Are you breathing your own exhaust?

  • Post published:29/06/2015
  • Reading time:4 mins read

Can I ask you: Are you one of the many executives who do not spend enough time on networking in your local business community? I’m asking, because in my more than 10 years in recruitment and search, I have received calls from many executives who have lost their job. Perhaps been told to return to head office in Europe or elsewhere – but don’t want to. In any case, a sudden overpowering feeling of fear and state of anxiety feel like kicks in the gut. Ever been there?2885_blurb_purple

So why is it that too few prioritise this activity?

Breathing your own exhaust is dangerous. No, this has nothing to do with your car and exhaust pipe. It’s everything to do with an isolated mind that starts believing you can walk on water; meaning a self-perception that you can break through personal limitations and achieve dramatic success all by yourself. It leads to arrogance, a closed mind, a restriction on your perception, and a kind of know-it-all person. It takes special effort to see the world from any perspective other than through our own eyes. (more…)

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The real truth about working with headhunters

  • Post published:28/05/2015
  • Reading time:8 mins read

So let’s start by addressing the biggest myth in recruitment; that of recruiters finding jobs for people. I’m sorry to tell you, and to be blunt about this, but it’s not only a myth – it’s totally nonsense. Recruiters and headhunters do not find jobs for people; they find people for jobs!

  • Finding people for jobs
  • Finding jobs for people

2951_thought_redWhen you think about it, these two models are very different concepts. They are so far from each other that I wouldn’t even use the popular Thai expression, “same same but different”. In this particular case, they’re very different concepts and not the same at all.

If you have ever been approached by a recruiter or headhunter about a new job opportunity, you know that recruiters are not paid by the candidates but by their client companies. Clients pay recruiters to identify and present suitable candidates for very specific positions, with very specific and hard-to-find requirements. Yes, we help clients find candidates they cannot. (more…)

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Lazy narcissists or energized optimists?

  • Post published:12/03/2015
  • Reading time:4 mins read

But my generation is not different!

There are three uncomfortable truths about Generation Y, or the Millennials or Me Me Me Generation, as they are also called – that is if we are to believe a newly released report from IBM called: “Myths, exaggerations and uncomfortable truths – The real story behind millennials in the workplace”.

4704_pen_pencil_cup_colorThe author is Carolyn Heller Baird, a global research leader in the IBM Institute for Business Value, and she writes that various reports have for years been predicting how Millennials (aged 21–34) would revolutionise the workplace. The reports all conclude that Millennials are somehow different from their predecessors.

Time magazine published an article in 2013 by Joel Stein, in which he admitted that he, just like what old people have done for centuries, calls those younger than him: lazy, entitled, selfish and shallow. (more…)

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What’s the problem with your resume?

  • Post published:25/02/2015
  • Reading time:5 mins read

 8 hot tips for your resume that can get you an interview

Let me make one thing very, very clear: There is only one purpose of a resume:

To get you an interview with a prospective employer

No, no and no – it’s purpose is not to get you the job, that’s what the interview is for! The resume is meant to be your extended business card, your personal sales and marketing pitch, which will get the recruiter to grab the phone and call you in for a meeting.

  1. Use a standard Microsoft Word document and please do not use Excel or PowerPoint. On the top or at the very bottom, use the header or footer function in Word, write your name and address, and remember to include your mobile telephone number and email address. Use a business like email address, which means that happygolucky@gmail.com does not give the right impression. There is no need to write the words Resume or CV, as that should already be easily recognisable. Last but not least, save your Microsoft Word document using your name; do not call it “my_resume.doc”.

(more…)

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