Category: Interviews

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One (More) Headhunter “Secret”: “See Me”

An Ifugao warrior with some of his trophies; I...

There are “secrets” in the executive search trade that anyone who hopes to be headhunted (or hire a headhunter to fill an opening) should know.

A set of 10 tips are here; another 7 more are here.

Here’s an 18th tip: what you do in the search process can stick with you for a lifetime.

While the world is incredibly small – Wendy Yanowitch’s saying that “The world is made up of (just) six people and lots of mirrors” is pretty true- what you do in the search process or even what you do outside of the search process can find a home in any record a search firm keeps.… Read the rest

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Are You Interviewing the Candidate or Just Checking Their Pulse?

The interviewer with a candidate at the Starbucks in Hong Kong Central seemed nice, bright and engaging.shutterstock_117963070

She was, unfortunately, conducting a train wreck of an interview in front of me; when she asked early on, “You’re not a micromanager, are you?” I thought she was a goner.

When the candidate smiled, said “Of course not” and she smiled back, I knew she was dead on arrival,

She had just confirmed that the candidate had a pulse and an IQ (e.g.… Read the rest

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Are the End of Year Holidays Good for Job Hunting?

Nothing Like the Holidays

It’s the end of the year, and common wisdom says that people have packed up shop and that it’s a lousy week for job hunting.

Maybe.

But as John Greathouse notes on his blog, “Conventional wisdom isn’t.”

The next two weeks will be a time when people’s schedules – if they’re not in company shutdown mode – will be unpacked, thoughts will be directed to things apart from work, and folks will be relaxed.… Read the rest

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Should You Take the Interim Role? The Other Shoe Drops

English: Diagram showing the parts of a shoe.

Interim roles frequently have hair on them. They are imperfect jobs where you toil in a state of “pretend”  for those who hope temporary will become the “real” job.

Last week’s post Career Quandry: Should You Take the “Interim” Job surveyed the landscape of people taking interim roles when their boss vacates his/her role. Inspiration for the piece came from Yahoo’s appointment of Marissa Mayer as their new CEO coming on the heels of the expectation that interim CEO Ross Levinsohn would be tapped for the permanent role.… Read the rest

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Yahoo CEO’s Resume Blame Game: Is It the Headhunter’s Fault?

Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson – he of the phantom computer science degree that found its way on his official resume filed with

the SEC – was either fired or resigned.

The question remains; whose fault was it that the resume mistake wasn’t caught earlier?

The now-departed Thompson said that exec search firm Heidrick & Struggles was to blame; somebody on the search firm interviewed him for a role with eBay years ago when the error originally occurred, took incorrect information, and that’s how it got in the system and on to his Yahoo resume.… Read the rest