About The Recruiting Animal

The Recruiting Animal was interviewed by the great Bill Vick on April 8, 2009. His site is xtremerecruiting.tv

Welcome to my battle
For business recreation.
I sweat and laugh and scream here
For the working population.

Based in Toronto, the Recruiting Animal worked as a busboy and taxi driver before drifting into recruiting and a brilliant career as a pioneer of recruiter blogging.

In January 2004, he co-founded the Canadian Headhunter blog. In April 2005, he became a partner in Recruiting.com (once the central blog of the recruiting community online).

In April 2006, he founded the Recruiting Animal blog, then, in March 2007, he started The Recruiting Animal Show, the only online call-in show about recruiting in world history.

The Recruiting Animal has been quoted twice! in Toronto's Globe & Mail and is the co-author of two books in progress:

Don't Call Us We'll Call You:
A Job-Hunting Guide For the Mediocre -- and

Downsized and Out-Placed on the Streets of Toronto: a Survival Guide for the Victims of Creative Destruction.

Although unrecognized in his native land, the Recruiting Animal has established himself as one of the world's leading experts on resumes, job-hunting, social media and Generation Y. He is incredibly well-connected in the free world and beyond.

The World Speaks

John Sumser, Where It's Going II, (March 12, 2007)

Early adopters, hard at work with their new toys, rarely see the long term value in the tools. There's a kind of narcissistic power that comes from riding the latest technology for your allotted fifteen minutes of fame. Sadly, most of the early users are more like Icarus and burn out long before the real adventure begins.

(If you haven't had a chance, take a look at the Recruiting Animal tirade on this subject (here's the related radio show). Animal's view is nearly as narrow as the folks he's busy critiquing. He claims on his blog, with some small justification and some greater irony, that blogging has made an insignificant dent in the Recruiting Industry.

While it's a message that will certainly resonate with the buggy whip crowd, the very same thing could have been said about personal computing during it's nascent period (the 1980s). Make no mistake, integrated interactive personal communications are an essential component of the 21st Century Recruiting toolkit.)

Richard Becker, Chatting With The Animal (April 09, 2007)

On the last day of my "Writing for Public Relations" class at UNLV, I mentioned to my public relations students that I would be a future guest on an online talk radio show. They seemed very excited by the prospect and several of them asked for a time and date. "But wait," I said, "I haven't even told you whose online radio show... it's ... are you ready ... it's The Recruiting Animal Shooowww!"

Their enthusiastic expressions quickly turned to looks of sheer terror and inexplicable horror. Surely, their instructor had not lost all his marbles and taken to open discussions with someone who bills himself as "neither man nor wolf." "Don't do it!" they warned.

Dave Lefkow, Why Recruiters Blog (July 12, 2007)

I think that so many recruiters blog because they know that it helps them get jobs. Granted, some of the more inflammatory blogs actually might hurt peoples' chances of finding work at certain companies - not to pick on anyone, but The Recruiting Animal comes to mind, although it could be argued that even the Animal gets some gigs or splits out of his efforts. Or maybe he's just completely insane... who knows?

Michael Glenn, Stop the Podcasts, (August 03, 2007)

While I eat my lunch at my desk, I often listen to Podcasts on recruiting. Unfortunately, not many Recruiting Podcasts are worth listening to because they are boring. I don’t know if it’s the voice inflection, tone or pitch, but I have hard time staying interested in the topics.

However, there is a Podcast that I will recommend and that is Recruiting Animal's Podcast. He is not boring. He does a good job of trying to be entertaining while talking about the recruiting industry. The only complaint I have about Recruiting Animal’s Podcast is that he shouts too much.

Amitai Givertz, Ami G's Blogging Secrets (June 12, 2007)

If you tuned in to listen to Michael in his customary fashion promote his own shallow agenda at the expense of his so-called friends, enjoy the show! I won't listen to it or tune in again. I don't have the time to waste.

Jim Stroud, The Howard Stern of Recruiting (March 12, 2007)

I don't know if they are going to have naked strippers in there or anything like that but as far as not knowing what's going to be said next and how and why and all those other kind of things... let me just stop and play you a clip from the first episode and you'll see. Audio: Interview on The Recruiters Lounge

Jennifer Candee, Email to Dave Mendoza (December 12, 2007)

Dave, I listened to most of the blog / radio show link you sent me yesterday and I have to say, the reactions and statements on European recruitment (in particular from the host) made my blood boil and made me very sad to be an American.

