Archive for the 'Recruiting' Category


HR Wags The Dog

Monday, May 21st, 2012

In the May 21, 2012 Ask The Headhunter Newsletter, an executive who’s about to be interviewed by another executive wants to know why HR is sticking its nose into the process: You are going to love this. (NOT!) I was contacted by an ex-colleague to ask if I’d be interested in the position of Regional [...]


Should I give equity to entice a new hire?

Monday, March 12th, 2012

In the March 13, 2012 Ask The Headhunter Newsletter, the owner of a start-up business asks whether it’s smart to give equity to a new hire: After years of frustration with the way many professional services firms treat their clients, I decided to launch my own business. I have had modest success in my first [...]


Internal recruiting: Is it poaching?

Monday, March 5th, 2012

In the March 6, 2012 Ask The Headhunter Newsletter, a manager wonders why employers prohibit internal recruiting but let their best workers get recruited by the competition: In [last week’s edition] a manager asked about hiring from within the company. I hire internally all the time, and my company’s own employees have been some of [...]


Manager Asks: Should I hire without face-to-face interviews?

Monday, February 27th, 2012

In the February 28, 2012 Ask The Headhunter Newsletter, a manager loses a “star” employee and asks how to hire — but the manager cannot interview candidates in person: A star employee left my team and I need to replace him. I can recruit only from inside the company, which has over 100,000 staff, so it’s not [...]


Recruitomatic & The Social Jerk (Or: Why you hate recruiters)

Thursday, January 19th, 2012

This week we started a “pound Nick with questions” thread — and you’ve been pounding! Great questions and topics — and pointed insights. A recurring theme on that thread is recruiters — the inept, the inane, the ones who waste your time, and the ones who leave you frustrated and angry. (There are good recruiters out there, [...]


How Employers Can Help You Get Hired

Monday, December 5th, 2011

In the December 6, 2011 Ask The Headhunter Newsletter, a reader who helps seniors find jobs shares an “interview invitation” one of his clients received. It’s a landmark! Why don’t more employers do this? Join me below to discuss other ways employers can help you get hired. I’m a training and placement specialist and a [...]


Employer Fined for Stupid Recruiting

Monday, November 14th, 2011

New Jersey is the only state where it’s illegal to publish job ads that exclude unemployed people. Is that because New Jersey has especially stupid employers, or because New Jersey is the first state to recognize that there are too many employers everywhere that behave stupidly? Does it matter? Here’s what matters: The company that [...]


Reference Abuse: Don’t do it

Monday, November 7th, 2011

In the November 8, 2011 Ask The Headhunter Newsletter, a seasoned professional takes employers and recruiters to task for demanding detailed references too soon: I’ve noticed a disturbing trend lately: Recruiters are asking for detailed references before I even meet them or decide I’m interested in the job. They want multiple references before they’ll even [...]


Good Headhunters: They search for living resumes

Thursday, February 24th, 2011

Next week I’m doing a presentation to a group of alumni from Cornell University’s Johnson School of Business, about how to work with headhunters. These are seasoned executives who have been running companies for 7-15 years, and who turn to their alma mater’s Career Management Center for an added edge. What they want to know [...]


TheLadders’ Mercenaries to Critics: They’re good eggs!

Thursday, February 10th, 2011

Beleaguered and battered by the press, by career industry pundits and — mainly — by its own customers, TheLadders recently convened a war council to round up industry “leaders” to defend its flagging reputation. But this little event quickly blew up in TheLadders’ face, and now it’s leaving egg all over TheLadders’ leading apologists, who are beginning to look like paid [...]