As recruiters, it certainly bothers us when we are calling around and find out that the position we are pitching has been marinating in the market sauce for months.  It kind of takes the spice off the meatball, so to speak (I bring everything back to food or wine eventually)

What about when you have been working with a candidate fairly closely, with good vibes coming in both directions, so you connect with him on linkedin.  

Scrolling through her connections, you find…

#1: The smartest person always gets the job

Definitely not true – companies these days are more interested in the complete worker. Having brains is always an advantage, but it's not the only thing that hiring managers are looking for. In today’s economy, an employer wants to know that, if required, you are able to…

The 14th annual HR Technology Conference didn't disappoint in Vegas this year. Not only was this the biggest collection of rockstar attendees at the conference to date but the breakout and main panel discussions were the best I've seen them. I also love the addition of HR Tech Connect to enable attendees to interact before the event.

From the main / breakout sessions to the expo hall, here are my thoughts and observations on a great few days in Vegas:

Scanning the…

Many years ago I wrote an article called “Benchmarking the Baldrige Awards” in which I discussed how all companies could act as if they were chasing what was then the gold standard for quality operations, even if they couldn’t meet all the criteria.  Such high aspirations would enable even small companies to create “performance excellence” they found in bigger, more established companies, and thereby, move in that direction themselves.…

Vacation ramblings.......

Every recruiter evangelist and solutions vendor out there today is banging his drum telling corporations why they need to be on and develop a recruiting strategy for Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and mobile. All I can say is of course! You dont’ need to be one of these evangelist to figure that out. Maybe they have been spending a little too much time in the sun or maybe they…

I thought this was a great show - but the animals who listened in didn't agree.

No commercial version: PLAY - Alex Levit - Blind Spots

BlogTalkRadio Version

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…