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

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

Hiring Season: Can I Be Asked If I’m a Gamer?

Yes. No. Maybe?

You can tell when the economy’s improved because there’s an uptick of interviews. More experienced managers revisit what they’ve done before that’s worked well when hiring and novice supervisors surface this season’s new crop of oddball, silly questions.

“Can I be asked if I’m a gamer?” will likely be one of the tamer examples.

Candidates invariably want to know what can be asked.… Read the rest

[More Hoax of the “A” Players] NFL Version: The Curse of the “Best” Talent Available

Aaron Rodgers and the 2008 Packers offense vs ...
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Talent Wars: The “A” PlayerHoax details an HR practice called “tograding.” The approach has some good advice (depthful, behaviorally focused interviews with well trained interviews) mixed with an often simplistic, and unproven application techniques.

Check out this tograding promotional blurb:

“Can you reliably pick the right people?

CEOs report that “picking the right people” is one of their most serious challenges.Read the rest

The 3R’s of How-to-Job-Network: Small Town, Big City

Garnerin releases the balloon and descends wit...
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Research supports that networking is the best way for most (people like you, as Richard Nelson Bolles of What Color is Your Parachute fame and I would suggest) to find your next job.  It’s estimated that 80% of job openings are unlisted, which means that most jobs will be filled through networking, not tossing a resume into a company’s applicant tracking system or even having coffee with your favorite executive recruiter.… Read the rest

What Do You Do When a Board Seat Beckons?

It may simply be that time of year but I’m being “soft vetted” for board of director / board of trustee seats.

And whether the board seat is for an organization that is for-profit or for non-profit, there are things some things that anyone – you, me, or anybody else – should do.

Soft vetting is remeniscient of grade school (“If you did have a crush on someone in class who would it be?Read the rest