Dr John Sullivan Talent Management Thought Leadership

If you’ve ever regretted taking a Pharma job, you have already learned the value of doing extensive research into a job opportunity. Unfortunately, there’s only so much research you can do externally. So to supplement that external research, it’s wise to ask questions during your job interviews in order to gather important information about the company, your manager and perhaps …

 Most applicants fail to realize that one of the top “knockout factors” that both recruiters and managers use is “Did the applicant ask great questions during the interview?” Failing to ask questions at all is a terminal error but it’s also a major mistake to “wing it” and to make up questions during the interview. Instead, the serious Pharma interviewee …

Nearly every firm that I have worked with that captures data on the quality of their hires learns that employee referrals produce both the highest volume and the highest quality of hire from any source. However, the results of referral programs can almost always be dramatically improved when referral program managers become fully aware that a significant percentage of the …

Let me go on record as stating that the concept of “corporate coworking” is among the boldest corporate people management concepts of the decade. If you’re not familiar with the concept, it varies from traditional coworking, which is a well-established concept where a group of startups and entrepreneurs share a facility that supports their getting launched. There is a new …

Most know references to be a tool for checking a candidate’s background, but it’s important to realize that reference related factors can also be one of the simplest, cheapest and effective areas for identifying top candidates. Even the best corporations that excel at recruiting routinely fail to realize that references and the reference process itself can be powerful sources for …

If you’re not getting exceptional hires, it may be because your traditional interview process is simply not designed to excite them. Instead of dwelling on the past, a superior alternative is to ask them to solve real problems, to demonstrate that they are forward-looking and that they have solutions for the future. Top candidates routinely dislike standard interviews because they …

Part 2 of a 2 part series (Click here for Part 1) A retention toolkit for innovators. As the economy picks up and unemployment rates continue to drop, I can forecast with a good deal of certainty that the turnover rates among all employees will increase. However, it is important to realize that in a rapidly growing economy, the value …

Part 1 of a 2 part series (Click here for Part 2) A retention toolkit for innovators. Corporate executives are beginning to learn the high value of Innovators, which can be 5 to 300 times the value of an average employee. If a company doesn’t have enough innovators, a primary option is recruiting them. In a previous related article, I …

Take notice: If what you do produces only average results… prepare to be eliminated! We are witnessing a visible revolution and shift in corporate focus. The public visibility of this shift is unusual because strategic changes in the corporate world are normally slow in coming. In fact, the majority of corporate leaders typically fail to identify or even grasp it …

Marissa Mayer’s decision to require Yahoo employees to “come into the office” has already been criticized by many. But most of the criticisms that I have come across have been based on emotion rather than data. If you understand the science behind increasing innovation through face-to-face interaction, her decision can only be classified as “a brilliant business decision.” Innovation Has …