Over the years much has been written on succession planning.  Even when I was a Gen X’er in school I was told at numerous times how I would be posed to replace retiring Baby Bommers.  Succession planning has been on the minds of many for many years. However, succession planning is one of those things that does not get done, despite the conversations.  Why?  The reasons are multiple ranging from activity that has no immediate payback to generational gaps to complete cluelessness as how to…

What is the true value of a referral?  It is hard to define and quantify because the referral is more than a transaction, it is an act of faith and an act of loyalty.  People refer others because they have knowledge (or at least a hope) that the referred will not be disappointed.  No one wants to make a personal recommendation and have it backfire because it reflects badly on them (unless they are filled with alternate and sinister motives).  Referrals are the strongest form of…

Do you engage in public sector recruiting?  If not you may be missing a very important and sizable opportunity.  Let’s start with the size of the pie – 24% is the average percentage of employees in the public sector in Canada (March 2012).  The USA tends to be in the high teens with developing country average around 23% (Bureau of Statistics).  This means that one in four or five positions in Canada/USA are a public job:  government, Crown Corporation, university,…

Whether in the Temporary or the Permanent search industry meeting a lot of candidates is a critical success factor.  Recruiters are sent hundreds of resumes weekly and dig into profiles on a regular basis.  The information provided may come in several avenues, both public and private and the information is protected by a legislated privacy act accordingly.  In Alberta and British Columbia this is often referred to as FOIPP Act (Freedom of Information and Privacy Protection Act), and is…

Canada’s growth (and the USA) is powered by small to medium enterprises (SME’s).  SME’s employ approximately 52% of all working individuals; therefore, they obviously play a critical role in all aspects of industry and community, including recruiting.   While I can’t locate the figures to support this, I feel my assumption is reasonable: SME’s make up the majority of the non-government client base within the recruiting industry.  This makes SME and entrepreneurial spirit something worth…

On March 24^th Bob McIntosh posted a blog titled “80% of today’s jobs are landed through networking.”  The article was well articulated and discussion ensued that pulled at the very fabric of what networking is, how to use it, how important it is, and how is it defined.  Some astute readers identified a lack of support for the statistics as a perpetuating concern (strong ideas Karen and Sandra); others identified the notion of causality (excellent point Kyle).  The question really…

It is amazing to me how many people I meet who are not on LinkedIn.  To them LinkedIn is just another social connection point, like Facebook, which they usually have.  Having Facebook seems like enough for them, why have another socializing site?  The response to potential candidates was felt worth sharing in case you have contacts that are still not on LinkedIn or lack the understanding of the difference between Facebook and LinkedIn:

Since it first went online in 2003,…