Recruiting Animal

Twitter Round-Up

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Anyone who regularly uses numerals in their blog titles is an idiot

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Garbage Phrase --- in today’s highly-competitive job market

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Servant Leadership is nonsense -
RT @SusanguArneri SW Airlines example of servant leadership via @KenBlanchard

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I tell my son "Life is super hard, you have to work like a dog your whole life so get used to it" ~ @StaffingWise

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How To Pretend U Have Confidence - http://t.co/vcSZBQ7

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Conversational Marketing is a just a soft sell - http://t.co/lBW9hqC - @JasonFalls @DuctTape

Show Confidence With Body Language

From: Top 10: Ways To Show Confidence With Body Language by Andy Moore

Don't put your hands in your pockets.

Don't cross your arms.

Don't fidget

Stand up straight

Don't look down.

Be well-groomed

Firm Handshake

Don't be afraid to smile

He also advises you to feel free to touch people. I would say only if it is a perfectly natural thing for you to do. If it's forced it's repulsive.

This reminds me of people who use your name more than they have to because they were told that this is what you want to hear. It's odd and disconcerting. It makes you not want to trust them.

The same is true of smiling. He advises you to smile. Fine if you want to but don't force it. You see politicians forcing themselves to smile when they speak to the media. It's incongruous and repulsive.

 

Women Should Flaunt It at Work

From: Women Should Flaunt It at Work by Jessica Bennett

Hakim defines erotic capital as more than just sex: a combination of beauty, style, social skills and charm that can be learned (or, shall we say, bought).

If that means spending a fortune on brand-name clothes, so be it—because erotic capital is as important in today’s workplace, she says, as intelligence or skill.

Dieting and exercise? That should be a given, because nobody wants to hire the overweight.

Tanning, hair dye—even cosmetic surgery. Those are all necessary evils if you’re really driven to make it to the top, says Hakim.

Perfume and high heels also have been known to do the trick.

“Anyone, even quite an ugly person, can be attractive if they just have the right kind of hairstyle, clothes, and present themselves to the best effect,”...

“This isn't a frivolous spending of money. It has real benefits.” As a famous cosmetics creator once put it: “There are no ugly women, only lazy ones.”

Men have erotic capital too, she says—but women’s sex appeal has always been more prominent.

She faults traditional feminists for dismissing its importance: the one aspect of life, she writes, where women undoubtedly have an advantage over men.

 

Opposites Do Not Attract

From: The Ugly Husbands Club by Tony Dokoupil

“The fundamental rule,” says Michael Rosenfeld, a Stanford University sociologist who studies how couples form, “is that married partners tend to be the same on every dimension except for gender.” In other words, opposites do not attract.

David M. Buss, an evolutionary psychologist at the University of Texas, and author of The Evolution of Desire.

“As a general rule,” he says, “women tend to be more attractive than their husbands. ... men place a greater premium on looks in a partner; women place a greater premium on personality, character, status, and income.”

These “evolved mate preferences,” he adds, are also why powerful women may sleep with the occasional flesh toy, but only powerful men typically marry their much younger, hotter dalliances.

Buss says that homely women married to sexpot men are most at risk of the relationship failing. “Attractive men are known to have more sex partners, more affairs,” he writes, “so women married to these guys are at risk.”

He’s less concerned about discrepancies that run the other way, however, as long as “overall mate value” remains roughly the same...

But there’s really only one thing that brings two people together and keeps them that way, says Helen Fisher, a biological anthropologist at Rutgers University and the author, most recently, of Why Him? Why Her?  It’s called self-deception.

“As long as you continue to think that this person is right for you—no matter how irrational it may be—then it’s going to be a good marriage.”

 

 

Who Did I Influence

I am sure happy to find myself on John Sumser's latest list of the Top 25 Online Influencers in Recruiting (v4) -- but I have to ask myself: Who did I influence?

And if I am influential, why am I only only number 8? Who did the  people ahead of me influence? Don't we need at least a shred of evidence?

I Need Affirmative Action

Also, if this list is calculated without human interference on the basis of pure algorithmic analysis of the internet alone, shouldn't I be given a handicap since I have been unfairly rejected by Linkedin, Quora and Google Plus. I don't get to post on these places because I don't have a regular name so I have less of a chance to fire on all cylinders.

 

 

Conservatism and Isolationism

From Ron Paul and the Neo-Liberal Re-education Campaign (edited)

There have been American politicians aplenty who believed precisely as Paul and his enthusiasts do right now.

Paul touts his admiration for the Founding Fathers, but even that is very selective.

James Monroe of Monroe Doctrine fame was a considerable interventionist, Washington as a general invaded Canada, and Alexander Hamilton gave rise to Paul's idea of evil spawn -- the Federal Reserve.

Interventionists of all types have been with us right from the start.

The deception is that almost to a person those prominent pre-Ron Paul non-interventionist "Paulist" politicians of the 20th century were overwhelmingly not conservatives at all. They were men of the left.

The one prominent exception on this score was Senator Robert Taft​. But even Senator Taft ran straight into a part of the problem that Congressman Paul is encountering. While he was known as "Mr. Republican", Taft's non-interventionist streak was seen by conservatives as a confounding break with his conservatism.

