Category: Talent

A Candidate’s View of Recruiting and Applicant Databases

HR Should Demand More of the Recruiting Function and Critically Evaluate The Use Of Technology and Applicant Tracking Systems   Synopsis The purpose of this article is to encourage recruiters and HR professionals to honestly look at their recruiting process to determine if a desire for technological efficiency is hurting...

Don’t Assume What Employees Want To Do Next

This post was going to be “Get your nose out of my hierarchy,” but that was far too esoteric.  My premise is that Managers should ask more questions before offering career advice, especially with hourly employees.   There is a fine line between constructive career advice and presumptuousness about what makes...

Interviewing – More Than The Questions

In the 1990's and the 2000's, many interviewing skills courses focused on the STAR (Situation Task Action Result) technique and prohibited “illegal” questions.  More recently, companies have been providing hiring managers a list of required "validated" questions  - leaving managers the sole task of identifying which answers best demonstrated the...

Rejection Emails

From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Re: Rejection We appreciate you taking the time to interview with us for a job.  After an extensive review of your application, we have determined: (1)  there are many other candidates in the area that are much more qualified than you; (2) no one believed that...

A Proposal to Attract More Candidates

The key to recruiting is to have a sufficient pool of quality candidates.  Potential candidates are discouraged from applying for positions, however, because of the additional work that is required by some companies to even get through the recruiting door. To be clear, we are not talking about the programmer...

An Alternative Interview Paradigm

Please use a solid method for interviewing, but it is better for a hiring manager to ask objective legitimate questions rather than try to completely ignore that personal bias does occur.  Let me propose a radical interview approach: be honest with the fact that interviewers are human and have emotional...

Locking Up Overqualified Candidates

A number of individuals will gladly accept opportunities regardless of the position’s level.  Unemployment has an ability to incentivize perspective.  We all need to work. But what is the solution to the “you are overqualified” paradox?  For me, should I consider: Formally renouncing my law degree to become less qualified;...

Pay Ranges – Disclosure is Good

The majority of professional job listings do not include salary ranges.  Since all positions do indeed have salaries, it is fair to assume that they are left off intentionally.  HR professionals need to change the playing field slightly to make the process more efficient for employers and candidates. I am...