Here’s a workplace truism that’s hard to dispute: Good people frequently get fired. Steve Jobs got fired from Apple, eventually returning to build it into the highly profitable, trend-setting company that it is today. Oprah Winfrey, Walt Disney, and Harry Potter author JK Rowling all got fired too. Pointing out all the famous people who once were “involuntarily terminated” is …
Your Next Recruiting Goal Should be to Make Candidates Feel “Seen, Heard, and Remembered”
Earlier this month, I joined hundreds of talent acquisition pros in downtown San Francisco for Jobvite’s annual Recruiter Nation Live event (full disclosure: I’m employed by Jobvite). In addition to exchanging some new stories, the best recruiting practices, and winning strategies with our peers, I also had the great pleasure of speaking on-stage with the incredible Molly Bloom. In case …
Your Secret Weapon In Candidate Interviews
Listen – It is the hardest thing to do in an interview. It’s almost as hard as showing up to work after a late night eating grilled meats and watching fireworks. Happy Birthday, America. #4thofJuly Recruiters and hiring managers pay thousands of dollars to training firms to become the best interviewers. They buy pricey technology that is supposed to predict …
Why Resumes Need to Retire
I spoke at a conference 5 years ago in which I declared, “resumes suck”. The context was about over-inflated resumes filled with key words, and on the other side, employers who dismiss great talent based on a piece (or 10) of paper. In short, resumes needed to be retired and replaced with a more dynamic way of matching talent with …
To Tell or Not To Tell….I Spy a TYPO in Your Resume
Oh….that is a question. Tell the candidate? Don’t tell the candidate? I mean really, attention to detail is key in most jobs. Especially anything executive level. Certainly anything administrative. And good grief, if it’s accounting or finance, typos are verboten. But where is there slack? Do you excuse typos in a LinkedIn profile? Maybe not. Especially if you’re looking for …
I’m A Resume Hoarder – What To Do, What To Do?
I have a confession to make. I’m a digital hoarder. It’s bad—really bad. Multiple repositories hold my stash, photos to documents spreadsheets filled with candidates sourced over the years. I was horrified, almost to the point of nausea the other day, when chatting with a vendor who told me most companies purge their resumes after a set period of time. …
My Insanity: The Job Board Resume Database
We use job boards at the retained search firm I work for—they’re necessary for broadcasting opportunities. I think that’s standard, whether you’re a corporate or agency search firm. Once or twice a year, one of the job boards we use will invite us to demo their fee-based resume database. And my team will humor our Director of Operations and give …
Want To Job Hunt Online? Show Me Your Job Title.
Somewhere over the last few years there has been this crazy advice for jobseekers to have catch phrases, some witty little one liner to describe what they do. Ugh. And on top of that, we ask you to load your information with keywords. But those two ideas might not always get you to the top of the queue so that …
5 Things You Should Have In Your ATS Messaging to Avoid Looking Like an ***
FOT Note: This post is sponsored by the good folks at CareerBuilder.com, who care so much about the world of recruiting and human resources that they’ve become an annual sponsor at FOT. Here’s where it gets good: As part of the CareerBuilder sponsorship, FOT contributors get to write anything we want on a monthly basis, and CareerBuilder doesn’t get to review it. We’re also …
Crapadappadoo! What Sourcing Tool Did I Miss In 2014?
It’s December and I’m taking stock… stock of my tools and gizmos to source. I’m not the only one—float into any sourcing chat or group, and you’ll see people recommending those that they just can’t live without. I typically don’t source tech. I live for other challlenges—like locating a Chemstewards Manager or a Director of Regulatory Affairs. I’ve tried as …