About a month ago I blogged about a job seeker I was working with.  Find the story here.  Well as it turns out, Joe did continue through the process with Company A and B.  Here's how it went down...

Company B did everything they said they would.  There were some hiccups along the way; a couple of dates changed, but ultimately he did fly to their offices and was…

Can you teach someone to sell?

Most of the positions I’m recruiting for require this strange hybrid of technical skill / knowledge while being able to close deals.  That’s right, I need technical Tier 3 help desk types with all the appropriate certifications that want to earn commission and don’t mind cold calling.

Nobody said it was going to be easy.           

It does create some interesting conversations with my hiring…

I never thought I’d be a corporate recruiter.  Well, if we go back far enough I never thought I’d be a recruiter.  In fact, I don’t know a single recruiter who set out to BE a recruiter, on purpose.  We all seemed to kind of fall into it, but I digress. 

I started out as many do, in an agency.  Actually my first experience with an agency was covering the front desk at a recruiting firm that rhymes with Blobert Blaf.  I remember the staffing managers literally…

When it comes to being a valued service provider, how much is being RIGHT worth?  What if, in your insistence to be RIGHT, you risk losing a customer?

I am so angry right now I could scream.  I recently upgraded my family’s cell phone plan and got myself locked into a contract with some pretty fancy phones.  Admittedly my first mistake was getting my construction worker husband a smart phone.  In the interest of saving a…

My kids have always summed up my career in this fashion: “People pay mommy lots of money to find other people”.  They have never questioned the logic of this.  Mommy plays a mean hide n seek.  Now that my baby has graduated from Kindergarten, I have come to realize that really, some of the most important elements of recruiting he has now mastered.  Since school let out I’ve been watching him interact with his friends – and here’s what I’ve found...

Have something good…

You want a job.  I want an employee.  Why is it so hard for us to get together?

As an agency recruiter, life was pretty simple.  Develop some strong relationships, get some job orders, go hunting for qualified candidates.  If they were “passive”, make them “active” (heh).  Move them through the process and close the deal.  Wake up the next day and do it again. 

Enter the damn Applicant Tracking System.              

Keep in mind I started recruiting back when there was…

I use this analogy quite often with candidates and the reaction is pretty intense.  All of a sudden, they get it.  That company won’t return your calls?  Listen, they’re just not that into you.  Blabbing all over Facebook that you nailed your phone interview and expect an offer any day now?  Discretion people… discretion.  (Honestly it was a phone interview… you’ve got a ways to go, friend.)

For me, this analogy was born during my agency days after a…

Next week I throw myself back into recruiting (this time, corporate – something new!).  I’ve been thinking a lot about how I’m going to handle the candidate experience.  Surely some things are out of my control – I will be working with a recruiting coordinator, flexing to the needs and schedules of my hiring managers, and of course the whims of the candidates themselves.  (Of course I want to work for your company.  Unless this other offer comes through.  I can interview anytime.  Except…