To work in recruitment you have to be a Mad Man

Most CEOs realise the importance of securing the best people in their industry. Having the top talent working for you gives you a huge advantage over your competition. Whilst most companies will  have developed a compelling message that they are ‘the’ place to work,  the reality is that majority don’t do much with it. It is often left sitting in the…

Since we largely train recruiters and businesses how to leverage the power of social media as a sourcing tool, an employer branding tool and a business development tool, one common question we get asked all the time from nervous HR managers to company directors is advice on a social media policy that will enable their teams to have the freedom to roam social sites for…

As the first and oldest staffing agency in Columbus, we have dubbed ourselves the “match makers” of Columbus between businesses and job seekers.  With our main focus being to get our candidates work and to keep our clients happy, we are constantly thinking of other ways to make our company stand out. 

For a job seeker, our process includes an interview, background check, drug screen, video resume, computer testing and a recruiter available for every question and need - This…

It amazes me how few recruiters truly understand their recruiting ratios.  Early in my recruiting career I would hear things like “we need to get your deal count up so come in a half hour earlier and stay a half hour later.  That gives you an extra hour a day to work harder.”  For me, “working harder” didn’t get to the root of my recruiting issues.  I was fortunate to have a strong manager/mentor who taught me to understand my recruiting ratios which allowed me to pinpoint the areas that I…

This is a post that I wrote for my job.  The idea came to me when I was staring at an electrical outlet while feeding my infant son at nap time.  I had never taken the time to slow down and notice the outlet.  Then I started thinking about how recruiters are much like electrical outlets.  Think about it.  We aren't always noticed for what we do, but the connections we make light up the world.  We are on the front lines of business, but the people we bring to the business can make or break…

As I was training some of our staff on some Boolean searching techniques I was explaining the importance of brackets and the problem if you omitted them

5*3+2, could equal either 17 or 25.

So I mentioned the arithmetic rule brackets  “BOMDAS”, which explained what to do first in an arithmetic sum

Brackets

Of…

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The Great Shally was on just a few weeks ago but many listeners complained that I didn't treat him right.

You turned a steak into a peanut butter sandwich said my good friend Jerry Albright.

So I said OK I'll bring Shally back and here he is.

I asked people to submit their problem…

In honor of Thanksgiving here’s a brief tribute to a few of those who made “AlaRecruiter” possible. Now you know who to blame.

Justin – you were my first real recruiting boss. You taught me a very valuable lesson when you grabbed me by the shoulders and said “repeat after me – I f%^&$ed up.” Take the blame and move on – even if it really was the candidate’s fault. I’ve been doing it ever since. We laughed at you when you said you were going to be the…

I stopped counting the times I've heard recruiters say, "I have an offer, now I just hope my candidate accepts!"  REALLY?!  My question back has never changed, "why is it you don't already know?"  Clearly, we're not selling major appliances and our product comes complete with opinions, but we can still do better than just hoping can't we?  My philosophy has always been that anything the candidate says can and will be used against them to create a positive close.  To that end…

As the largest recruitment agency in Ireland we place over 4,000 permanent jobs every year. As a snapshot my IT Director took the last 20 professional placements by salary level and analysed where we had found the candidates:I understand this is not a representative sample but here is where we sourced them from:

Only one applied through a job board

Two came from a cv database such as monster

3 came from our own Cpl website

2 were found on…

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…

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…

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” –…

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.

When I was a kid I spent my summers at camp in Northern Michigan.  I loved it, and made lifetime friends there. What I didn’t know is that it would shape me into the recruiter I am today. 

If you ever went away for camp you had the preparation of packing, making sure to include just the right items. This was very hard for a teenage girl, guessing what people from all over the country would think were cool clothes, the right music etc. So you would try to prepare by talking to last…

Finally!  The call you have been waiting for, an offer of employment.  You are over-whelmed with excitement and feel valued, but now you are faced with a difficult decision.  Do you accept or decline?  Fortunately, most companies will not expect you to make a decision the day you receive the offer.  You are normally given a week to make a decision.  There are many things to consider when evaluating a job offer.  Is this a good place to work?  Do I see myself there long-term?  Will there be…