Over the past year or so, many people have gotten up in arms over job ads that specifically state that unemployed candidates will not be considered for open positions. Now the practice has caught President Obama's attention.

Included in the jobs bill that Obama has been pushing over the past couple of weeks is the Fair Employment Opportunity Act of 2011.  This act would effectively make "unemployed discrimination" illegal, according to the Society for…

Have you looked at your website in your mobile browser lately?

If it looks a little uncomfortable, all squished in that tiny screen, it might be time to contemplate redesigning your site for mobile users.

If you aren’t providing your mobile users a great experience, they’ll be bouncing off to greener pastures as soon as they hit your website on their smartphone or tablet…

Similar to demand in the US, the volume of job ads for Engineers in Canada has seen increases this year. Over the past 90 days, Recruiters placed more  than 18,000 new job ads online at an 11% year-over-year increase. The majority of the ads were placed by employers (73%), while staffing firms represented about 27% of online ads.

Hiring Demand for Engineers in Canada – 4 Years…

Bear with me on this one.

It must be searingly obvious to anyone who works in recruitment that recruitment agencies (and more specifically the people therein) are receiving a lot of flak at the moment – most of it around their oafish sales tactics and their diminishing ability to deliver a viable recruitment service to either the company or the candidate.

With the advent of the Internet came a lot of predictions that it would spell the end of recruitment…

...for crying out loud make the content you reach me with worth reading!

Seriously, the more technology advances and, as a result, the easier it becomes for any old Joe to upload content onto a website, the more creativity seems to be going out of the window, particularly in recruitment.

What sparked my latest rant? I read somewhere today that as there are 5 billion mobile phone users in the world it follows that many  more people in the coming months and…

I took feedback from one of my favourite senior HR candidates yesterday after an interview. She seemed keen on the role and the business but at the end of the meeting the client had said to her that she would need to complete some online testing.

She reported back to me that whilst she would be happy to do OPQ and Verbal Reasoning she could see absolutely no value in her completing Numerical Reasoning tests. She explained that

a) After completing lots of these tests in…

When I speak to candidates who tell me they are not interested in talking as they are not looking for a new job, this is what I tell them……

I commonly meet with individuals who are desperate to leave their current job. They were happy and maybe not that long ago, but for whatever reason they have got to the point where the very thought of turning up to work makes them feel miserable. When I meet with these people I question why it has taken them until now to…

“Building a great teamin business takes clear thinking, a strong strategy, and an understanding of the big picture. All these factors are necessary and important, but if you can’t assess candidates in the job interview, you’re not going to put that understanding into practical…

People are constantly asking me to “get them a job”.  Just yesterday I got a text from someone who heard I was recruiting for openings in Chicago.  It literally read “Sh!t! Get me a job!” (stay classy, ex-husband).

But wait, you say.  You’re a recruiter.  Your whole professional existence revolves around getting people jobs… right?

Not exactly.  A very smart boss once put it to me this way.  “I know you care a lot about getting people jobs.  That’s…

If you are in the job market, most likely you will have at least one phone screen with a recruiter and then a phone interview before being brought in for an in person interview.

Here are a few steps for making the most of the recruiter phone screen (so you can make it to the phone or in person interview)

1) If it is a scheduled phone screen, a little research goes a long way. you may not know the company (if it is not listed) but knowing what positions you applied for…

LinkedIn received a lot of national publicity last week while hosting a Town Meeting with President Barack Obama.  That is a PR coup for LinkedIn, regardless of how you feel about the President's jobs package that he is promoting across the United States. Do I think a government jobs package will help boost job growth in the US? …

Following some recent conversations and having read some LinkedIn discussion threads lately I’ve been doing some pondering on the subject of employer branding. Then, because I couldn’t help myself, it got me thinking about the role social recruiting can play within it. If choosing between a combo of me + thinking vs. a combo served up at your local Colonel Sanders eatery you’d probably…

Hiring Managers are The X Factor

I have a secret that only those really, really close to me know; a secret that could impact my career, my hire-ability, my social life, etc.   I, like millions of Americans, am addicted reality TV.  My DVR is full of unwatched episodes of Project Runway, Dancing With the Stars, So You Think You Can Dance, American Idol, ABDC (if you know this one you are an addict too), and yes, The X Factor. After watching the first few episodes…

On job market display in September was the aftermath of much negative news from August. Despite feel-good-announcements like the one from Federated Department Stores, employers posted fewer job openings. Demand dropped 1.8% in September compared to August leaving little hope for improvements before the end of the year.

 …

It’s that time of the year – leaves are falling, frost is threatening our gardens….and I’m knocking on your door about the online recruiting survey. I'm trying to include everyone in the online recruiting industry: HR and recruiting pros, job…

As an Employer:

1. Saying the job needs to be filled asap when the following week your closing the order (Wait till you call me next time with a really urgent request).
2. Giving the same job to 5 or more other search firms (Everyones’ going to try so hard).
3. Not allowing the recruiter to talk to the hiring manager (What are we in…