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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