I’m not sure why, but I’m fascinated by cons and confidence games. When I lived in New Jersey, I loved walking around New York City just south of Times Square because I was always sure to see some tourist happily handing over his vacation money to a Three Card Monte gang. I’d stand cautiously and observe... [full article »]

I still remember my harsh introduction to the concept of having my performance as a recruiter measured. I had joined a company to support a functional area that had lots of needs. Jobs were open for unacceptably long periods of time, and hiring managers were questioning the candidate slates that were being presented. I had been... [full article »]

I still remember the first time I heard about the Millennial generation. I was at a recruiting conference in New Orleans about 10 years ago, and one of the presenters was commenting about how the boomers were about to turn 50. He said the bulk of workers who would be replacing them would be coming... [full article »]

Before a job candidate becomes an employee, there are questions they should be asking you, their potential employer. Some are questions they’d actually pose to you. Others, like #35, are rhetorical questions they’ll ask themselves. [full article »]

This is a true story. Years ago, I interviewed for a job with a well-known, multi-billion-dollar global company. I was flown in the night before, and interviewed with the hiring manager, the hiring manager’s boss, and the hiring manager’s HR partner. The interviews ended at noon, so around 1 p.m., the agency managing the search called... [full article »]

There is something truly magical about that precise moment when a product is bought or sold. I suppose it’s because our species has relied upon this most fundamental form of capitalism for so long. As humans became more efficient in drawing sustenance and were no longer engaged 100% in the act of survival, we learned to... [full article »]

If you’re like me, you probably spend a lot of time reactively addressing questions and requests for information from your customers. If that’s the case, you should feel good; people obviously know where to find you, and someone must have told them you often have answers! My top three questions generally concern requests for processes and... [full article »]

Companies spend millions of dollars a year trying to develop compelling employment brands by interviewing current employees, surveying external job-seekers, and validating the conclusions they draw from the data. But even after all that, there’s no guarantee that the brand statement will perfectly reflect what an organization offers potential employees. If branding is that difficult for... [full article »]

Several years (and several companies) ago, I was on a team responsible for launching a new careers website. I was working for a large, well-known multinational company, and in keeping with our stature, we worked with a very prestigious advertising agency. Things had been going pretty well, when for some reason we stopped hearing from our... [full article »]

As a staffing professional, how many resumes have you reviewed in your career? Hundreds? Thousands? Do you ever find yourself pausing over something in a resume just because it seems strange? I recently found myself doing just that, and it ended up taking me down a very interesting path. The resume in question was that of... [full article »]