Why I Am A SMART Recruiter - Most of the Time..

The decision to start my own firm. This gave me the freedom to make a boatload of mistakes (and not get fired), but it also allowed me to innovate in terms of creating a rigorous candidate screening process and comprehensive dossiers with video summaries of my candidate interviews. Established search firms, like most established businesses, are not willing innovators.

That is one reason...

However, here is the truth: I am a smart recruiter because I have a great team of researchers, recruiters and background investigators. As former President Reagan always said about the Soviet Union: Trust but verify.

The decision to go through the absolute agony of starting a company means that I am not going to get laid off. That is a positive. On the other side of the coin, I really have to be careful complaining about the jerk who runs the place!

Comment by Amy Christ on December 19, 2008 at 3:47pm: John, I started my own firm for the same reasons. I relate to your post. Thanks for writing it.

Comment by Kumar Bodapati on December 19, 2008 at 10:43pm: Trust but Verify- great tips thanks Sir

Comment by John G. Self on December 20, 2008 at 9:47am: This is one element of the search process where my investigative reporting instincts come into play. People spin their work history. They also enhance their accomplishments. I try to teach my recruiters to be skeptical. Healthy skepticism is important. We want to believe the candidate's story but we must listen carefully and look at the supporting metrics on the resume. For example, it is probably spin when a candidate for a hospital CEO position says he engineered a $90 million turnaround in 11 months. Or that they turned around the culture of an organization in six months. Possible but NOT probable.

In October, I wrote a blog: Lies, Damn Lies and Other Misrepresentations.
http://healthcarevoice.typepad.com/healthcare_voice/2008/10/index.html

You might enjoy that one. Remind me to tell you the story of the otherwise very strong CFO candidate for a public company with a solid resume that hung together with his life’s story. But then four felony convictions popped up during our background check....