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Why Soft Skills Are So Important

89% of recruiters say bad hires typically lack soft skills (LinkedIn, 2019)

What exactly are soft skills and how important are they? According to The Balance Careers:

“Soft skills relate to how you work. Soft skills include interpersonal (people) skills, communication skills, listening skills, time management, and empathy, among others. They are among the top skills employers seek in the candidates they hire, because soft skills are important for just about every job.>

Hiring managers typically look for job candidates with soft skills because they make someone more successful in the workplace. Someone can be excellent with technical, job-specific skills, but if they can't manage their time or work within a team, they may not be successful in the workplace.”

How To "Kill It" at Your Next Job Interview

Lately I have dealt with some good candidates who end up interviewing badly. What gives? They have the smarts, education, technical/sales knowledge, and most importantly, the experience. Yet, they fail to connect with the hiring manager or convince the company that they should be their next hire. This can happen for a few reasons:

• Sometimes the person hasn’t interviewed in several years, and their interview style is a bit lackluster.
• In other cases, which I see more in junior people, the candidate is just plain nervous. (Nerves are totally normal because it shows that the person cares and is excited about the job opportunity.)

The hard truth is that not everyone who wants the job will get the job ... Here are some basic pointers for these two types of people I mentioned, or anyone really, so you can present your best self and land the job you’re truly excited for….

Why Your Hiring Process Needs to Include Diversity & Inclusion

Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) have become  “buzzwords” these days. But they are here to stay... In fact D&I is so much more than just policies, programs, or headcounts. They can make your company a great place to work and thrive- and most importantly a place where candidates will want to join.

FACT: Equitable employers outpace their competitors by respecting the unique needs, perspectives, and potential of all their team members.

THE RESULT: Diverse and inclusive workplaces earn deeper trust and more commitment from their employees.

Check out what the folks at Great Place to Work had to say:

Should You Accept the Job Offer?

Great News! You got the interview, made it through the initial telephone or Zoom screen, and then moved on to the final interview stages. YOU GOT A JOB OFFER! …Now it’s time to decide if this is the offer you truly deserve. Sure, you can always keep looking for the “perfect” job that fits you or seize the opportunity that lies before you.

Here are some steps to find out if you should accept the job offer you received or to keep looking. 

Don’t Wait! Fall is one of the Best Seasons to Land a New Job

With the change of season come other seasonal adjustments. Home improvements, drops in temps, healthy lifestyle changes (can anyone say Halloween candy and Thanksgiving turkey?) … One area that many people tend to ignore this time of the year is making a way overdue job change.  

FACT. The Autumn season is a good time as any to charge up job your job search. With no more summer vacations to plan around, there is less interview downtime--making the interview process much smoother. There are certain hiring cycles that go on throughout the year and the months of September, October, and November have been reported to have the highest number of job postings. With more job postings, comes a higher chance of you landing your dream job.

Here are some ways you can land your dream job this fall…

The Phone Interview: What Hiring Managers Want to Hear from Candidates

The phone interview has become more commonplace than ever during the early stages of the interview and hiring process. This is a way to efficiently screen through large candidate pools, as well as minimize interview expenses for out-of-town candidates. For some remote positions, a phone interview may be the only method.

Below are some ways candidates can ace their next telephone interview, according to Glassdoor:

Want to Be an Awesome Boss? Learn These Skills

The world of work is rapidly changing, particularly when you hear stats like the shelf-life of a skill today is just 5 years. The skills managers need to possess will rapidly change as well.

So what competencies will become critical for managers to master over the next few years? Check out what this article by LinkedIn had to say about it.

Riding the Hiring Wave for Summer Success

What will you be doing this summer?

Well, hiring managers, that depends on what you do this sales quarter. Your and your team’s actions NOW will determine whether Q3 will be a “summer’s dream” or if you will spend it catching up and trying to save the year.

As you may already know, the summer months tend to be slow for hiring, due to both distracted candidates and companies that have decisions-makers on vacation. So right now is the time to make up for any lag that may start setting in on June 21^st.

Here are some tips to help you soak up the summer, all the while accelerating your business!

How to Effectively Onboard New Leaders — Remotely

As a hiring manager, pre or post-pandemic, a top goal when making new hires is creating a productive onboarding experience. Now more than ever, what can you do to support new talent, especially on the leadership level, so that they'll hit the ground running?...

How Leaders Can Prepare for Their Employees’ Return to Office

Many business leaders are contemplating a full or partial return of their employees to the office post-pandemic. As they consider all the variables involved, they tend to categorize employees in two groups: those who are eager to return and those who are opposed. As executive recruiters, we work with clients and candidates who are experiencing either extreme, or somewhere in between…

The eventual return to the office, whatever that will look like in the future, can leave managers scrambling to figure out the best way possible to bring their team back into the office. Even when it comes to future hires, what is the best way to handle working in an office once again?

Here are some things that can make the translation smoother: