I take my hat off to HR professionals every day. The things I hear about on the recruiting side of the business pale in comparison to the day to day drama that takes place in HR. I don’t know how you keep your head about you as you go from one crisis to the next. I’m exhausted just thinking about …
5 Reasons a CEO Should Never Take the Lead on Selling…
Let’s think about the title of this post for a moment, shall we? I’m not implying that CEOs shouldn’t be involved in selling – in fact, I think they should. What this rant really is about though is taking the road-less-traveled based on a conversation I recently had with a candidate. His CEO was the self-appointed (or annointed) go-to-sales-guy, and his actions negatively impacted the entire sales team …
HR Saga: Big Hat – No Cattle
From time to time, I meet great people who understand the rules of business engagement and can agree on terms that work for both parties. They understand that when you make a commitment, you stick to it. Their word is their bond. You just know in your heart that things are going to work out when you shake hands and seal a deal with one of these …
Narcissism or Self-Esteem? That is the Question…
Guilty as charged – I have high self-esteem. I said high – not over-inflated. So shoot me now. Hell, I don’t have a choice – I run my own company, and kudos either come from within or they do not exist. Period. I have always been self-motivated and I push myself to achieve certain goals I establish in both my personal life and in business. …
2011: Implementing the NO IDIOT RULE
You might think that during the holidays, people would be in a good mood. I am (I mean, I was). 2010 was a good year, and things truly started to make the turn from a hiring standpoint. I didn’t say we were there yet – only that things are looking better. Much better. 2010 was one of our better years. Historically, December has …
Do We Still Judge a Book by its Cover?
Don’t let the title of this post fool you. I’m referring to the way candidates (and people in general) are judged in the recruiting and hiring process. Society places (way) too much attention on how we should look and I’m convinced it has spilled over into the hiring game. In many cases, screening candidates is probably based largely on their visual appearance. …
Should Sales Candidates Admit They Are Motivated by Money?
Yes – Yes and Yes. No need to think too much about this one unless sales isn’t your chosen line of work. For sales professionals, answering this question during an interview is a different deal altogether. Good sales people are money motivated – thank God. If you are driven and motivated by money – admit it. Plain and simple, no need to beat …
Do-it-Yourself Executive Search
Here we go again – everybody is a search professional. So let’s play a little round of… Do-it-Yourself Executive Search. Some organizations (okay-some executive search wanna-be’s) decide for some reason (without notice) that they would be better at taking the reigns and leading the search efforts in a critical search engagement without notice and apparently without a care (or a clue) in …
Dear Placed Candidate – Remember Me?
I use FOT as a great venue to rant from time to time to my HR and recruiter brethren and today will be no exception. Let me whiteboard this scenario for you – my point won’t be hard to understand (promise). I’m sure you have all seen this movie before. I’m constantly amazed at human behavior when it comes to candidates we work with and …
Bad Customers: Taking Off the Gloves…
It’s interesting to profile certain types of organizations that we have worked with over the years. Some organizations are clearly transactional, just get the job. They prefer to conduct their own process. They don’t return phone calls or e-mails (promptly) – all they really want is a few resumes. They prefer to to take matters into their own hands and conduct the search their …