On a recent visit to the park near my house, I saw four guys playing tennis at the courts next to the playground. “Good for them,” I thought to myself. “Early Saturday morning, and those guys are out to work up a good sweat.” I, on the other hand, was sitting on a bench, pounding a venti latte, watching my kids play and planning …
From Your Hiring Manager: How Do I Unplug My Brain During the Hiring Process?
Hey, HR Pros, I’m a “hiring manager,” so take it easy on my post and any dumb questions I may raise. My wife is an HR Pro, so I’m kind of in the witness protection program for hiring managers. Recently, a friend recommended a book to me. It’s a business book, but it talks a lot about how the human …
No More Smelly Candidates With Video Interviewing! #WEBINAR
KD and I are back at it – we’re doing an upcoming webinar on Wednesday May 23rd at 1pm EST (click here to register). We have a lot of fun with these – we get to check out some very cool stuff in HR – and we get to channel our inner Oprah at the same time! For this recent …
The HR Hunger Games
I have two teenagers who live in my house – which means I’ve paid for admission to the movie The Hunger Games roughly 37 times to date. If you don’t know what The Huger Games is – you live under a rock and/or don’t live within 20 miles of a teenager. But I’ll give you the parent version of the …
From Your Hiring Manager: Nobody Told Me to Use My Common Sense
Why does everything have to be a “process” or a “system”? This has been bugging me for a while. As a hiring manager, I don’t have anything against a good solid process. I work at an organization focusing on process improvement, so trust me, I’m a process geek. But, here is what keeps happening to bug the crap out of …
It Turns Out – How Your Hiring Process is Viewed May Stink. Sorry!
You know what’s weird? I don’t directly recruit anymore. It’s no longer part of my job. I don’t have a req load assigned to me. I don’t need to do any sourcing. I don’t have a hiring manager to appease. I don’t have offers to close. I don’t have a salary budget to manage. I’m no longer doing any day …
Want Your Resume to Look Classy? Ditch the Mystery Online Degree…
Throughout my career I’ve recruited and interviewed for many positions. There are a few fundamental candidate traits I have always looked for and believed in: Good attitude (attitude trumps skill in a duel). Tenacity (proven ability to push through obstacles). Ability to continually improve (usually through education or volunteerism). So, why do I always pause when I receive resumes with …
Maybe That Purple Squirrel Could Actually Be a Blue Squirrel?
It’s funny… sometimes it’s the smallest things that make you pause and rethink a bit about how you do your job. I’ve been working on a search which, now checking our ATS, has been open since early/mid April. Yes. I know. We’re at about six and a half weeks that this job has been sitting open. Ugh. The clock is …
The Fight Against Cancer and A (Bad) Apple a Day…
A long, long time ago in a galaxy far away, I worked for a management consulting firm that often encouraged its clients to “cut out the cancer” when suggesting an uncooperative manager be promoted to junior vice president of pencil sharpening. Although I found their manner of communication, in general, to be a little too “In the Company of Men” …
When You Need to Recruit for a Bad Manager…
True story. The other week, I was hanging out with some third-party recruiter types when I heard one say that she was probably going to turn down a search assignment because in her words, “Their CEO? He’s a total a$#. I don’t think I could ever recruit someone to work for him in good conscience.” Nice. Real nice. And it got …