This week three men shared the 2010 Nobel Prize in Economic Science. Here’s the problem they’ve been working on for decades: The researchers spent decades trying to understand why it takes so long for people to find jobs, even in good economic times, and why so many people can be unemployed even when many jobs [...]

In the last post, The Ethics of Juggling Job Offers, we talked about accepting a job offer, then rescinding the acceptance if a better deal comes along shortly thereafter (or even before you start the first job). The discussion was from the candidate side. It begs the question, What can an employer do to avoid [...]

[Some bloggers cleverly carry a theme from one post to the next. I'm not into that. Honest: I wasn't looking to flow the theme from Pissing on the applicant into today's post. Toilet paper just kinda backed up into the system when JaneA posted a comment on Readers’ Forum: HR’s #1 job: Poisoning the well?] Businesses [...]

In the August 24, 2010 Ask The Headhunter Newsletter, a reader says: After being tested and interviewed by the senior vice president of a local company for a senior executive assistant position, they dropped off the planet and made no contact with me. I sent an e-mail to the VP enquiring why there had been no contact and the [...]

Uh-uh, Bill Taylor. I just read Why We (Shouldn’t) Hate HR on FastCompany.com. I wish Bill (one of the brilliant founders of FastCompany magazine) hadn’t questioned the intent and meaning of Keith Hammond’s original 2005 article, Why We Hate HR. If anything, it’s more valid today than it was 5 years ago because today budgets are tighter [...]

Discussion: April 13, 2010 Ask The Headhunter Newsletter In today’s Q&A: (Well, it’s not a Q&A!) This week I printed comments about the corporate Human Resources function that bear thinking about. A seasoned HR manager says HR should get out of the business of hiring and recruiting and go back to making sure paychecks have the [...]

A recent post, Congress to Employers: You’re not proctologists, drew a comment that reveals the dangerous new cracks in our employment system  — and hints at the problem employers need to address if the quality of hiring is to improve. In a comment on that post, dated October 19, 2009 at 6:52 am, reader Nic says: This [...]

When I give a presentation, the first thing I tell the audience – whether they’re job hunters or hiring managers — is, “Everything you know about job hunting (or hiring) is wrong.” Shoulders relax. People giggle nervously. They are so relieved to hear they’re not crazy. They know the conventional wisdom is wrong. Then I tell them [...]

From the September 22, 2009 Ask The Headhunter Newsletter (sign up, get your own!): A manager’s question: How difficult is it to gauge character and personality in the typical job interview? No doubt this accounts for many of the pointless questions that are asked. Of course, the more manipulative a person is, the more likely [...]

In the previous post, we’re discussing how to commandeer a job interview so you can actually help an employer see how you’ll do the job. If the employer has a brain, you’ll get the job. On that thread, readers Bonnie and Janet point out an interesting “policy” that many HR departments have. They don’t want [...]