The overwhelming generalisations of the recruitment landscape here were appalling.... It's things like these that continue to precipitate why Europeans get frustrated with the American egos.

Penelope Trunk, Learn To Take Criticism Well, (December 24, 2007)

I listen to the Recruiting Animal. He rips on me all the time in his blog. And he rips on people I publish. But The Recruiting Animal is smart (and funny) and I have always known that he understands me even as he makes fun of me.

Alexandra Levit, Water Cooler Wisdom (Oct 08 2008)

As I was working on Success for Hire, I had the good fortune to meet an excellent blogger and radio show host, the Recruiting Animal. Animal’s got one of the most hilariously combative shows you’ll ever listen to, and I had a great time as a guest earlier this month.

JT O'Donnell, Careerealism.com (April 12, 2008)

Thanks for stopping by Recruiting Animal. I'm a fan of your show!

Kevin Wheeler, What Makes a Blog Work?, (January 24, 2000)

RecruitingBlogs.com recently published the results of its annual readers' ratings of recruitment blogs, sponsored by ZoomInfo. Here are the winners of that contest in 10 categories, and I urge you to take a look at each one of them. They all follow the rules for an effective blog that I outline below.

1. Overall Recruiting: Six Degrees From Dave. 2. Recruiting Blogosphere: Recruiting Animal. 3. Third-Party Recruiting: Hiring Revolution. 4. Best Recruiting Technology: I, Donato. 5. Job Hunting: Wired & Hired. 6. Corporate Recruiting: WirelessJobs.com. 7. Sourcing/Research: CyberSleuthing. 8. Group: Xtra Cheezhead. 9. Recruiting Industry: Six Degrees From Dave. 10. HR: Gautam Ghosh.

Kris Rzepkowski, Recruiting Animal talks Second Life with Louis Vong (July 24, 2007)

Sometimes media hits the target market so squarely that you just can't help but listen. Recruiting Animal interviewed Louis Vong on the ins-and-outs of TMP's SecondLife Strategy.

Animal's Howard Stern meets Jim Rome style coupled with discussion by former mates at TMP about a new technology that I find fascinating made for the perfect way to blow an hour.

Jason Alba, JibberJobber.com (February 28, 2008)

Want to hear what recruiters think about job seekers? The Recruiting Animal went off for about 5 minutes - no holds barred. Just be forewarned, he is irreverent. But if you want to know what recruiters think about YOU, and what YOU DO, you really need to take a few minutes to listen to him rant.

Listen here, for the first 6 or 7 minutes, as he delivers a message to all you job hunters out there, to give you a little hope! Are you dumb or stupid? Go listen to find out. I love the Animal. And the fact that he's laying it all out like this is great, because some people really need to hear it

Steve Rothberg, CollegeRecruiter.com (March 7, 2007)

The Animal, as he is known to his friends, certainly isn't shy about sharing his opinions and was clearly pretty negative about recruiting blogs. A handful of callers, including yours truly, agreed with some of his opinions but tried without much success to straighten out some of his other opinions.... Listen to the show. It is entertaining if nothing else.

Heather Hamilton, What do you want from a recruiter's blog?, (Oct 19, 2004)

Example 3: Educating job seekers blog. CanadianHeadhunter for example...which is actually 2 guys...Anthony is the quiet one and Michael is the other one ; ). These kinds of bloggers put out info that helps people not only to search for positions but also to plan their careers. Good stuff. With this kind of blog, I think people will keep coming back if they find your advice credible.

Heather Gardner, Email (March 03, 2008).

I listened to your show last night - boy my husband couldn't stand it. Your intro made me laugh so hard I nearly fell off the chair! My daughter kept asking me if the puppet was really talking.

I would NEVER say any of what you said to a job seeker myself, but I chuckled at your comments! Great interview, Great show! Thanks for the fun!

Robert Merrill, Recruiting Animal Eats Me Alive (March 7, 2008)

A little while ago, I was interviewed on the Recruiting Animal Show, a talk show for the recruiting world. I had a great time doing the show, but you might think the Animal got the best of me… did he?

