Posts Tagged ‘candidates’
Interviewing: Are you comfortable when people are uncomfortable?
Recently I observed an interview conducted by a relatively new recruiter (let’s call him Dan). He did an adequate job asking the (moderately experienced) candidate (let’s call her Sarah) about her previous work experience. However when it came to Dan probing a gap of three months between Sarah’s jobs, things didn’t go so well. Dan…
Read MoreWhat exactly are ‘excellent communication skills’?
It has to be one of the most clichéd lines in job descriptions and hence, recruitment advertising – the request for ‘excellent communication skills’. It is omnipresent in today’s recruitment lexicon. Alternatively, you can substitute another one of your favourite synonyms such as ‘excellent’, ‘good’, ‘outstanding’, ‘exceptional’, ‘superior’ or ‘high level’. Unfortunately…
Read MoreFreelancer: Another way that talent is connecting with opportunity
As regular readers will know, I have frequently written about the ambitions, growth, and success of LinkedIn and consequently, the mixture of threat and opportunity that faces the recruitment industry. Of course, LinkedIn is not the only game-changer that the recruitment industry is confronting. Services-for-hire website, Freelancer and its dynamic founder and CEO, Matt Barrie…
Read MoreExile on Main Street: Older job seekers feel unwanted
Six weeks ago Federal Employment Participation Minister, Kate Ellis unveiled the first national report into employment barriers for older workers, The 2011-12 National Survey on the Barriers to Employment for Mature Age People. Ellis was reported as saying the following; that 36% of mature age job seekers had experienced aged-related exclusion during job searches,…
Read MoreHigh percentage recruiting: Templates, checklists and cheat sheets
I was working with a new client recently and I sat in on the interview of a experienced (five years) recruiter. The interview was a mixed bag. The recruiter assessed the candidate reasonably accurately but there were some areas around the candidate’s reasons for leaving that were not adequately probed. After the interview had concluded…
Read MorePersonalities don’t conflict – people have communication issues
Consider the following interview exchange, which any recruiter with more than a few weeks experience will be familiar with: Recruiter: “Why did you leave your role at XYZ company?” Candidate: (Stony-faced) “I had a personality conflict with my boss” Recruiter: (Awkward Pause) “Okay” What happened next? Did you probe to discover more information or…
Read MoreOur ageing population and workforce: The role of recruiters
You probably missed it but earlier in the month Age Discrimination Commissioner, Susan Ryan presented the Federal government with a paper calling for an overhaul of state and commonwealth laws to protect older workers against structural discrimination that stops them working past retirement. The report, Working Past Our 60s: Reforming Laws…
Read MoreHow to spot exceptional talent before everyone else
Insight 210 carried a Ross Recommends that featured The Rare Find: Spotting Exceptional Talent Before Everyone Else by George Anders (Portfolio/Penguin, 2011). I gave the book my highest recommendation and since then I’ve been trying to work out how to expand about the book for a lead article. The reality is that…
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 MoreOne Year on from starting ‘The Job’: Interview with Ellison Bloomfield
In October 2010, the lead article in InSight 153 was Adventures of a (linchpin) job seeker. It was the story of Ellison Bloomfield, a frustrated job seeker who decided she was going to try a different approach to finding her dream job. Ellison embarked on a very public campaign to find ‘The Job’…
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