Most employment systems were designed in the “dark ages” when business moved at the “speed of rock.” In the past when people resigned, a requisition was created and after a relatively long lag time, another person was hired. If the new hire required initial training at the time of their …

A checklist for assessing the quality of college recruiting programs and systems. Almost everyone in the employment field attempts to develop quality employment programs and systems. After studying hundreds of employment systems from Fortune 500 firms we have come up with a comprehensive checklist to use to assess the quality of …

Managers hate being presented with a “stack” of resumes. One of any manager’s worst nightmares is when a recruiter drops off a “stack” of resumes to be read “right away.” No matter how well intentioned managers may be, the reality is that they will postpone looking through the stack for …

“Too much of a good thing is bad for you” is true for both “sweets” and for interviews. I was at Agilent Technologies the other day when one of their many talented HR reps described “over interviewing” with the accurate and humorous phrase “death by interview.” I laughed and I …

In a tight labor market, firms can gain a tremendous competitive advantage by breaking the old rules and acting differently from the average firm. Unfortunately it’s often quite difficult to get conservative HR departments to realize that the recruiting game has changed forever. And if you are going to get …

Employment branding is the hottest strategy in employment. It is one of the few long term solutions to the “shortage of talent” problem. Where most employment strategies are short term and “reactive” to job openings building an employment brand is a longer term solution designed to provide a steady flow …

Print This Out – and Give it to Your Managers The most common recruiting question I get whether consulting or speaking is “How to I get managers to pay attention to recruiting”? Well that answer is worth a million dollars. But today, courtesy of the electronic recruiting daily, you can have …

One of the dumbest things recruiters/managers can do is to “sit on” the resumes of top candidates for days without taking action. Yes, I know recruiters and managers are overworked, but one of the primary reasons that you are overworked is that you have to struggle with mediocre candidates because …

I know dozens of employment directors that claim they want their function to be world class or to become “an employer of choice” but talk is heap and few seem to have a plan on how to get there. If you are wondering why you are having difficulty recruiting talent …

Developing a “Bring a Friend To Work Program: Many companies have adopted programs like bring your daughter/son to work. These are fine programs, but they “miss the boat” as recruiting efforts because unfortunately most “daughters” are too young to be viable candidates! A more strategic approach, which can have an immediate …