Carly Simon did question the idea of using a performance profile as a means to determine competency in her hit song, You’re So Vain. However, in this case I’m referring to the other Carly. On September 16, 2008, Carly Fiorina (the former CEO of HP and McCain supporter) made the statement that none of the president... [full article »]

I wrote a rather controversial article last week comparing Obama vs. McCain using our 10-factor evidence-based assessment system. The stated purpose of the article was to propose that Presidential candidates should be vetted just as rigorously as any candidate for any job. The underlying purpose was to demonstrate the point that many important decisions, especially hiring... [full article »]

I’ve always used a multi-factor approach to ensure candidates evaluate career opportunities across multiple factors, both short and long term. These typically included things like job stretch, impact, growth opportunities, learning, benefits, and compensation. The idea here was to increase the likelihood the candidate would not overvalue compensation as the primary decision criteria when selecting one... [full article »]

I’ve been around a lot of years, and I can’t remember a time when recruiters, recruiting managers, hiring managers, HR executives, and company leaders didn’t complain about the lack of good candidates. When the Internet and job boards came along, we were promised the solution was at hand. But more than a dozen years later, the... [full article »]

You need to become a better interviewer than your clients if they’re excluding good candidates even before they meet them, or if they’re not too good at assessing competency. This was the reason I developed the one-question performance-based interview, just to prevent having to do searches over again. Here’s how it works. After you complete a... [full article »]

Consider this as a basic truth: in tough economic times every job looks better, especially the one you already have. This would imply that during recessions there are fewer good people actively looking and it’s tougher to get the best passive consider to even discuss your career opportunity. If this is the case, one could conclude... [full article »]

Over the past 30-plus years, I’ve been involved in thousands of searches, worked with hundreds of hiring managers, trained 3,000 to 4,000 recruiters, and worked closely with dozens of major companies. Following are some of the common threads among the best techniques, processes, and tools that I have seen and used. Collectively they add up to... [full article »]

Understanding human behavior can help you recruit more passive candidates. When filling a job order, most recruiters search through virtual stacks of resumes hoping one stands out, matching most of the skills and experiences listed on the job description. When calling a person, the recruiter attempts to gain this same information by first describing the job... [full article »]

This past week I spent time with a major recruitment advertising agency, a large direct marketing organization, and the top-performing office of one of the largest temp-to-perm employment agencies in the country. These meetings revealed some trends that might help you develop your future recruiting strategies. [full article »]

A good measure of recruiter performance is placements per month, with sendouts (interviews arranged with hiring managers) per month and sendouts per hire being the two key performance drivers for this. For third-party recruiters, add fee per placement to obtain total billings per month as another critical performance measure. [full article »]

Much of the hiring process from sourcing to closing to onboarding has changed significantly over the past 20 years. Much hasn’t. And therein lies the problem. In some cases we’re past Web 2.0, in other cases we’re still using stone-age techniques to find, recruit, and hire top performers. [full article »]

In a recent ERE article I made the case that a tipping point was close at hand for converting recruiting and sourcing into a scalable and systematic business process. As a judge for ERE’s annual recruiting awards, and someone who has worked with companies around the world, I’m convinced that most recruiting leaders are starting to... [full article »]

I’ve been a judge for the ERE awards for the past three years and have attended numerous recruiting conferences around the world. As part of this, I’ve seen great ideas come and go, and some not so great, somehow hang on. So I’m a bit cynical with most of the hype and the emergence of... [full article »]

O?ver sourc?ing syn?drome: the need to find more candidates than needed caused by inappropriately eliminating the good candidates you already have. This article expands upon one I wrote recently on the serious topic of over-sourcing. If you’ve ever lost a good candidate because someone conducted an inaccurate interview, someone on the hiring team didn’t like the... [full article »]

Top people cannot be interviewed the same way as everyone else. Although most recruiters and hiring managers know this, few know how to do it. It’s not about selling the job, charming the person, and over-talking. It’s about using the interview to get the candidate to sell you. Let’s take one step back before moving two... [full article »]

Before we get to the future, a little history is in order. As part of the marketing for my retained executive search practice in the mid-1990s, I did consulting for dozens of mid-size companies through TEC (The Executive Committee) and YPO (Young Presidents Organization). The primary focus of this work was the development of a strategic... [full article »]

Over the past 30 years, I’ve worked with thousands of managers, executives, and recruiters. While many things have changed involving recruiting over these years, a few things have stayed the same. Here’s my short list of the best things I’ve learned about recruiting, sourcing, and hiring top talent that seem as true today as they... [full article »]

Lack of planning and poor execution are the two most common causes of failure, whether it’s fighting a war, launching any type of business initiative, or reallocating recruiting resources. When business conditions change, appropriate planning and reallocation of effort becomes even more important. When done properly, you’ll be able to anticipate problems before they cause... [full article »]

We’re currently conducting a major research project on how top people look for new jobs. This research will offer great insight into what companies need to do to better align their current sourcing efforts with market realities. If you’d like to take part, just send this survey link to all of your best candidates and... [full article »]

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” This past quarter, I conducted two senior-level management searches. Each one stands out as a shining example of what to do and what not to do. Understanding the differences can double your monthly placement rate in about half the time. Before reading the details,... [full article »]