Well, of course, that is not true. Plenty about France is special. Like the cheese. And the cafés. And the bread. And a delicious glass of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Or Duck Confit. Or the way a French woman can twist a scarf into the sexiest thing imaginable.

Yes, plenty of special things in France.

But not in recruitment!

My recruitment career has allowed me the tremendous privilege of running and owning recruitment businesses all over the world.…

Great post, written by Firebrand Marketing Director Carolyn Hyams, originally published on the Firebrand Talent Blog

Almost everyone I’m in contact with through business is on LinkedIn these days (…

Sadly it’s true; there are arrogant, unpleasant, aggressive recruiters in this world (but not many!).



Anyway, the very worst amongst these, a smug, self-important, borderline sleaze-ball, was interviewing a young graduate, and as was his wont, he thought humiliating her would be a good way to go.



“So” he snorted, leaning back in his chair and sneering at the young woman opposite him “What makes you so…

In my last blog post I listed 25 things I said at the RCSA Conference that apparently inspired, concerned and irritated the audience in equal part. Read about those in…

Apparently my presentation at the RCSA Conference caused consternation, irritation, and even inspiration, in equal part. A success then, by my measure. I have had a lot of requests for summaries of the content, so here are 50 things I said that day. Although, in Part 1 we start with the first 25. The rest you can get in next weeks blog. Hope you enjoy this…

1. My presentation today is so different to…

Recently I was interviewed by Terry Edwards, from Drew Coaching.

The audio recording is available, free, and can be accessed via the link below.

http://recruitment-coach.com/asktheexpert/

During the…

I was at the RCSA Conference in Fiji last week. As a speaker, but also as an attendee. And I took some notes, trying to capture the highlights. I share these with you today. Enjoy.

(I, of course, also said dozens of fascinating things, but today, I shine the light elsewhere). :)

Mike Walsh

• Think New. Think Big.…

Graham Whelan is the best recruiter I’ve ever met.

And he has been that way since before most of you reading this article got to high school.

Last week I went to lunch with Graham, and 2 other long-standing recruiting colleagues, all now competitors, all significant achievers in our industry.

After the usual banter, and a sombre reflection on the fact that between us we had 120 years…

You are a recruiter. Doesn’t matter where you work, or what you do. If you recruit, especially in an agency, you will end up with a future that looks like one of these three.

1: You are superb at it. You learn the skills, you earn the relationships. You enjoy high self-esteem, respect from your customers, and reap fun and money. Your job is exhilarating, and it feels like a vocation and a hobby, not work at all, because you tackle it with…

Every great recruiter knows how to triage their job orders, and understands the importance of prioritising.

By and large, we only get paid for the people we place, so we have to work…

Dear Hiring Manager,

So, just to make sure I clearly understand you.

You consistently…

If you enjoy the blog, check out The Savage Truth Facebook Page, for more recruiting tactics and ideas.

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Success in recruiting is all about doing a lot of small things… very well.

Pretty much all recruiters follow the same process. We screen, we interview, we match, we meet clients, and we engineer scores of mini interactions which stitch…

Some things in life are so obvious, we just can’t see them. And it shocks me how few people understand what the important part of ‘social media’ or ‘social networking’ actually is.

The exciting aspect of the boom in social technologies is not the technology at all, (Sorry geeks). It’s the ‘social’ part.

And the core rules of socialising online are the same as socialising face-to-face.

Pandering flattery offline can be easily detected, and only…

Almost all recruiters are told they must cold-call to build a client-base.

Sadly, that is mostly bad advice.

Certainly it is true that all recruiters need to develop clients, identify prospects and find ways to build sustainable relationships. And often that means connecting with people you have never dealt with before. So yes, we are business developers, and in a tight market that becomes even more critical.

But, if at all possible, don’t cold…

I have to admit I am sick and tired of hearing talk of ‘active’ and ‘passive’ candidates. Even though I admit to freely using the terms myself… until very recently.

But I am going to stop doing that.

People ramble on about ‘passive’ candidates, as if this is a totally fresh breed of human being, that only new-age, especially savvy recruiters know how to connect with. The ‘passive candidate’ has become a mystical ‘super-talent’, somehow superior and different to the bog-standard…

The most common question I get asked these days, by clients, candidates, journalists and even my own staff, is whether the job market is improving around the world. Is confidence on the up? Specifically, are employers hiring again, or do they plan to?

To make an informed assessment of the coming quarter, I have looked at our business activity in the countries and cities where Firebrand operates. Are job orders increasing in…

“So let me just clarify your position on this, Mr Client.

You spend 30 minutes telling me all the recruiters you have used so far are hopeless, they provide zero value, they can’t find the talent you want, their service is pathetic, and they do not understand your business.

Then, we spend hours going through your needs, you are excited because we really understand you and your role, and  you are confident we can access…

Don't get me wrong. I use LinkedIn a lot, and of course so do all the recruiters at Firebrand.

But there are issues with LinkedIn. Flaws.

One of the most obvious is that LinkedIn appears to have no system to monitor accuracy of data on their network. Indeed, they freely admit that many profiles are bogus, and that many people have several LinkedIn profiles.

Only last week I was at a the…

There has never been a more critical time for recruiters to focus on prioritising their job orders. Clients are tentative and decisions are slow to come, so we simply cannot waste our time on briefs that were never real in the first place. Working with clients who are not ready, willing or committed to hire is a disaster.

Indeed, making sure you apply yourself to where you will get a return is the mantra we all should be living by every day. I wrote on this blog about…