Celebrating 250 Issues of InSight

Wednesday 26th September marks the 250th issue of InSight.

It’s also the 5th anniversary, to the day, of the first issue of InSight.

Apart from my annual two week Christmas holiday break, InSight has been landing in your inbox every week since it was first published on 26 September 2007.

I was the first regular recruitment agency-specific blogger in both the Australia and New Zealand markets. Given how significant blogging has become for many sectors over the past five years, regular bloggers are still few in number across the Australian and New Zealand recruitment markets. Just over twelve months ago I wrote Australian and New Zealand recruitment bloggers: A random list which, upon recent review, disappointingly reveals five bloggers on that list no longer blogging regularly (or at all).

Last September, coinciding with the fourth anniversary of InSight, I conducted a peoplepulse survey, which provided me with lots of helpful feedback from readers. I published a summary of those results (175 participants) in November 2011.

On my RossClennett.com website I published a large selection of the many responses to the survey question

‘What do you enjoy most about InSight?’. A typical flavor of these comments being these three: 

‘Well written hits the mark, relevant, clearly written by someone who understands recruitment, useful in  development, thought provoking, humorous’

‘Ross writes lucidly on the recruitment industry and I value his observations. I see the articles as a distillation and overview of matters of relevance to recruitment that I do not get elsewhere’ 

‘The articles are often a good catalyst for reviewing what I/we are doing and whether it can be done better’ 

Here’s a list of the InSight articles/blogs that proved to be the most popular in each category, from the past five years.

Sourcing, Interviewing and Assessment:  
How to spot exceptional talent before everyone else (2012)
Interview questions to avoid and what to ask instead (2008) 
Candidate sourcing and advertising: The sun rises on a new era (2011) 

Leadership  
Lessons in Business Leadership: Gordon Ramsay (2008)

The Steve Jobs Way: Seven lessons in business leadership (2012) 
The 10 Biggest Culture Killers in Recruitment Companies (2005, 2012) 

Clients  
Sorry, they are already on our database’: The lazy corporate rip-off (part 1) snd part 2 (2011)
Now Hiring 32 Professionals: All Agencies welcome to submit candidates* 

Why use a recruitment agency? (2009)

The Future of Recruitment  
The Recruiter’s Guide to the Future: 9 areas to watch (2011)
LinkedIn trumpets aggressive grab for recruitment agency market (2011)
22 signs you are slowly going the way of the dinosaurs (2011)

The Australian labour market  
A university education: overrated and underpaid? (2012)

Recruitment agency commentary  
The Best Run Recruitment Companies in Australia: Part 1 (Hays) 
The ASX-listed recruitment sector: The end is nigh (2012) 
How serious is the recruitment industry about recruiting its own? (2011)

Conference summaries  
RPOs: agency threat or opportunity? (2012) 
Social Media: The future’s so bright, you gotta wear shades (2012)
What I learned at the Australasian Talent Conference (2011) 

Office activities and resources  
Keeping your temp margins and gross profit healthy (2008) 
Recruitment Database Crimes – Chapters 1 to 14 (2008)
Profit Killers Part 3: How to waste your time at work (2008)

Misc  
The 5 things I wish I knew when I started in recruitment (2007)
Seek’s Application Export: improved service or, not? (2012)
The Swissotel Sydney’s $23 complimentary plate of fruit: A customer service story (2012)

Build or buy talent? What FC Barcelona can teach recruitment companies (2011)
Mary Louise Clennett 8.12.1967 – 18.1.2012 (2012)

My Favourite Books …   from all those I have recommended in Ross Recommends over the past five years are:

Adventure (non-fiction)  

The 1000 Day: Two adventurers take on the world’s harshest island (Murdoch Books, 2010) by Chris Bray

Career development  

Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?  by Seth Godin (Portfolio, 2010)

Celebrity memoir  

Born Standing Up: A comic’s life by Steve Martin (Simon & Schuster, 2008)

Change

Switch:How to Change Things When Change is HarD by Chip Heath & Dan Heath (Broadway Books, 2010)

Coaching skills

Solution-Focused Coaching: managing people in a complex world   by Jane Green and Anthony M Grant (Pearson Education, 2003)

Happiness/Positive Psychology

The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work   by Shawn Achor (Random House, 2010)

Interviewing  

How to Choose the Right Person for the Right Job Every Time by Lori Davila and Louise Kursmark (McGraw Hill, 2005)

Leadership (emotional intelligence)

New Leaders: Transforming the art of leadership into the science of results by Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee (Time Warner, 2002)

Management consulting  

The Management Myth: Debunking Modern Business Philosophy by  Matthew Stewart (Norton, 2009)

Memoir (leadership)  

Long Walk To Freedom by Nelson Mandela (Abacus, 1994)

Memoir (sport)

Open: An autobiography by Andre Agassi (Vintage Books, 2010)

Memoir (music/pop culture)  

I Was Bono’s Doppelganger: A life in the shadows of superstardom by Neil McCormick (Penguin Books, 2005)

Presentation skills  

Presenting Magically: Transforming Your Stage Presence with NLP by Tad James MS, Ph D and David Shephard BSc, DES (Crown House Publishing, 2001)

Personal success

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey (Simon & Schuster, 1989)

Recruitment (leadership/success)  

Flourish & Prosper by Geoff Morgan & Andrew Banks (Penguin Group, 2005)

Recruitment (science)  

Moneyball: The art of winning an unfair game by Michael Lewis (W.W. Norton & Company, 2004)

Recruitment (of top performers)

The Rare Find: Spotting Exceptional Talent Before Everyone Else by George Anders (Portfolio/Penguin, 2011)

Recruitment (consulting skills)

Breakthrough! Exploding the production of experienced recruiters by Steven M Finkel (Placement Marketing Group, 2008)

Relationship building skills  

How to Win Friends and Influence People  by Dale Carnegie (Simon & Schuster,1936)

Sales  

Selling the Invisible (A Field Guide to Modern Marketing) by Harry Beckwith (Warner Books, 1997)

Self help

Born Genius: Your journey back to the source of true success by Peter Barr (Red Hill, 2010)

Skill development  

The Talent Code: Greatness isn’t Born. It’s Grown. Here’s How by Daniel Coyle (Bantum Books, 2009)

Social media

Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve reputation and Gain Trust by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith (John Wiley & Sons, 2009)

Time management  

How to Get Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity  by David  Allen (Penguin Books, 2001)

Travel  

Head Over Heel: Seduced by a Southern Italian  by Chris Harrison (Murdoch Books, 2008)