Hiring

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.

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!

Traffic Jam of Resumes

Are you a hiring authority with open jobs, yet are not seeing the right “traffic” of candidates? If so, you are not alone. In fact, this is one of the biggest pain points hiring authorities express to me before hiring me. From their side of the highway, it’s a wide open road to their inbox… so where’s the log jam?

Here are a few reasons:

CEOs: Your 2018 Top Hiring Challenges are HERE

It’s 2018… old news by now. Well, check out this news: companies today have a different set of challenges and risks, and I’m not referring to cyberattacks or industry competitors … As an experienced executive technology recruiter who specializes in placing senior and sales management, I’ve seen it ALL since 1999. Here’s my take on the top hiring issues that CEOs may be ignoring, and putting them and their companies in danger of failure.  

Mission Impossible: Fill this job! (this req, should you choose to accept it, will explode!)

With the holidays fast approaching and year-end around the corner for many of our clients, our office is abuzz with recruiters making calls, sending email blasts-trying to fill as many open roles as possible before the end of the calendar year. Our company spends time, money and resources to give our recruiters the best tools and analytics needed to determine whether a job we’re recruiting on will be filled. When a particular role is starting to get stale- even after countless recruiting calls, job ad / script tweaks, and candidate presentations to our clients -- we have to ask ourselves if a particular role is turning into an “impossible-to-fill” job. Sometimes the issue has NOTHING to do with our recruiting efforts or lack of good talent... it's the role.

Hiring managers, before you start to blame your internal team or your agency recruiters, take a look at some things you can improve:

Having Trouble Hiring and Keeping Sales Engineers??

In today’s tech world, the Sales Engineer, aka Pre-Sales Engineer, Solutions Consultant, Solutions Engineer, or whatever new fancy title you want to use, has become more and more important in the sales process and success of a territory. Everyone has recognized it. I hear that in some cases, the “SE” is more of an influencer in the final decision-making than the Sales Executive!  Not surprising at all. 

It has become a bloody war when it comes to hiring SE talent, due to the increased difficulty in finding and retaining them. I’ve been placing these types of professionals for 14 years and must say-- it’s great to finally see this role get its due justice and recognition!

If you’re a technology company looking to find some good SEs, here are some steps to help you win the battle:

Competing with the “Big Boys and Girls” for Top Life Sciences Talent

As a business leader, I’m sure you’re aware that competing with larger corporations for talent can be challenging. But, it doesn’t mean that it can’t be done — you just need to offer what the bigger boys and girls can’t.

Small(er) businesses often win clients by offering things that their large competitors don’t – such as enhanced personal care, responsiveness, tailored solutions, and in many cases a higher quality product or service at a lower price...You can win top talent by leveraging similar competitive advantages, such as:

Want to Hire ‘A Players’? You’ve Got to Pay to Play!

 "Let me teach you a lesson...you can never overpay a good player. You can only overpay a bad one." -Art Rooney

Most of my work entails finding executives in the manufacturing sector. Any discipline, from Directors to CEOs for companies that make products, is my sweet spot. But for a good client, I am more than willing to go back to my roots and find them an engineer.

Of course, they all want A-players. When the economy is booming and unemployment is at 4.3% in the US, A- players have lots of options. B-players are in demand and companies will even reluctantly hire C- players (unemployable in a recession) to fill jobs. So, if an engineer or any other true A-player wants to move and money is part of that motivation, he/she will want a salary bump, a BIG bump.

Solving Hiring Challenges Faced by the Health Sciences Industry

Employers in the pharma and biotechnology sectors can face many special hiring challenges in efforts to attract and retain top talent. By recognizing these challenges and the impact they can have on hiring - HR teams throughout the healthcare industry can improve their chances of success in both attracting and retaining top quality job candidates.

In the pharma space, several factors remain especially important for HR teams to understand and anticipate: