In this continuing series of articles entitled “You Can’t Be Strategic Until …” I highlight the strategic actions that talent-management leaders should take to increase their measurable strategic business impact on their firms. In this case, the needed strategic action…
Hiring Process
Do You Google Every Candidate You Screen? A Cautionary Tale
The Assignment: Find a site director for a 250+ employee pharmaceutical contract manufacturing site in the Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, area. The Players: The Candidate, let’s call him Charlie: 25 years of progressive experience in the pharmaceutical industry with strong leadership…
4 Things We Should Change in the Hiring Process: Cover Letters, Interview Follow-up, and Salary Transparency
Recently, a Reddit user asked fellow users on the platform, “What social custom needs to be retired?” Many of the top answers pertained to work and jobs. Let’s take a look at four of those discussions. The Cover Letter The…
5 Avoidable Interviewing Mistakes
The best way to solve a problem is to keep it from happening. By avoiding common mistakes, we can avert all kinds of problems, including those of the hiring variety. Interviews are a frequent part of the hiring process where…
Want Hiring Managers to Pay Attention to Your Candidates? Do These 4 Things
We live in a world of swiping, scanning, and occasionally scrolling. Reviewing a daily news feed. Looking for new listings on a real estate app. Sifting through posts on social media. Sorting your emails. Finding love on a dating app….
Envisioning a Blockchain Future for Recruiting
The road ahead will be paved by blockchains. Great things will happen. Like what? Patience, wait for the revolution. When is it coming? Soon. We’ve seen this movie before. A technology emerges in another industry and the recruiting world becomes…
The Top 10 Reasons Why Social Media Background Checks Are a Dumb Idea
The latest addition to the modern recruiting process, social media background checks, may be the dumbest element. Unlike most background checks, they don’t verify positive job-related information. Instead, they are used almost exclusively to reject candidates based on a subjective…
U.S. Cities Where Salaries Go Farthest, and Those Where There Are Decent Jobs, Too
You know the problem — the places in the U.S. that are the most affordable to live in don’t usually have the kind of job opportunities that would make you want to live there. So, what kind of places are…
8 Proven Strategies to Attract and Retain Job Candidates on the Autism Spectrum
Here are several strategies for attracting and retaining autistic job candidates, based on my experience working as a job recruiter and community manager for a U.S. technology company that provides employment for individuals on the autism spectrum. Understand autism from…
What You Need to Know Before Hiring a Candidate With a Master’s Degree
Students from the undergraduate class of 2018 are now either transitioning into the workforce or are on their way to grad school to continue their education in hopes of better job prospects, more money, or simply a delay in the…
Why Do People Switch Jobs? It’s Mostly the Same No Matter How Much They Make
Here’s the big takeaway from this latest bit of candidate data from Ladders, the career site for six-figure jobs: When it comes to pay, perks, and job satisfaction, people looking for high-paying positions seem to have many of the same…
How a Hiring Committee Can Dramatically Improve Your Recruiting Results
You probably already know that despite their good intentions, many managers are not very good at hiring. During simpler times, it made sense for supervisors to hire their own team members and for car owners to repair their own cars….
The Darkside of a Candidate-driven Market: Ghosting, Catfishing, and No-shows
The terms “ghosting,” “catfishing,” and “no show” are mostly used in the dating world. However, these types of behaviors have become typical in recruiting situations as well, due to the candidate-driven nature of today’s hiring market. In my own agency,…
Taking a Chance on a ‘Stretch’ Candidate Who is 80 Percent There Could Be the Best Thing for All Involved
During my time as a manager and a consultant, I have read many excellent CVs and met some brilliant candidates. I’ve also met some arrogant applicants, some understated leaders, and some unfortunate professionals who are not sure where they are…
Using Incentives to Attract Interviewees — Don’t Miss This Trend
If you are having difficulty getting prospects to interview, join the trend of offering qualified candidates incentives for interviewing or job acceptance. This might initially sound like a crazy idea until you realize that using incentives to attract customers is…
3 Questions to Evaluate a Candidate’s Emotional Intelligence
When looking to fill an open position, a lot of factors go into the screening process for the perfect candidate. You want someone who has relevant experience; an acceptable number of years in the field; a solid work history; and,…
Employees Excel at Selling Candidates – The Warriors’ ‘Hampton 5 Story’
When it comes to closing top candidates, your own employees are the best salespeople. Top recruiting leaders already know the tremendous value that a firm receives when it lands even a single superstar recruit. In addition to outstanding performance and…
A 4–step Interview System We’ve Used to Reduce Time Spent Interviewing and Time to Hire Dramatically
It’s a hot summer day and you’re watching your favorite baseball team, hotdog and beer in hand. Tie score, bases loaded, bottom of the ninth, your nemesis’ clean-up batter standing at the plate. Your team’s manager calls time and approaches…
Early Recruiting Steps Determine If Candidates Want to Work at Your Firm
Revelation! Did you know that two thirds (67 percent) of candidates decide on whether they would accept a job at a firm prior to their first interview? Recruiting leaders who have long treated all recruiting steps equally now need to…
1 Metric to Rule Them All
Let’s stop with the madness, folks. With the influx of available data now available to your average (or even amazing) recruiter, it doesn’t take long to feel overwhelmed with it all. So your natural inclination is to ask “what metrics…