As professional recruiters working both retained and contingency search assignments, we spend a significant part of our effort preparing both the candidate and the client employer for prospective interviews. Preparing each side to meet and interact removes much of the predisposed tension that is inherent to the interview process on both sides. If each participant of the interview is prepared thoroughly with a detailed mental picture of what to expect, the normal nerves or “butterflies” are lessened and the result is a more fruitful interview from both sides of the table. After all, the purpose of the interview is to discover if a variety of factors match from both sides and to hopefully provide an introduction to what it would be like to work together as part of the same organization. Continue reading →

Is your working life in the doldrums? Do you feel stuck in a rut? Uncertain about the future? Depressed by what you can see ahead? Still looking for a job that will fully engage your interest?

If so, you’re like millions of others who face each working week more with resignation than excitement. It’s not that things are bad. They just aren’t as good as you would like them to be.

So would you like to be doing something you truly enjoy? Something that builds on your strengths and really means something to you? Continue reading →

Looking for work is generally a miserable undertaking. No matter how much education and experience you have, you are in a powerless and vulnerable position.

You spend days preparing for an interview, trying to build up your self-confidence, create a relaxed, competent demeanor to disguise the turmoil and anxiety inside, and practice answers to questions you hope the interviewer will ask. Continue reading →

A week out of work is a vacation. You can sleep late in the morning, revel in your newly found free time, shop when the stores are empty, and get around to those chores you have been putting off for too long.

Three weeks out of work and you are still relaxed. There is a new and better position waiting out there and you just need to get around to finding it. Continue reading →

The unemployment checks are running out and there is no potential job in sight. The wolf is knocking at the door and you need to survive.

Here are five tips to keep you afloat.

1. Ignore your ego and get everyone on board. You hate letting your children see you as less than competent and completely in charge but now is the time to share your predicament and let them help. By talking with your family, you allow even small children to better appreciate the realities of the world and feel like an important part of a big project. You may be surprised by how they will rally around the idea and come up with ways to save money which makes them feel as if they are really contributing and have value in the family hierarchy. Make saving money and “making do with less” into a game, like Survivor and the other reality shows they watch. Continue reading →

Employment finally seemed back on track during the first few months of 2004. Politicians crowed that “Our tax cuts are working.” Then, without warning, job growth slowed to a crawl, resulting in a deficit of more than 2 million jobs from that confidently predicted only a year ago. To counteract that dismal performance, public emphasis turned to another indicator, productivity. The reported increases in American productivity are quite genuine. Individual worker output collectively rose, from 2000 to 2003, by a full 12 percent. Definitely a bonus for Wall Street – but what about Main Street? Continue reading →

Applying for work is stressful, no matter the circumstances. Even if you are already working, and merely looking to see what else is out there, you still want to be offered the position. If you realize, half way through an interview, that you would be miserable working for this company and you wouldn’t let your dog take the job, you still want it to be offered. If the hours are unsuitable, the job duties demeaning, and the salary a joke, you still want to be made an offer. Continue reading →

When the word “networking” is used, we tend to think of upwardly mobile college graduates with a bursting day timer in hand chatting up the competition at business meetings, conventions, or workshops. The average blue/pink/white collar worker disconnects, feeling that they could never be that pushy, don’t know enough people to even start the attempt, and that the method only works in competitive business environments. Continue reading →

There is an old adage that “Looking for a job is harder than working.” How true! The rigors of job search are magnified by the turmoil we experience: lack of self-confidence, humiliation, financial pressure, and the undercurrent of emotions that color all we do: fear, anger, depression, anxiety, loss. Continue reading →

Momentum as defined by Webster’s is: strength or force gained by motion or through the development of events. For our purposes, the interview process is a “development of events”. Creating and maintaining momentum throughout the interview process is critical to attracting and securing top candidates in today’s competitive market. Momentum or “The Big Mo'” as I frequently call it is a term widely used by sportscasters to describe the modification of energy between two parties to in a sporting event or game. As a recruiter, we see both sides of the hiring process. Rather than have momentum shift from one participant to the other, we seek to have momentum or positive energy shared and exchanged by the participants, moving in unison with each other towards a common goal. Continue reading →