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How tight are your terms?
Already this year I have had a number of enquiries or questions from members and readers about client behavior with respect to their terms and conditions of business. It seems pretty clear to me that clients are taking a long, hard look at the terms being presented to them and the terms they have signed…
Read MoreDual Desks: A drag on consultant productivity and company profit
When I first started as a recruitment consultant, back with Hays in London in 1989, I was a perm accounting consultant. I worked in a team with 6 other perm consultants. All of us only recruited perm jobs. When I returned to Australia and joined Temporary Solutions, I was one of a team of three…
Read MoreThe 10 Biggest Culture Killers in Recruitment Companies
This is an edited version of an article that originally appeared in recruitment extra (March 2005 issue). The culture of a company is created, enhanced and also destroyed primarily by the quality of communication (both verbal and non-verbal) that occurs every day in the office. High quality communication is direct, face-to-face,…
Read MoreThe 5 characteristics of highly effective leaders
This is an edited version of an article that originally appeared in Recruitment Extra (October 2006 issue) The number of books on leadership could fill a small library. Leadership books by academics, biographers, motivational speakers, sports stars, military leaders, CEOs, ex-Presidents and the like, are pumped out in their thousands each year. There are…
Read MoreMary Louise Clennett 8.12.1967 – 18.1.2012
I am devastated to share with you the death of my gorgeous sister, Mary Mary had been fighting breast cancer for nearly four years. Late last year, the cancer spread to her brain. Last weekend, Mary suffered a heart attack in hospital. She was revived but remained in a coma. Mary did not regain consciousness.…
Read MoreYour careers site needs a strong dose of Ambition
In InSight 211, I passed comment on 14 career sites, representing some of Australia’s biggest recruitment agencies. The verdict wasn’t pretty. I also asked for nominations for agency career sites that were worthy of highlighting. Specifically I was looking for a site that demonstrated innovation, a compelling message and information about the role…
Read MoreHow CEOs are approaching talent issues in 2012
Earlier last year, global professional services firm, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, released their 14th Annual Global CEO survey, Growth Reimagined. Across 69 countries, 1201 business leaders responded to a range of questions about issues impacting and expected to impact their business. In response to the question ‘How concerned are you about the following potential economic and…
Read MoreSEEK’s new ‘executive’ pricing: smart or monopolistic?
Just as everyone was winding down for the summer break, the undisputed #1 Australian job board, Seek, decided to liven things up a bit with a pricing announcement that has made a few waves. Having axed Seek Executive at the beginning of October 2011, a decision was taken to incorporate a $150k job tab into…
Read MoreThe Steve Jobs Way: Seven lessons in business leadership
Having spent a couple of days of my holidays reading the Steve Jobs biography I couldn’t help but reflect on the remarkable accomplishments of the man and the lessons applicable for business owners everywhere, big or small. This could have been a very long list, but here are the seven things that are most strongly front…
Read MoreWhat’s really important
Mary and family in their garden, Ashwell, Herts, UK, April 2011 The final InSight of the year has given me an excuse (not that I really need one) to veer off my normal subject matter path and write something more personal. In 2007 I wrote of my forthcoming (second) marriage (Risk, learn and…
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