Hello,

One of my clients (who is not used to working with recruitment/staffing companies) cannot stand the word "mark up".

When we charge a "45% mark up on temporary staff", sometimes the clients mistakenly believe that we are earning 45% gross margin (no matter how many times we explain that there are many other costs which we bear in our mark up, not including taking on the burden of the risk of accident).

Does anyone have an alternative…

While much of the US has seen flat or declining hiring demand over the past months, Omaha, Nebraska has skyrocketed to new highs. During October, more than 9,300 job ads were posted online – 93% of which were placed directly by employers (8,700 job ads, up 92% versus October 2010) and 7% of the listings were advertised by recruiting firms (610 job ads, down 40% year-over-year).

Hiring Demand in Omaha, Nebraska – 4 Years…

From Recruiting Animal: recruitinganimal@Gmail.com - @Animal

I am desperate 4 your help.

The Great Shally Steckerl was on my show a few weeks ago and some people (Jerry…

Despite recession woes, it’s still a great time to be a recruiter.  Here are ten reasons to chew on this Thanksgiving:

10.  There are still excuses for being a lazy recruiter from time to time.

9.   Job…

If I were given £1/$1 for every time I am told between now and Christmas that “not much recruitment is going to happen in December” or “I don’t expect to be doing much until January” I would expect to have enough money to pay for all my family’s presents.

Both prospective candidates and possible recruiters are going to say this to me and I know that nothing I can type here is going to make a difference…

But let’s have a go…

The other day I wrote about how even the nicest rejection from a CEO can warm the cockles of your heart but yesterday I had a bizarre response that I feel the need to share.

 I recently came across a candidate that I’d met some time ago and she was now looking for her next challenge. After catching up with her latest news and achievements we agreed on a course of action which resulted in an email from me to a CEO of a consulting group. The email was pretty standard stuff but it was…

Many of us have experienced the logical candidate becoming illogical in a matter of days (or hours) when it comes to making a career decision.   When I was new to the business this happened more frequently than I or my boss liked.  Needless to say I would get pretty upset – never at me of course – but at the candidate who was blowing a career opportunity.  As I matured as a recruiter and as a person I came to understand why candidates would become illogical or irrational - FEAR. 

I…

Why is it that I'm always the one reaching out to perspective job seekers? Yes, I am the recruiter and yes, it is my job to find talent to fill open positions. But allow me to turn the tables for a moment. Why do I not ever hear from you? I don't bite, really. Did you know I literally live in my LinkedIn and Twitter accounts all day long? I'm waiting for you to engage me.

In an increasingly competitive job market, candidates feel they get lost in the masses, which is a real and…

My boys were super excited about going to their first Little League training clinic and unbeknownst to either my wife or me, they didn't separate the groups by age or skill levels, just a bunch of humanity thrown together for a common purpose.  After 45 minutes or so of throwing, catching, batting, etc., with kids who'd been playing much longer I saw my younger son, enthusiasm gone, standing and crying in a sea of young boys who were all running around him and tossing a ball.  When my wife…

Once you’ve set up your social recruiting profiles and started to get members of your Talent Community, the next step is to make sure you have enough content to share on these platforms to encourage engagement & conversation as well provide value to your followers / members.

Finding good content to share with your followers can be a difficult task.  To make it easier to easily find new & engaging content, it’s time for you to start creating what I like to call…

I write a lot about lying, mostly because it is happening all the time.  Candidates lie to recruiters for a variety of reasons.  Recruiters have to expect a certain amount of lying.  Some of it is even understandable.  Here are some examples:

George says he is willing to relocate, no problem.  Weeks later, many obstacles materialize that would interfere.  These aren’t…

Today, it is natural to want the “best of the best.” The newer cell phone, the thinner laptop, the latest app and so on. It is common for this theme to find its way into your job search. This is a fact: People change; they move on and need to move up in their life and career. All valid, but you must make sure you do it gracefully and with respect for your current employer.

1. When interviewing for a new position, try doing it over a lunch break or after your work hours. It’s…

Recently, I came across a post I highly recommend: “7 Words I Never Want to See in Your Blog Posts”.

That inspired me to think about the words that – for recruiters and team builders – can create a terrible first impression. Not words like “dependable” and “detail oriented” –…

For the first time this year, we are seeing a decrease in the volume of online job ads posted for Computer and IT related jobs when compared to the same period last year.  Employers and staffing agencies posted just over 27,000 new online job ads during the last 60 days, representing a decrease of approximately 4% versus the same 60 day period in 2010.

 …

I did not tell my parents when I was 5 that someday I was going to be a recruiter. After high school I didn’t try to find Recruiting 101 classes. And when I graduated college I wasn’t applying for work at every local recruiting firm I could find. I fell into it. Just like a lot of us. I didn’t want to really sell anything I told myself. Yet every job has a selling side…

Stress at work is dangerous. Seriously. I believe it leads to medical issues, and it certainly will harm your relationships and overall quality of life.

And that is bad for us recruiters because we do one of the toughest jobs around. The ‘all or nothing’ nature of what we do is designed to induce stress, it seems.

Over the years I have seen recruiters reduced to highly destructive and…

My oldest by a minute was working with his mother on a first grade project the other evening that, for a week, allows him to be the "Superstar" of his classroom.  Pretty heady stuff when you're not quite 7 but also very telling when you're a parent listening to your child describe who they think they are.

Using a contract staffing back-office is a great way to reap the benefits of placing contractors without the hassle and risk that comes with employing those contractors.  The question is, which contract staffing back-office should you entrust to be Employer of Record for your contractors?

Obviously, you want a back-office that has been in business for a long time and has a good reputation.  But beyond those basics, here are a few…