At an early age I had the unique opportunity to work at the corporate offices of two different Fortune 500 companies. One was number 37 on the list, and the other one 497. While there, I learned a few timeless strategy lessons. They might be useful as you develop the hiring strategy for your company... [full article »]

Over the past several months I’ve been advocating a strategic view of the recruiting function based on quality of hire as the metric of choice. In case you missed any of the missives, here’s a quick summary of what some would contend are blasphemous repudiations of the recruiting department of yesteryear. [full article »]

In all the brouhaha about great new sourcing initiatives and Web 2.0 tools, how much have your recruiters and hiring managers improved their ability to hire great people, not average people? In my opinion, we’ve downplayed what it really takes to be successful in our profession — recruiting, counseling, and closing top people who have multiple... [full article »]

Over the past few months I’ve been describing a new approach for determining quality of hire, and using changes in this to justify any new expenditures on an ROI basis. While the methodology is pretty slick, the pushback is coming not from the process, but from the idea that HR/recruiting is responsible for quality of... [full article »]

Every vendor in the recruiting space touts their latest recruiting and sourcing tool as the next killer app. If you were there, you saw many of them at the last ERE Expo in Florida in September. As the economy recovers, there will be many more at ERE’s Expo 2010 in San Diego next March. Some... [full article »]

Many years ago, in the land of Spamalittle, King Rter lived in a tiny castle near a pond. It was a noisy pond filled with the sound of croaking frogs, day and night. In his quest to maintain rule over his tiny kingdom, Rter needs mighty knights to fight dragons, battle anarchists, fight off industrial demons,... [full article »]

Over the past few months, I’ve been tracking employee satisfaction vs. job hunting activity. Here’s the link so you can take the survey yourself, see the results, and forward it to others. The idea here is that by tracking changes in satisfaction and the job-hunting activity level for the fully employed, we’ll have a leading indicator... [full article »]

A small trickle of new jobs will cause a tidal wave of unexpected replacement hiring. Here’s why you need to get ready now. Hopefully, it’s not too late. In a recent ERE article, I made the point that “employment churn” (fully employed people switching seats) will increase dramatically three to four months before any pickup in... [full article »]

The baseball trading deadline has just passed, and 100 or so players have new jobs with different clubs; however, total player employment is still exactly the same. Employed people switching seats with other employed people doesn’t count as a positive in the employment statistics, regardless of how much effort it entails. I refer to this... [full article »]

Over the past few months I’ve been making some not-so-bold predictions about the demise of job boards and the rise of the “hub and spoke” sourcing model for finding a better class of active candidates. Rather than repeat the prognostication here, I’d suggest that despite the shift to this new and improved sourcing model, in... [full article »]

Despite my optimistic view of the past few months, I’m considering the possibility that the recovery could be very long in coming and very slow in growing. If so, it’s important that you start planning your recruiting activity and resource needs for this worst-case situation. To take a stab at this complex issue, imagine you’re in the... [full article »]

Over the past six months, I’ve worked with dozens of major companies and some of the latest new recruiting and sourcing technologies. Based on this, it’s not a reach to contend that how companies will find, recruit, and hire top talent in 2010 and beyond will be far different than how it’s been done in... [full article »]

Whenever I need an idea for an article I call Doug Berg, the CEO and/or founder, or something like that, at Jobs2Web. So to meet this week’s need, Doug suggested I write about my reticular activator. I thought this was a bit personal, and while initially offended, it turned out to be great advice. I... [full article »]

If it wasn’t for hiring managers, recruiting would be so easy. But, alas, this is not to be. Instead, we can either confront them head on, or put our heads down in despair, and find still other perfectly qualified candidates they still won’t like. Unfortunately, too many recruiters fall into this endless productivity-draining black hole,... [full article »]

Fast forward to January 15, 2010. What are some of the hiring challenges you’re now facing? As you put the list together, consider these assumptions: The trough of the economic downturn was reached in April 2009. Job losses continued through October 2009, but at a declining rate, with job gains finally turning positive in November 2009, at around... [full article »]

In normal economic times, search firms make a lot of money placing candidates corporations should be able to find on their own. “How do they do it and what can be done to prevent them from doing it to us?” is a question many corporate recruiting leaders are asking. The underlying premise here is that if... [full article »]

For a number of reasons, Malcolm Gladwell’s latest book, Outliers, is a good read for recruiters and managers, in fact, for anyone who wants to get ahead in life. The basic premise is that circumstances are far more critical to ultimate success than any other factor. For example, he cites the fact that Gates, Jobs, and... [full article »]

About 25 years ago when the self-help gurus came on the scene, I heard Jim Rohn say something that still sticks: Things will get better for you when you get better. Sage advice indeed, and now might be the best time to take heed. [full article »]

Times are tough. Even those companies that are doing reasonably well are cutting their recruiting teams by a minimum of 30% to a maximum of 90%, and tightening up expenses to the absolute barest minimum. Half of these cuts are probably necessary anyway, the balance most likely an overreaction to the dismal economic conditions most companies... [full article »]

As the economy tumbles, and companies right-size their recruiting departments, the bottom-half is the first to go. Under this scenario, those formerly in the relatively secure 2nd quartile are now in the bottom-half. So be wary or get better. With this sobering news in mind, I offer those of you in all quartiles this short, 10-point... [full article »]