This is the year of the Cougar, Brah and Bro. Do not hire them! Trust me, these folks will ruin a Recruiting department in a New York minute. Here is how.

The Staffing Cougar

Staffing agencies are crowded with Office Cougars (aka Account Executives). They are fiercest of the Cougar species. They approach their prey (aka Hiring Managers) with little fear and maul them in broad day light. Not a good, especially if your agency has squeaky clean reputation. However, Staffing Cougars always come away with fresh reqs after a mauling.

The Corporate Recruiting Cougar

Best observed from afar in a Safari Land Rover (my office window). You’ve seen her. She has the Sarah Palin look. Once they move into a management role, Corporate Recruiting Cougars have their paw prints all over the interns (see Abercrombie & Fitch). Don’t care for politics, then don’t hire.

The Staffing Recruiter Brah

When he is not Clubbing, he is at the gym or by the apartment pool working on his tan. The Staffing Brah is only productive up until lunch. He leaves work early to for the Gym and then hits the night clubs with his “Bros”. They like to travel in packs. Not recommended for Full Time!

The Corporate Recruiting Brah

You explain the entire recruiting project to the Corporate Brah, but he just doesn’t get it. He never will. It’s unexplainable. Best usage for the Corporate Brah is to get back at unresponsive snooty Hiring Managers.

The Staffing Bro.

The Office Bro is annoying. He belts out a hearty “Bro” every-single-time-you-see-him-the-hall. It doesn’t matter if you saw him five minutes ago. The Bro is always happy. He needs to touch, high five, back slap or fist-bump anywhere and all the time.

The Corporate Bro

Co-workers constantly ask, “Who hired this guy!” He even calls Grandmother Bro. The Corporate Bro calls your cell phone and is like “Bro, where are you, Bro?” Or, “Have you eaten, Bro?” You can’t hide. They will hunt you down in bathroom and be like “Bro, what are doing?” Do not hire them unless you have a “Dude” that can keep “Bro” company.

So there you go. After the layoffs, after top grading and you slowly start to hire again, just be aware, it’s a jungle out there. You can easily go from hunter to the hunted. Rrrrrrrrr!

check my website: http://www.glennlist.com for other species like the DBA.