Do you see what I see? A star, a star Dancing in the night, With a tail as big as a kite. –Do You See What I See, song lyrics I was watching a movie a while back and I heard a line in it that has stuck with me and I think of often. It’s... [full article »]

I was talking to a friend of mine who is a senior manager/director-level IT professional who was recently laid off. He was moaning about poorly written job descriptions, and what he was telling me bothered me. A lot. There was the “CIO” position calling for a high school diploma and two to three years of experience.... [full article »]

Gatekeepers are the Cerberus of the recruiting industry. Their job is to allow the properly associated souls to pass, while turning back the rest of us at the gates. Many articles have been written about how to approach them, what to say to them, and even about forming long-term relationships with them. While administrative assistants are... [full article »]

Recently I posted a piece about namby-pamby sourcing, part of which was about being afraid of your own shadow in these troubled times. In it I stated that one way to improve upon scaredy-cat sourcing processes was to keep a journal about your daily sourcing routine. That way you could “see” and... [full article »]

A young recruiter form the UK ventured into a networking group (RBC) I belong to and asked where he could find technicians who work at BMW or Mercedes franchise dealers. He said the manager or the service receptionist names were easy to find, but he needed to find the guys working on the cars.... [full article »]

I have a 10-month-old granddaughter. She just started crawling. What happened in the beginning was interesting to watch. The task at hand was to get her knees up under her and her backside lifted. Watching this was a comedy of errors and a lot of fun. A week or so of this... [full article »]

I’d forgotten the fun of Internet search. I had a job come in during January. The position was for a senior-level manager in the R&D software group of a major storage business. The customer told me in the specifications that the person we were looking for was “an uber-geek who has the capacity and the desire... [full article »]

Passive candidates are different. They don’t look for jobs the same way as active candidates, they won’t return your calls unless you leave the right type of message and they certainly won’t meet your client unless you make a compelling case. In this hands-on webinar industry guru Lou Adler will guide you through the decision-making... [full article »]

If you routinely call gatekeepers and get lines like, “You need a name to be transferred to anyone,” it could be that you are routinely doing or saying something that is causing that gatekeeper to view you as a threat to her company’s infrastructure. Effective communication skills allow you easy entrance to most any gatekeeper’s psyche.... [full article »]

When I was a baby sourcer, I was filled with all sorts of terrifying fears about what I would say, what I would do, what would happen IF that Gatekeeper asked me any questions! I laugh now at my (mostly) unfounded fears, but I understand this is a common thread that runs through all telephone... [full article »]

I get this email newsletter put out by David DeAngelo that touts his “Double Your Dating” portfolio of tricks on how men can meet women more effectively. I admit that I usually read the whole thing. Why? The guy is a genius at understanding human nature and ways of putting that understanding to work. There are... [full article »]

Most people hate the idea of rejection. It causes the phone to slip in their clammy hands as they break a cold sweat, a lump to appear in their throats that makes it hard to breathe yet alone speak, and a knot in their stomach appears that feels like it could come up at any... [full article »]

I had a job earlier this month where I was tasked with identifying business development people out of specific financial institutions. The customer wanted people involved in the protection and retirement businesses of their respective insurance organizations. The search parameters were as follows for target titles: [full article »]

The product is names sourcing, a subject that some people equate with pulling resumes off the job boards and searching the Internet with brilliant Boolean to discover those tantalizing names contained within a search engine. Some call it Internet research because most participants engage it in only this form. In its most productive form, a few... [full article »]

Is your firm experiencing an increasing turnover rate because recruiters from other firms are raiding you? Part 1 and Part 2 of this column introduced 15 elements of a world-class blocking strategy. This week, read on to learn six new, essential tips for blocking the poaching. In addition, this column will focus on six more tips... [full article »]

Someone once asked the famous bank robber Willie Sutton why he robbed banks. His answer was startlingly simple: “Because that’s where the money is.” There’s a lot to be learned by that observation, both in bank robbery and in recruiting. When you want something badly enough, be it gold or people, you have to be willing... [full article »]

I was recently reminded of an old story from my pre-ERE days and heavy recruiting days. You might find it useful as you attempt to train your hiring manager clients to become better at defining their real job needs and assessing candidate competency. To make the story more interesting, I’ll mention eight critical ways you... [full article »]

The air has been thick on ERE and all over the recruiting space; thick with the din of ethics, legalese, and honesty and integrity discussions. What should you say to get around the gatekeeper without being deceitful? How much information should you reveal to the gatekeeper? How should you introduce yourself to the passive candidate... [full article »]

A few weeks ago, in Part 1 of this article series, I took a closer look at the recruiting function at a bank called FirstMerit, based in Akron, Ohio. The FirstMerit recruiting strategy is one of the most aggressive and effective I have seen in a long, long time. Here, in Part 2 of the... [full article »]

Any experienced businessperson knows that no one is more important in a public corporation than the shareholders, who are, in fact, the owners of the corporation. Not the CEO, not the CFO, not even the Board of Directors are as important as the shareholders. In the past, recruiting often fell on the other end of... [full article »]