 

 

A Critique of 3rd Party Recruiters

From: An Insiders Opinion Regarding Corporate and Agency Recruiters by Kirby Cole (edited)

I spent several years as an agency recruiter at some really small shops then I moved into recruiting within a corporation.

What I learned since the shift contradicts ideas I had before. Here are three:

1. Corporate Recruiters don't like Agency Recruiters.

In fact, the majority of corporate recruiters understand the value of the agency recruiter.

However, agency recruiters are quick to blame corporate recruiters in general for the actions of a few.

2. Corporate Recruiters don't give timely feedback even though they have it.

This couldn't be further from the truth.

I used to call commonly call or email a client within minutes of an interview to see how her candidate did.

I figured the corporate recruiters could get feedback at the drop of a hat.  Plus, it showed my high level of engagement if I followed up quickly.

But I figured wrong. Corporate recruiters have a tough time wrangling feedback because for hiring managers, good, fast feedback is not a priority.

Many times corporate recruiters simply get a green light to hire candidate X and a pass on the rest.

3. Corporate recruiters should work with lots of agencies.

As a corporate recruiter I spend 3 to 5 hours with a new agency before giving them a full understanding of our company’s culture, products, positional requirements, etc.

I easily get 15 calls a week from new recruiters. If I were to take the time to get each of them ramped up, I wouldn't have time for anything else.

So my challenge is deciding which agencies to invest the time in.

Their websites don't help. Here is what I found on 4 local websites.

1. Since our inception in 1998, our company now has earned a solid reputation with both our clients and employees as the recruiting firm of choice in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

We specialize in the placement of both direct hire and contract positions in the disciplines of Accounting, Finance, Tax, Office Support, and Human Resources.
 
2. Since our founding in 1998, the company maintains the same dedication to a single purpose - to provide the highest quality skill set in the shortest possible time, allowing our partners to meet their project and staffing goals.
 
3. At the company, we understand the importance of having a reliable and flexible workforce that can ebb and flow with your business.

That’s why we have created staffing solutions for you that go beyond the norm—from a short-term assignment to a complete project team, the company can provide you with the right staffing solution for your situation.

We also know that you are looking for people who have an excellent attitude, are highly qualified and reliable. We follow a rigorous recruiting, screening and selection process to ensure consistency from placement to placement. 
 
4. We've been a locally-owned, leading staffing agency in the DFW area since 1991. In fact, more than half of our tenured recruiting staff have been with the company for more than 10 years.

Each day, they talk to hiring managers, HR directors and supervisors to find out about employers' specific needs. They also consult with a diverse range of talented people seeking new job opportunities.

This regular, highly personal communication gives us a staffing insight that's second to none in DFW. And it's just one reason why we're able to match the most qualified candidates for the openings that you have.

Which company would you choose? They all sound the same and don't much say much at all.

 

How To Talk To Strangers

From: TimsStrategy.com

I spent an hour on the phone last week.  Getting my teeth kicked in.

And I have to tell you that I stumbled a bit.  Something I’m not used to doing.  I was out of my element.  Speaking to a radio audience that doesn’t care how much time I spend working with and helping people with job search and career strategy in my free time.  They just wanted answers.  Rightly so.

And if you listened to my appearance on the Recruiting Animal Radio Show you may have an interesting view of my personality and strengths.  Animal has a well-honed way of sweeping your feet out from under you.

But the places I stumbled were not his fault.  They were mine.  I was not able to answer some pretty basic questions he asked.  Ones that, I think, seem pretty straight-forward.  Not intentionally deceptive at all.

So now I’m here to answer the big one.  In full detail.  For the world to evaluate and comment on.  Yes: You.

His question to me:

How do you start, maintain and end a conversation with a stranger?

Read the rest

Problem Searches

From: Insight Technical Solutions

In Praise of Hiring Managers by Bill Fester

This is a repost from a blog I follow called Recruiting Animal.  While I subscribe to his blog, I don’t know the guy. We work in different areas, and our potential for doing split placement work I suspect is probably nil. Most of the time, I don’t even get a chance to read his posts, but this morning I happened to notice one that hit home.

Since most of my posts are either directed to my area of specialty (process control applications and programming specialists), or toward helping people do a better job of finding work, it’s rare for me to comment on the hiring authority side of recruiting and search work.

I wish I’d written this. Not because I work in sales, or even in direct hire placement, but because this case is so symptomatic of searches that lead nowhere, that waste the time of everyone concerned (candidate, recruiter, client), and that hollow the craft of recruiting.

This is what many recruiters face in trying to locate and place a bonafide candidate. Ironically, just as I’d finished reading his post, I noticed an email from someone who needs to add someone to the staff, and “could I please just send some resumes”.

Read the rest

 

Movies on YouTube

These films are often deleted. Just leave me a comment if you click on one that has disappeared.

The Eagle Has Landed (1976)

Wasn't impressed when I saw this many years ago. Liked it this time around.  (The blue screen that appears at the beginning disappears soon).

Return of the Gunfighter (1967)

I saw a bit of this on TV when I was a kid. It seemed boring. But this time around I liked it.

Tombstone

Gidget 1959

It's not a stupid movie and Gidget herself is very smart. But I found it boring.