Many CEOs claim to have exceptional intuition about hiring for their executive team. “I know in my gut if someone will be a fit,” they say. Much like the stories of gamblers, who will brag about their winnings (but not tell you about their losses), you only hear about the successful hires.



Too many executive candidates today are good salespeople. They know how to create a good first impression, and hit the CEO directly in the gut with their personality, and win the job offer. A…

Requirements intensive (i.e., laundry list format) job ads serve no purpose other than to undermine your recruiting…

I’m 40 years old. Female. A Scorpio. 5’ 4.5” (yes, I included the ½ inch) and weigh 116 pounds. No, this is not a personal advertisement. I love a dog’s soft tender underbelly, extra dark chocolate, cherry red scarves, stick shift convertibles, sauvignon blanc on the beach, and Don Julio 1942 for a really good time. I donate to animal shelters, the Alzheimer’s Association and the…

Have you ever heard the following?

My sales reps can’t sell. They don’t prospect for new business. They can’t close. They don’t seem motivated to earn more money.

When I hear these comments from business owners, I ask 3 simple questions.

1) Do you have the right sales people?

2) Do you provide the right sales training?

3) Do you have the right sales management?

It takes all three…

About 3 years ago I met with a senior HR contact who worked for a FTSE 100. An intelligent, well-rounded and high potential individual and very charming to boot. The sort of individual who rarely stays on the market, if at all, instantly being snapped up by probably any of the other blue chip organisations.

We chatted for about 90 minutes and by the end of the discussion I had drawn a very strong conclusion – that he…

Anyone who has read Blink by Malcolm Gladwell knows that what we think we know about how good decisions are made is mostly wrong. For most of the past sixty or so years the 'scientific' method has been in vogue with accountants, CFO's, purchasing departments and strategic planners (and, you guessed it, HR). Want to make a good decsion? Reach for the slide rulers (my age is showing) and the spreadsheets. List the relevant criteria, find the option that meets the greatest numbers and pull the…

The opportunities to engage and interact are two of the most often communicated benefits of using social media. While these benefits sound good in theory, I’m not sure that most users are doing a good job of taking seriously their individual responsibility to ensure these benefits are realized. Often times, people who are active on social media and social networks are too busy building their own personal brand to be bothered with 2-way conversation. If the benefits of social media are the…

I haven't found many blog posts that allow us to hear the client/managers point of view. Well, look no further because one of mine opened up recently. I wrote a blog post about VMS and it's impact on recruiters and jobseekers. Below is a response from one of my hiring managers. I think this can be helpful to the recruiter and jobseeker alike. It reminds us to never take our clients for granted and always…

There are two small businesses that I frequent near my Minneapolis suburban home. The first I do so out of loyalty – they rock. The second I visit because my family wants to – despite my ongoing objections. Let’s quickly examine the difference between the two customer experiences and see what they can teach us.

Von Hanson’s Meat Market - http://www.vonhansons.com/ - feels like an old-fashioned butcher shop. The product is excellent and I…

As a 360 degrees desk recruiter, I am involved in all phases of recruitment. From meeting with the client and understanding their staffing needs to finding the right candidate and completing the contract.

Oh, to be the new kid on the block! Twitter, Facebook, and the rest of social media are experiencing that thrill – they’re new, exciting, and can do no wrong.

A while back, job boards were the new kids. No more messy newsprint, no more limits on ad length, immediate results – what was not to like? Recruiters flocked to job boards and, in the process,

made many boards very profitable.

But things have changed. Job boards are old news, like those ugly,…