Picture a jigsaw puzzle! Then think about the next candidate you are going to interview. This candidate is like the jigsaw puzzle you just pictured, a human being put together by many different shapes and forms of puzzle pieces.
Imagine for a second that you only have one single puzzle piece and are asked to guess what the complete picture is. Likely an impossible task, wouldn’t you say? (more…)
This is now a career choice for many. Perhaps it’s something for you?
The interim executive is a highly skilled, seasoned manager who is available for assignments of any duration, to either lend specialised expertise to a strategic project or to fill a critical skills gap.
Interim or contract roles tend to be for a set period of time, typically several months, and tend to be more for experienced professionals with niche skills who have to hit the ground running.
Interim executives are also known as fixed-term-contract-employees. They are employed by our clients in much the same way as permanent staff but for a fixed period only. (more…)
Why is it such a surprise that many employee and employer relationships end in what I call “recruitment divorce’: Employee Leaves Employer.
It is said that 50% (or more) of marriages end in divorce. That’s a scary prospect that makes many think hard before proposing or walking down the aisle.
Love at first sight during the interview process often turns sour because the assessment was artificial and the employer fell for the candidate’s well-practiced dance.
Too many get duped into assessing presentation over performance. You have just been outmaneuvered by a candidate who had prepared better than you. Basically, you have fallen victim to the 4A syndrome. (more…)
If recruiting talented people is one of your top priorities (and it should be if you want to stay a top manager), then spending an hour of your time with your HR Department or your preferred Headhunter is critical to the success of the hiring process.
I’m always puzzled when executives don’t take this briefing more serious because it leaves your hiring partner (whether HR or Headhunter) with a lot of guessing to do. When your hiring partner is left to fill out the blanks with their own ideas on what the job really is, you probably have a better chance of winning in the lottery than getting the best candidate for the job.
What is going on in the world of HR? Clients are queuing up outside my door screaming for help to find real talented HR candidates. They are looking for people who combine the best of skills in HR management (HRM) with the latest HR development (HRD) and organisational development (OD).
For some, HRM and HRD are just buzzwords used to inflate the trivial to something of importance and prestige. It’s now used to brag and in its arrogance becomes insincere, superficial and inappropriate. These individuals have little understanding of its actual meaning and are more interested in impressing others by making their claims sound so technical and obscure that it could only be understood by a small number of people. Oh well. Did someone say lip service? (more…)
If you are open to an argument about why it’s better to partner just one recruitment agency at a time, and not three or four, this article is for you and a must-read!
There are three good reasons why hiring companies multi-list their job orders and expect recruitment agencies to fight it out over the very same job vacancy. If the hiring managers just knew, this madness would end sooner rather than later. Here is why.
Mistake 1: 
Do you believe you are increasing your chances of filling the position by 300 to 400 percent if you engage and work with several recruiters at the same time? You may think that the three to four recruiters have different databases with their own unique candidates, and the recruitment agencies each press a magic button to unveil never-ever-to-be-seen candidates. The truth of the matter? (more…)
PUBLISHED IN SEPTEMBER 2015
Congratulations to LinkedIn for just recently passing one million members in Thailand. Out of context, you too would agree that this is a significant achievement. But here is the but, and it’s a big but!
A few years ago, I asked in my blog if LinkedIn was killing the recruitment industry. They say that Curiosity Killed the Cat; a reference to the dangers of unnecessary experimentation and speculation.
Herein lies a possible answer to the question of whether LinkedIn is in the process of pushing the executive search and recruitment profession over the cliff. Dear reader: hold your speculation.
LinkedIn reports that they now have 380 million members in over 200 countries and territories.
If you think all situations are black and white, it is obviously a simplification of what happens in the real world. There are always exceptions to the generally accepted rule of how agency recruiters make their money. On the other hand, famous author Tom Peters said: “Perception is reality”. You be the judge this time.
Recruitment agencies typically charge a fee, which is based on the placed candidate’s compensation, somewhere around two to three months’ salary and allowances; but charged in full only after you have hired their candidate.
You can compare the recruitment agency’s work as playing a lottery. They are not paid if their client does not hire their candidate. The consultant does not receive any commission, if the client chooses a candidate from another agency. As a client has no obligation to the agency whatsoever, except to pay if they hire a candidate, the client will often engage several agencies at the same time for the same position. They do so because it’s free, nothing to lose and because they think each agency has their own pool of candidates (which in fact they don’t; most candidates register their resume with many recruiters, so the pool is pretty identical no matter where you go).
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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?
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…)
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!
When 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…)