Having friends and contacts in the industry (both recruiting and automotive) I've been involved in numerous conversations about layoffs recently. One in particular stuck out to me, though. A fellow corporate recruiter at another local OEM was groaning to me about how one of their contract agencies handled a recent round of staff reductions. I'll withhold the name of both companies since I'm not looking to drag any names through the mud, but it is worth discussing what happened.



This… Continue

Being on the corporate side I have both enjoyed the benefits and suffered the frustrations of working directly with hiring managers. I find that the two are very closely related, though, and I have the ability to impact some the of trouble areas. In fact, I feel it is my responsibility in order to be productive and effective in my job.



I speak of the responsibility to educate hiring managers as to what the heck I actually do as a recruiter. Even though the managers and I are on the… Continue

Whether due to a layoff, a firing, or a voluntary separation exit interviews tend not to be very enjoyable. Generally speaking people don't line up to be the company punching bag when an employee sounds off about what upset him/her enough to leave, or how he/she feels about being released. That said, I think as recruiters we need to be the ones making ourselves available for these sessions.



In many cases it was us who brought the employee on in the first place, so it is appropriate… Continue

I've previously expressed my views on the role corporate recruiters need to play in delivering a good message on behalf of the company, so it should come as no surprise that I put a lot of effort into making sure any candidate I recruit is really pumped up about coming to work here.



I generally let the candidate take a lead role here, directing me on the tour of my company to the various… Continue

Being on the corporate side of the recruiting world I regularly field calls from agency and independent recruiters looking for business. There is nothing wrong with this, and I actually enjoy many of the conversations I've had with these recruiters and salespeople. Many of them are quite personable and have begun to cement a pretty good relationship regardless of the number of jobs I can have them work on.



Earlier today I got a call from one such person, but rather than feeling good… Continue

To say that my recruiting team is stuck between good old Scylla and Charybdis is putting it nicely. For several years we've had strong relationships with colleges and universities to hire summer interns and entry-level talent each May/June. Unfortunately we've been on something of a hiring freeze for a few months now.



While we are still recruiting for key strategic positions bring a bunch of interns and entry-level employees has not exactly been deemed as business critical hiring… Continue

I'm not really much of one for a bait and switch, holding an ace up my sleeve, or pulling any sort of trickery on a candidate. It doesn't seem to foster a good relationship and tends to cause trust issues. For this very reason I provide as much information as I possibly can while maintaining a level playing field - I just happen to be pretty particular about my timing.



There are a lot of things a candidate should know prior to an interview. He or she should have a good idea of the… Continue

Having spent almost a year in my current in-house role I've started to reflect back on where I came from. I took a look at my previous agency experience and compared what I did there to my current responsibilities and realized that although accidental, the format of my last job prepared me very well for what I was walking into.



The setup was such that every recruiter had one skill set within which he or she was to become an expert. The thought was for each recruiter to become fluent… Continue