I've never found that to be a good "call"

I've been hearing from people that they are getting contacted by companies and staffing firms to come right in for an in-person interview without going through an initial phone screen first. These are educated, experienced mid- to senior-level career workers pursuing professional positions.

In my personal experience as a job seeker I never had a worthwhile interview experience with a company that skipped the phone interview. And,…

A few of us non-traditional, mold-breaker, non-conformist, square pegs in a land of round holes occasionally jokingly refer to ourselves as unemployable. And, in certain ways that isn’t far from accurate.

If we look throughout history we find plenty of well-known business and leadership success stories that wouldn’t have been possible if those responsible didn’t push…

Who needs boring book-ish data when you can get cute, colorful, cartoon data? Behold, the rising popularity of image-infused content for the copy-averse crowd. Depicted in this infographic are results from LinkedIn’s December 2013 survey of 18,000 employed professionals in 26 countries.

Based on the pictorial, we are initially led to believe that “around the world…

The good news: for at least a few people I’ve spoken with recently, the job market seems a bit warmer so far this year than it has been in quite a while. Let’s hope so!

The bad news: applying and interviewing for jobs is just as cumbersome as ever.

The ugly news: many employers must have missed the memo about candidates actually caring how…

I too have been bored! Not just here, but everywhere online. Too much noise, nonsense and dumbification. There has been a severe suckage situation for quite some time now across multiple venues. Maybe I'm a fool for saying that (more than handful of times) here, over there, or anywhere. Or, perhaps...?

As a regular contributor and commenter within the HR and recruiting blogging community, I was thrilled to be invited to join RecruitingBlogs’ 2014 Editorial Advisory Board. Yeah, I…

If an interested and qualified applicant contacted you directly (or was referred to you by a mutual professional connection) for one of your open/posted requisitions would you:

A) Call him/her ASAP to discuss

B) Email him/her ASAP to schedule a phone call when convenient

C) Look him/her up online to…

Although I understand how and why it happens, it is not in my nature to make assumptions, jump to conclusions or surmise. My analytical bent prevents me from forming critical decisions or taking action without adequate evaluation of tangible evidence or factual data.

That proclivity has served me well in countless complex and sensitive work situations involving…

When accepting those rapidly accumulating random LinkedIn connection invitations, I generally also scroll down to peruse my timeline. In doing so, I often notice plenty of job opportunities being posted. Some of these are blasted out by automation tools and others are manually added as a person's LI status update. 

Either way, I selectively…

As a Southern California native, consuming (and/or cooking) mass quantities of Mexican cuisine is a way of life. One of the more delectable ingredients in many tasty recipes is refried beans. Ironically, the way these beans are made involves methods other than frying or refrying. So while they are still delicious, the name is not…

In practically all cases, an organization strives to identify and select the best person for the job.

Ads for open positions are overflowing with lists of requirements for experience and education in an effort to prevent those that don’t meet stated criteria from applying. Nevertheless, various statistics reveal the low ratio of qualified applicants versus immense volumes of unqualified…

Are you making premature assumptions about applicants or candidates? Here’s a few common categories focused on finding the right fit. Do you see anything potentially wrong with these ways of assessing talent?

Personality Predictions

Once a person’s hard skills are confirmed through visually examining on paper or on screen or verbally over the phone or in person, soft skills almost always become a more prominent factor. Many people place a tremendous amount of credibility…

If you are in a position of interviewing a job applicant, you are by virtue of that role inferring that you believe you are justified in knowing the answer to any questions you decide to ask, relevant or not.

Recently during a twitter chat related to hiring practices I responded to another participant because I felt an interview question s/he admitted to asking…

Here we go… another horrible example of the type of cold call/emails some recruiters are sending.

I’ve never heard of the recruiter that sent this - who according to their LI profile, has been an agency recruiter since 2008 and has a whopping 36 connections. I don’t recall having any prior interactions with their agency and don’t know how they have my email address. What I do know is this a one of the lamest messages I’ve seen in quite a while.

~~~

The email…

Automation is wonderful if it helps you become more efficient and productive with your time. There are a plenty of tools and technology that do just that. So far, however, there aren’t any such advancements completely capable of hiding overt laziness. A few examples:

Bullhorn Reach job postings – Being a prominent fixture in the recruiting world, Bullhorn is widely used as a job ad…

A friend and former colleague recently told me about a frustrating conversation with a recruiter. Come to think of it I rarely, if ever, hear from anyone telling me about a fantastic interaction with a recruiter. Why is that?

Anyway, my friend saw one of their connections “like” that recruiter’s LinkedIn status about a search they were working on. Thinking it looked appealing, my friend…

Obviously, every company culture is different and sometimes what hiring managers think and say they want is exactly the opposite of what they really mean by fit. Do you find this to be the case in your recruiting experience? If so, what's the main cause of this discrepancy?

In job opportunity listings, we often see terms such as:

• Self-starter
• Innovative
• High tolerance for ambiguity
• Entrepreneurial
• Takes…

Different strokes for different folks… Here are a few recent examples people have shared with me about how they are being approached online for job opportunities. If this process has a name, it surely isn’t social recruiting, candidate engagement or strategic sourcing.  

Example 1: Regular Email

Executive search firm partner…

We’ve all seen the same statistic that approximately 80% of jobs are unadvertised. Some refer to this as the hidden job market.  Alternatively, we’ve also seen the statistic that approximately 80% of employers advertise job opportunities online either through their own website, a mainstream job board or a niche industry site. So, while those two statistics refer to separate measurements, they are somewhat intertwined and intriguing.

I frequently encounter content directed at…

A person recently contacted me through LinkedIn and requested some time to speak with me about their “complicated” 

employment situation. I wasn’t sure whether they were seeking my advice about their current employment or how to approach the search for something else. (They are currently employed, but looking for a new position).

They referred to…

Lesson #1: 

You may or may not be able to train a monkey to recruit

Lesson #2: 

Anyone with a keyboard may be capable of writing their version of career advice and getting it published on a mainstream recruiting website

Lesson #3: 

Both #1 & #2 may become trending topics for various reasons 

Lesson #4: 

If you do #2 and it is proven that you are…