I’m starting to notice something. A lot of the complaining about internal recruiters comes from TPRs trying to work with large companies where they’re trapped by or redirected to the dreaded vendor list. You know the ones – Fortune 500 Company, hundreds of positions, and you’ve got junior HR chickie saying you have to be on a list with 40 of your closest friends before you can submit a candidate. Never mind that your guy is perfect for the job. Forget that the VP of Whatever is your best…

Having worked with and trained many recruiters and owner/ managers all over the world, it is clear to me that almost universally, the first improvement that can be made is in actually measuring performance. It probably won’t surprise most people that with rare exception, in the recruitment industry globally appraisals are at best a “congratulations you’ve hit your target for the quarter, let’s increase by 10% next quarter and good luck,” and at worst non-existent.

Somewhere in the…

This is my first blog.  I'd envisaged writing something uplifting, inspiring, humerous or even educational.  However, unfortunately, I'm going to have a whinge! But only in the hope that there’s someone out there who can feel my pain and share their experience.

First, a bit of background… I relocated to North America last year from the UK, no regrets – I’m loving it here, both personally and professionally.  I am a headhunter, searching for the passive candidate that my clients can’t…

A humorous pictorial take on how I think people perceive recruitment across the world!

I noticed this trend on some of the social networking sites posting a similar slide about different people/animals and how they're perceived, and thought I could have some fun for our company's blog!…

(This series focuses on the most common reasons we've heard for why recruiters don't want to offer contract staffing.  These reasons are based on common misconceptions about contract staffing and prevent recruiters from reaping the benefits of offering contractors to their clients.)

Reason #5: Offering contract staffing would distract me from my direct business

Contrary to popular belief, there is no reason that a…

Now that we are more than halfway through February, we thought we'd review hiring demand for social media skills. It's been a while since we reported on demand and supply of this talent, and we wanted to see if it is still a prevalent skill being listed in job ads.

During January 2012, there were about 13,000 job ads posted online that included job requirements involving social media skills. This is an 87% increase compared to the volume of ads in January 2011. Despite some…

Now I believe that most recruiters truly understand that they need to get to know their potential and active candidates but more and more I'm finding that people have truly forgotten how to speak to people.  I've come to notice a tendency from far too many people to e-mail or instant message first.  Now don't get me wrong, I love me some technology, I have always appreciated the nickname I was known by at my previous company (IGB - Internet Geek Boy) due to my prowess with finding…

Sometimes I think recruiters get so wrapped up in the process of what they do and the money side of the business that they forget the real reason we’re here. We are here to service our clients. Without clients there would be no process. Without clients there would be no money. Without clients there would be no need for candidates. This is not a candidate driven business, it is a client driven business. Do candidates pay you the big bucks for placing them with an amazing client in an amazing…

It’s tough out there in the commercial contingent recruitment world – I know, I live in it too.  Clients seem to hold regular reverse auctions for fees, playing one recruiter off against another 3 or 4. Candidates swear they are being transparent, then they continually move the goalposts throughout the process and competitors pull out all stops to make the placement – sometimes ethically and sometimes… well…completely unethically.  It can be disheartening, frustrating and bloody…

Its a funny recruitment world we live in these days. Funny, in that so many new consultants (and to be fair the managers who teach them) have grown up in a world dominated by email, and on-line recruitment systems.

Gone are the niceties of speaking with people. Gone is the ability to influence and sell. Gone is the opportunity to differentiate and build real…

With the age of social media having arrived and planning a lengthy stay, more and more employers are using the platform to screen potential hires. As a result, are there any legal ramifications to doing such?

It is a given in today’s technologically driven world that people are going to place comments and photos on social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn etc. without always thinking before they post.

In turn, employers are turning more to social networking…

I’ve had a few run ins, albeit friendly exchanges of banter, of late with a few pro social recruiting types. Obviously it’s difficult to explain ones self fully in 140 characters or less so I thought I would take a bit longer to explain my stance.

I make no bones about it – I like social media. I said as much over 2 years ago in a blog that picked up on Ricky Gervais’s flounce (he’s since come back as we all know). Indeed I have gained business I would never have otherwise…

When looking at recruitment technology, the first thing you need to answer why you need it.  You need to determine the “what” in terms of the actions and functionality you need it to provide in order to successfully implement your recruitment marketing strategy.

I encourage you to sit down with your recruitment team and brainstorm.

• What do you do today that could be…

For those of us that are basketball fans we are experiencing something great in Lin-Sanity Jeremy Lin Story.  What a story… Lin goes from sleeping on the couch not knowing where he will be sent next, to starting 5 games and hitting a shot in the final seconds.  We are seeing something very special.  They say in…

I'm hearing about this more and more and would be interested to see what's going on with RBC.

During the first half of 2011, we saw the hiring demand for Recruiters increase steadily. However, at the end of 2011, we saw the volume of job ads for staffing professionals decline. We were hoping this was a seasonal trend, and that hiring would increase again in 2012. It looks as if it may be starting. In January, more than 6,100 jobs were advertised online – that's a 26% year-over-year increase compared to January 2011.  It is also close to the 2011 high which was seen in August 2011…

We all use phones all day long, we speak with clients, we talk to friends and loved ones, we call colleagues and suppliers.

We are more than happy to speak with people we know, but when it comes to calling someone we don’t know, even the most hardened sales-people can go weak at the knees.

If this sort of thing makes sales-people nervous, then I know its not…

Obviously, you have to focus on activity, and numbers, but when bringing new recruiters on and during the first few years, what balance works best when asking them to turn in numbers?

I've seen some recruiters so freaked out about not hitting the required number of connects that they decide the job is too stressful.

I've seen other recruiters who don't track the numbers and it's not clear if they are making the desired number of connects either,…

Firstly it’s important to remember that your cover letter is your introduction/preface, it is almost akin to the first steps into an interview room.  It’s the first impression we create so we must remember it is important to make it a good one. The main purpose of your cover letter is to entice the reader to want to learn more about you with a view to actually reading through your CV.…