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My Petition for a Better Hiring Experience

I have been signing a lot of petitions lately. Perhaps it’s naïve of me to think it will make a difference, but I exclaim a loud “YES!” to myself each time I digitally sign to save endangered animals, build a new community playground, or keep a beloved TV show on the air. Most times I am not even sure who the petitions go to for consideration. Probably a database that now knows to target me for merchandise with elephants on it because I really do think hunting them for their ivory is gross … Maybe Oprah. I hope so.

What a world it would be if people wanting something positive to happen could do so just by figuratively putting their hand in the air. With that thought in mind, I decided to start my own set of "petitions". Based on my many years of experience in the recruiting industry, I just think that the world would (or at least in my world!) be a better place if the following were to happen:

What’s More Valuable-a Degree or Job Experience?

I remember taking my last collegiate final at the University of Hartford. I literally walked out of my Entrepreneurial Studies classroom with a smile that was far from scholarly, giving an overtly jubilant high-five to the nearest bystander.

Yet as I would soon discover, there was a lot more than that kid I didn’t know (and still don’t!)

“Go to college,” your high school teachers would say,“get a degree,” they continued, “get a job,” they promised…

More than 65% of high-schoolers who graduated will go to college that following fall semester. One thing I still don't understand is the societal norms that emphasize and push high school students into college. Realistically speaking, a piece of paper isn’t going to pick-a-lock that’s going to open the door that is opportunity. So, what separates you from everyone else in America who is graduating in 2018 and about to enter the workforce?

The Simple Fact- NO room for Passive Hiring Processes

Here are some simple facts that can impact your company’s productivity and profits:

-The unemployment rate is at the lowest it has been in the last 17 years + There are 6.6 million job postings in USA = An unprecedented candidate-driven job market.

-Said candidates have multiple offers for employment, as well as a high rate of counteroffers from their current employers.

What does that mean to a hiring authority?...

The Dunning-Kruger Effect on Job Interviews

“The best lack all conviction, while the worst are filled with passionate intensity”-W.B. Yeats, The Second Coming

What W.B. Yeats intuited in 1919 is a phenomenon that psychologists would later name, ‘The Dunning-Kruger Effect’.  The ‘Dunning-Kruger Effect’ is a “cognitive bias wherein people of low ability have illusory superiority, mistakenly assessing their cognitive ability as greater than it is”. Conversely, people who are highly competent mistakenly assume that the tasks that are easy for them to perform are just as easy for others to perform, and typically do not self-assess themselves as highly competent. They recognize their weaknesses and focus on correcting them rather than blustering on about how good they are at this or that. 

I'm Starting to Sound Like a Crazy Ex-Girlfriend!

“I'm probably starting to sound like a crazy ex or something…”

I am sure this is not news to anyone with their head up in the current job market, but there is a common perception out there that recruiters are too pushy, too salesy, and just downright annoying. Yes, sometimes we are ALL of those things… but despite any negative preconceived stereotypes, the recruiters who continue making tough calls and pushing through the negativity are the ones who find success for their clients and candidates.

11 Years in a Headhunter’s Life

“Glamorous” by Fergie and Ludacris was dominating the airwaves as the #1 Billboard song; Will Ferrell and Jon Heder were reveling with their #1 hit “Blades of Glory”: and Carl Pavano of Southington, CT was the Yankees Opening Day pitcher ... this was all happening when I started my recruiting career at Hobson Associates, 11 years ago in March 2007.

A Baby Boomer's Perspective on Interviewing Millennials

I’m a baby boomer who recruits for a living. I speak to people from all walks of life on a daily basis, many of them being millennials.  One of the hottest topics out there right now is the subject of generational differences in the workplace.  As discussed in a previous Hobson blog, chances are, you currently work with or have managed employees from each generation. In order to have a successful organization and increase your profits, you must deal differently with each demographic.

According to an article by Medium.com “with Millennials being the largest generation in America with over 75.4 million according to Pew Research Center and surpassing Baby Boomers with roughly 74.9 million, we need to find effective ways to bypass these differences in the workplace.”

One of the most common and challenging examples of this is when these different generations cross paths in the job interviewing process. Here are some tips for millennials, when being interviewed by a baby boomer:

My Ideal Job Candidate…

Being a recruiter in this current candidate-crazy job market (a market in which there are more jobs openings than qualified candidates), I’ve been questioned, dodged and insulted by candidates more than ever. And it’s not just me -- the partners and senior recruiters at my firm, some who have been in the industry over 20 years, feel the same pain! 

However, as soon as I decided to put myself in a candidate’s shoes, I began to truly see and understand where they are coming from:

CANDIDATES ARE GETTING CALLS FROM GREAT AND NOT-SO-GREAT RECRUITERS—WITH GREAT AND NOT-SO-GREAT JOBS!

Is it Mortality, Prayer or Drive?

Over the past few weeks I have been thinking about how fragile we really are as humans. When we are really young, we are in such a hurry to grow up, that we don’t really appreciate who/where we are. I know it sounds cliché, but it certainly rings true to most everyone I speak with, especially once you hit your 40s, 50s and even 60s… For example: I couldn’t wait to get my driver’s license and gain my independence, go to bars and dance clubs and legally drink, own a condo at 22, and finally start to make my own money and decisions…

Then one day, you wake up and realize wow, where has the time gone?  Where do I see myself in the next 30 or 40 years?  What will I look like? Where will I live? Will I get married? Hell, will I make it to see my kids graduate, get married, and/or have babies??? 

The older and wiser I become, everything and everyone in my life means so much more to me. My colleagues, my family, my friends- new and old. I am now using a new motto I like to call “Scared AF, but embracing every last moment!” 

Just Say NO to Multitasking!

Multitasking. We all do it. I bet you’re reading this right now while on the toilet aren’t you?!  Well, better than while driving... When I started at Hobson in 2006, we had a question on our reference check form that was “How would you rate this person’s ability to multi-task?” The idea was that a person needed to be efficient at multitasking in order to be successful in just about any job. However, studies have recently shown that multi-tasking is actually bad for your brain, which is also bad for business, your social life, your family, everything.