The Anatomy of An Amazing Pitch

Kathy Rapp Always Be Closing, Business Development, Career Advice, Coaching, Communication, Corporate America, Culture, Employee Communications, Employee Development, Graduation, HR, HR & Marketing, Influence, Interviewing, Job Seeker Advice, Kathy Rapp, Negotiation, Networking, Personal Brand, Pop Culture, Recruiting

A police chief, with a phobia for open water, battles a gigantic shark with an appetite for swimmers and boat captains, in spite of a greedy town council who demands that the beach stays open. That was the logline for Jaws – also known as the main reason I feared the ocean in the late 70’s. A logline is the …

Candidates Who Over-Talk May Need To Work Elsewhere

Dawn Burke Always Be Closing, Audacious Ideas, Candidate Pool, Hiring Managers, HR, Selection, Talent Strategy

“You talk too much. You never shut up.” – Run DMC To shut a candidate up or not to shut a candidate up? That is the question. A question, as an interviewer, I’ve contemplated for many years. A question I admittedly flip-flop on. But here is where I am with this now. Candidates, you need to control your explanations. You …

Cultural Meltdown: When Values Don’t Match Workers’ Day-to-Day Reality

John Hollon Always Be Closing, Bad HR, Change Management, Culture, Current Affairs, employee experience, John Hollon, Performance

“If there is one job that I as CEO must do for our team members, customers, communities, and shareholders, it is to be the keeper of our company’s culture. It is the role of all team members to understand our culture, internalize it, live it, teach it, and reinforce it.” — CEO John Stumpf, from Wells Fargo‘s statement of values If …

Recruiting Harder vs. Recruiting Smarter

Tim Sackett Always Be Closing, Candidate Pool, Driving Productivity, HR Technology, Job Market, job postings, Recruiting, Recruitment Marketing, Tim Sackett

I had a boss who used to love coming in and giving the generic management direction of “we need to work smarter, not harder”! Thanks, Einstein. Now, are you willing to tell us what the heck that actually means!? In the recruiting game today, I know recruiters are being told this. As average days to fill continue to rise because the job market …

The FOT Primer On How Candidates Can Win In Interviews

Kris Dunn Always Be Closing, Coaching, FOT Mail Bag, Influence, Interviewing, Job Seeker Advice, Kris Dunn

That’s right. Mostly HR people and recruiting pros read this, but I’m still doing a post on how to make sure your responses in interviews as a candidate don’t suck. After all, HR people and recruiters interview too.  At least that’s what I’ve heard. If someone sees you reading this, just tell them you’re putting together a professional development course …

How To Build Your Internal Recruiting Practice

John Whitaker Always Be Closing, John Whitaker, Metrics, Recruiting

External recruiters are a crutch. I need to be careful with this one, lest I misrepresent my point, but hear me out. What is “recruiting?” Visit different companies and you’ll find the definition (and philosophy) differs quite a bit. Having been a rather frequent jumper the last 6 years, I’ve experienced many of these differences first-hand, and depending upon where …

3 Ways To Avoid Hiring Nightmares

Kathy Rapp Always Be Closing, candidate experience, Career Paths, Communication, Culture, Employment Branding and Culture, Executive Search, Hiring Managers, HR, Interviewing, Job Seeker Advice, Kathy Rapp, Leadership, Recruiting, Selection, Talent Strategy

I hate hiring for myself. The kissing multiple frogs aspect before finding my prince/princess is tough. Rarely am I talking to someone where there’s not something I like or appreciate about them. It frankly sucks to spend time with someone you genuinely like, only to have to say “you’re not the one.” I also hate hiring because I’ve set the …

Falling In love With Candidates!

Tim Sackett Always Be Closing, Audacious Ideas, candidate experience, Candidate Pool, HR, Recruiting, Recruitment Marketing, Smashfly, Tim Sackett

A weird thing happens in most Talent Acquisition shops around the world. There is a love/hate relationship with candidates, and let’s face it, that relationship tends to stay on the hate side too much! The thing with candidates is they are the solution to our problem and our problem all at the same time! Everything you hear at conferences and read …

Real Life Recruiting From The Trenches: What Keeps Us Up At Night

Dawn Burke Always Be Closing, candidate experience, Candidate Pool, Dawn Burke, Digital Interviewing, HR, HR Technology, Recruiting, Talent Strategy

You read a lot about talent acquisition (that’s what fancy people call recruiting) from consultants, agencies and analysts paid to attend conferences. Who don’t you hear from? Corporate Recruiters. Corporate recruiters, in the trenches everyday, knocking it out for companies everywhere. Not for commission (in some cases), but for the love of the company. For the love of connecting. For …

Showing Up: The Most Important Piece Of The Puzzle

Michael Carden Always Be Closing, Audacious Ideas, Career Paths, Change, Coaching, Driving Productivity, FOT Reads, Giving Notice, HR, HR Tech, HR Technology

No one at that dinner had been sleeping properly for weeks, and it wasn’t just the impossible heat of an impossibly long Auckland summer. My phone was ringing on the table, face down, slowly vibrating its way towards my lap. As it breached the edge the lit screen suddenly caught my eye in the darkness of the bistro, broke through …