultimately a rewarding profession, it's one that comes with it's share of stress and frustration. Many recruiters shy away from contract staffing because they think it will only add to their stress. But in fact, contract staffing can help relieve many common causes of recruiter stress, including:

1. Unpredictable income. This is the number-one source of stress for many direct hire recruiters.  No matter how many placements…

One of the things that has struck me over the years as a recruiter is the frequent reference to the industry as a ‘necessary evil’. While I don’t agree with the statement, I do understand where it comes from.

People potential

As recruiters our core assets are not stock or products, but people, or more accurately, people’s potential, so we have a huge responsibility to get things right. There are many firms who don’t acknowledge the same level of…

I read a ton of blogs, participate in a lot of Twitter chats (or as I call them, “pithy parties”) and listen in on a lot of presentations about trends in talent acquisition and HR technology.  But what’s trendy among the industry “influencers” who need your company’s cash to keep the lights on don’t necessarily jibe with the stuff…

Referrals are the most highly rated source of candidate quality. Referrals save the organization a lot of resources in the scouting and recruiting process. The right referral practices can make a huge impact on the success of the…

Branding is important and we all know that. A strong brand can make a company, and a weak brand can break it. Employer branding is even more important and I’ve mentioned why several times – a good employer branding takes an organization’s company culture, values, and story and makes it part of the overall brand. Moreover, employer branding is meant to directly impact an…

Recognize these words and do they have any meaning in today's marketplace?

"Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that…

I'll admit, finding yourself unemployed with the holidays just around the corner could be a scary thing. You've probably heard that many companies freeze hiring during this time, and pick up with new budget in January. In some cases, that is true, but fear not! Being laid off  in November or December does not have to mean the end of the world. By no means should you…