Dear Claudia,



A recruiter in my office recently landed a VP search for a company I used to work for. I know a lot about this company’s dirty laundry, and the leadership is generally ruthless and unethical. I tried to warn the recruiter before he took the search, but he doesn’t seem to care about the background information. My real problem is that it’s now my job to generate candidates to fill this role. I absolutely don’t want to work on this search. Am I right to feel this way?… Continue

At the local market this morning I rounded a corner and witnessed the most astounding sight: a young mother on the business end of a grocery trip, accompanied by three boys under the age of five.



It took a nanosecond to sum up the chaos: while mommy was speaking to a clerk a short distance away, the 4 year old was methodically loading up the basket with jars of jam. In the spirit of cooperation, his younger brother (about 2 and a half I think, seated in the basket and clearly… Continue

Dear Claudia,



I recently challenged my recruiting team to source hard-to-find candidates from a department of a local competitor, and one of the recruiters came back with a whole roster for us...unfortunately, she slept with one of their engineers to get it. She doesn’t think it’s a big deal, but I’m really concerned about using this information under the circumstances. What do you think?



Uneasy



Dear Uneasy,



Truthfully, I think you may have… Continue

Dear Claudia,



If time is the constraint, how can you analyze a candidate’s level of commitment? I work mostly on corporate-to-corporate contract positions (temporary placements), and I need to submit the resume to the preferred vendor or client within a couple of hours of the requisition opening. How can I avoid vanishing candidates?



Tektree Gopi



Hi Gopi,



I’d like to tell you that speed… Continue

Claudia,



If a candidate is very hairy on the chest and back, should they just shave right down every day to below their collar line?



Recruiting Animal



This question actually came up on last week's radio show with a hilarious response by guest recruiter Joshua Letourneau...check out my music list for the audio clip, provided for your listening pleasure courtesy of the… Continue

Is employee engagement near and dear to your heart? I'm of the opinion that engagement begins -- and can be measured and managed for competitive advantage and ROI -- long before the hire happens. Check out some interesting chatter here.

Dear Claudia,



What do you do when a candidate simply disappears? It’s happened to me twice this month: I screen them up front, they’re all excited about the opportunity, they go to the interview…and then nothing. No returned calls, no emails about taking another job, nothing. It's hard enough to find good candidates at all these days, what can I do to keep this from happening again?



Feeling Cheap in St. Louis



Dear Feeling Cheap,



It sucks to… Continue

Steven De Poortere is talking about interesting stuff on his ERE blog today, where he explores the possibility of measuring the success of blogging. Interesting concept, as blogging (and social networking for that matter) can be really time intensive for the average recruiter. So what is the ROI for those activities? Visibility, certainly. But how do you measure the… Continue

Hi Claudia,



I’m working with a perfectionist hiring manager who always has to be in control, and is never wrong. His mantra is “I’m the customer,” and he says it frequently as he micromanages every detail of my work. We are both under pressure to get this difficult job filled, but every time I talk to him I just want to tell him off -- honestly, it seems like I spend more time managing him than I do actually recruiting. Any ideas for getting this guy out of my… Continue

Interview training seems to be a topic I'm bumping into with frequency this week; who knows, maybe I need a refresher. I joined RecruitingBlogs.com and the first discussion I read was on the Candidate Development Group about Best Screening Processes. I posted one of my favorite tools there called the 5&5 -- five questions you ask a candidate during the interview, and five… Continue