The other day, a consultant set aside everything she was working on because a client dared to use a 4 letter word on her. She even had the audacity to tell me “This is the best thing to happen on my desk today”



The 4 letter word being ‘asap’ (well it’s not really a ‘word’ in the true sense but you get my point)



So what exactly is asap?



A quick Wikipedia search came up with a hard rock band, a television series in the Philippines and even a Canadian aircraft… Continue

1988, Seoul Olympics after the 200 m, Carl Lewis famously told reporters, “I did not win Silver, I lost Gold”. A powerful statement indeed, coming from someone who has won 10 Olympic medals including 9 Gold in his career.



Now, if Carl Lewis was a recruiter, I bet he might have said the same thing because there’s no silver medal, your candidate either lands the job or not. Or maybe there is room for a silver medal………….



2009/10 had perm recruiters bruised and battle… Continue

 

A question I always ask at interviews is “Why do you want to leave your current job?” and then delve deeper to understand their ‘real’ motivation to leave. I’ve learnt not to be satisfied with standard responses such as ‘better opportunities’, ‘career prospects’, location, compensation, lifestyle choice………….whatever



So, the other day when this young 20 something answers, “For career stability and improving my work / life balance”, I probe further and realise it’s due to…

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Recruitment consultants are Sales people. Full Stop. Sales people have their ups and downs and so do Recruitment consultants. Full Stop. The key difference is that Recruitment consultants hate being referred to as Sales people. Full Stop. Hence they do not overcome their ‘down time’ as efficiently as Sales people. Full Stop. Worse still, many recruitment managers do not believe their consultants should have down times. Full Stop.



Hence…

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The first thing they teach us as toddlers is the alphabet. In much the same way, new recruiters should also be guided to the ABC's of Recruiting.



A - Advertising - the good ol’ post & pray method



B - Blogs - even if you don't write them, you'll be exposed to plenty



C - Clients - in case you didn’t realise, they pay the bills !



D - Data Base - the resting place for candidates until you… Continue

A LinkedIn discussion, Why are a majority of recruiters not able to succeed in their 2nd recruitment job, having performed reasonably well at their 1st? attracted hundreds of comments from fellow recruiters across the globe. This blog is a summarisation of what I think are the top 10 reasons. Credit however to recruiters who have found success in their second, third and are still recruiting………



1. Weak to begin with - More than likely they were… Continue

You may relate to “The world’s in my backyard” if you own an online profile. Social media has enabled us reconnect with long lost friends, have an online profile, made business easier and even saved us money (a status update on LinkedIn is read by hundreds of thousands – now compare doing the same with letters) However Social media also comes with a price. Be warned of the dangers lurking.



One of comments I received on my blog “Are you a technosaurus?"… Continue

Recruiters face hundreds of questions, so when you are asked “Does Loyalty mean anything these days?“ coming from a candidate with 22 years work experience; you sit back and take notice.



Samantha (name changed for privacy reasons) 22 years PA experience, the last 14 with the same company, excellent skills and credentials has found it difficult securing an interview. Problem was not with Samantha, the job market or her skills, it was her resume! It was structured in the traditional… Continue

“It’s ok these things happen, I’ll just continue my job search. You’ve done more for me than any other recruiter and I’m grateful for that” was the reply I got from Paul Smith (name changed due to privacy) when I conveyed the unfortunate news of his rejection by my client



More for me than any other recruiter ?? So what did I do that was supposedly different from other recruiters he met? cause realistically I had not yet placed him.



From the initial call, to our… Continue

The social media ‘tsunami’ has hit the Australian recruitment industry’s shores. Of late, I’ve noticed a significant increase in status updates, wall postings and tweets. Blogs have crept into mainstream recruitment and featured prominently on company websites. Once bland, recruiting websites have now upgraded to an interactive nature with content changing almost daily boosting it’s SEO.



Social media is here to stay just like the advent of email, which changed the way we communicate… Continue

It's been 10 years since the Mel Gibson / Helen Hunt, ‘What Women Want” movie was released. Mel Gibson’s character, Nick, a somewhat chauvinistic advertising hot shot may have found the answer when a fluke bathroom accident enables him hear what women think. Taking advantage of this special gift, he manipulates it to his advantage at work.



Having watched this movie recently, I asked myself, “I wonder what the 3 C’s in my corporate life want?” the 3 C’s being my Client, my Candidate… Continue