Minnesota Headhunter, On The Recruiting Animal Show (Jan 16, 2008)

This is not a button down show that would appear on the Wall Street Journal. This is more my speed with some character, a free flow of ideas, and I think I said, “suck” and “damn” a couple of times. In other words I had some fun.

Shally Elvis Steckerl, What Everyone Ought To Know About Blogging (Jan 9, 2008)

I just got off the phone after a guest appearance on the Recruiting Animal show. It was a zoo, as usual, in a totally fun way.

Marketing Headhunter, Happy Holidays! (December 21, 2007)

For a special holiday message from Harry, the Recruiting Animal, Maureen Sharib (the Queen Bee of Telephone Sourcing), and the WorkFarce ... CLICK HERE. These are some of my favorite people, yet I have never met them in person. What is this world coming to?
I LOVE YOU. h a i r

Jim Durbin, Singing tribute to the Animal (Jan 08,2009)

Find more videos like this on RecruitingBlogs.com

Dave Manaster, Twitter (June 26, 2008)

Just had a call with @animal where I was doing all the screaming and he was speaking normally

Susan Burns, Recruitingblogs.com (June 25, 2008)

Listened to your generations recording yesterday and was cracking up. I actually read Gordinier's book and heard him speak at Powell's (local Portland bookstore). Your def on to something! The book was a fun read and I did find the obsessiveness with "proving the contribution" amusing.

Scotty Love, Recruitingblogs.com (June 25, 2008)

Can I borrow some of your energy in the middle of the day? How many red bulls do you drink prior to your show? Your audio programs are fantastic!

Chris Hoyt, Twitter (Jan 07, 2009)

I always feel like I've run a few laps around the gym after one of the @animal broadcasts

Carl Chapman, I'm In The Hotseat (July 23, 2007)

I can only imagine the face behind the name Recruiting Animal, if he prefers using a weird little puppet as his countenance. The mental image that I conger up when I think of the Animal is of Morton Downey Jr. ...

Morton had a style of speaking that was a cross between yelling and screaming. Until I started listening to the Recruiting Animal Radio Show, I had never heard anyone else capable of such ear piercing annoyance.

Gregg Dourgarian, Staffing Technology Blog (June 30, 2008)

Recruiting Animal entertains like no other business blog. If you really want to know what is going on in the recruitment space, you have to read it.

Chuck Westbrook, Email (October 29, 2007)

Hi Animal, You do a great job of taking a traditionally dry topic and transforming it into something more entertaining

Warm regards, Chuck (I HATE YOUR JOB)

Gretchen Ledgard & Zoe Goldring, Microsoft Jobsblog (Feb 26, 2005)

Building upon the momentum first created by recruiting blogger pioneers like Jason Davis and Anthony and Michael, the Canadian Headhunters, and other popular Microsoft interviewing sites like Chris Sells' Interviewing at Microsoft, we were on our way.

Shannon Seery and Julian Gude

Jason Davis, RecruitingFly (Chris Russell) (October 18, 2007)

Gautam Ghosh, The Recruiters Lounge (Jim Stroud) (March 30, 2007)

More Feedback

Comments

[JaniceWorthington]

Hey Animal.. where have you been? I got into this business in 1973 and have been kicking tush ever since. Became a job search coach in 1987. (Ask me if you want to know.) I think your show is great and really appreciate your message.In fact I love it!

I teach a gaggle of candidates and I believe I might just insist they become regulars. After screaming your wisdom for three decades I love hearing you do it! I howl behind the computer and people have theories.

So thanks and keep it up!

Janice Worthington
Worthington Career Services
www.worthingtoncareers.com
@execjobcoach

[Anne Stephanie Cruz]

Hello!

I'm Anne Stephanie Cruz, and I work for  a company called Crimcheck.com - in case you haven't heard of us, we are a nationwide background screening service provider which has been in business for over 20 years.

Anyhow, I was wondering if I might be able to do a guest post on your blog.  It can just be a short article about the HR industry, its relevance to background checks and employment screening, or really anything that you might suggest as well.

Please let me know what you think.  Thanks in advance and I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely Yours,

Anne Stephanie Cruz
www.crimcheck.com

Steph@crimcheckadvantage.com