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Guilt, Pie and Opportunities

This is the time of the year when many of us are getting ready for the Holidays. First up, Thanksgiving: A time to take stock of all that we have to be grateful for, before letting loose with the credit cards. We bow our heads in shame as our religious leaders remind us that a few of us will start our day trudging to the local watering hole to compete for drinking “water” with beasties, which can’t be said for most of the world’s population.  We feel a little guilty for taking some of the most basic things like food and shelter for granted.

Which Piece Are You?

Chess has always impressed me as a game that challenges two players to use all of their cognitive capabilities and outwit, outsmart, and out strategize their opponent.  I consider it to be a thinking person’s game, just like my job in staffing and recruiting, where skill, planning, strategy and some degree of gamesmanship are paramount.

“Exercise” Your Interview Skills!

Webster’s Dictionary (Excuse me? What’s that?... I meant Wikipedia), defines muscle atrophy as a decrease in the mass of muscle. Luckily, modern medicine has shown that moving around and getting active as soon as possible after a surgery or injury has big positive effects. Many of us, including myself, also know the positive outcomes of staying active by working out and/or going to the gym regularly. Although atrophy is not exactly what I am fighting at this point, it’s more “older” age, I realize the importance of keeping your muscles moving.

Believe in Yourself

A phrase I find myself repeating to my sons on a regular basis is “believe in yourself”. I try my best to lead by example and be the best version of myself in every aspect of life. I want my kids to know that if they work hard and believe in themselves, they can achieve almost anything they set out to do. When I think about it, confidence is also something I should be preaching to my job candidates while prepping them for their interviews! ...

I Feel the Need, the Need for Speed

Tom Cruise said it back in 1986 when he was crazy cool, not just crazy (did anyone else watch the Scientology documentary “Going Clear”? Let’s just say it was “interesting”)… Fast forward to 2016. Hobson Associates just wrapped up their 43^rd fiscal year. Like a fine wine, we seem to get better with age. One way we got better this past year was our SPEED. 

Hiring for the Generations (Boomers, X, Y, and Z)

Ever have those days when you feel lonely? No reason to. I recently read in an article by Tinypulse, that our current population includes 1.44 billion Gen Xers, 1.72 billion members of the Y generation, and a staggering 2.52 billion generation Z people… Chances are, you currently manage or have managed employees from each generation (look out, Gen Z is entering the workforce too). In order to have a successful organization and increase your profits, you must deal differently with each generation. Being a millennial (otherwise known as Gen Y) and a technology recruiter who talks to countless people of all ages and demographics, I have a bit of insight on the topic.

Scouting "Game Changers" for Your Team

I spent last weekend touring around Boston and happened to catch a Red Sox/Yankees game (Go Sox!). With playoff baseball about to begin, I couldn’t help but think about the pressure management is under to push their ball club to the playoffs and ultimately win the World Series.

Help Your Recruiters Help YOU!

Attention Executives and Talent professionals: I’m going to give you an inside view of how search firms look at your business, manage your searches and ways to improve the results you’re getting from recruiters.

The Numbers Don’t Lie

The performance based (contingent) search world is a numbers game. We recruiters have to manage a large pipeline of searches to generate the revenue needed. We do this knowing, for various reasons, we won’t necessarily fill all the job searches we take.

Fantasy Football & Hiring- What Type of “Player” Are YOU?

According to Chicago-based employment research firm, Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Fantasy Football will cost US employers $17 Billion in lost productivity. So naturally, I started the first ever Hobson Fantasy Football league this year!…

…Last week 8 of us sat in the 'War Room' (our recently renovated Conference Room) agonizing over each pick we’d all spent hours (after 5PM of course) studying trends, and relying on ESPN Senior Fantasy Analyst Matthew Berry’s hot takes and advice!

Sales Hiring – Do You “Get It”?

Think back to when you first got into sales. Now compare that to when you started achieving a respectable amount of success, the kind you could write home about. See a difference? ... Now that you’re a sales manager or executive in charge of hiring and coaching new sales people, the ability to recognize what makes a great sales talent is CRITICAL to your success.