A lot is being made of the wealth divide in America as part of the upcoming election.
McCain is accusing Obama of penalizing the success of small businesses, and using the "S" word (Socialism) to describe his plans for income redistribution.
In kind, Obama accuses McCain of favoring the rich, and suggest that his approach to redistribution is more charitable.
There is however, one type of charity which can not be taxed, which is at a significant premium- time.
Maimonides, a Jewish scholar of the 15th century and adviser to the King of Egypt, suggested that the highest form of charity is employing someone qualified, as in this instance, the recipient of your kindness will feel as though he has earned his keep, not as though he has been given charity.
We are all working very hard. In this economy, many of us have shifted into hi-gear to compensate for lower margins, lower volume or both. But many are hurting worse than us.
And there is no time better than now to dedicate a small portion of our time each week to think about our unemployed colleagues, and the job openings we know about, and try to make matches happen.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Not My Peers
This post has to be the single most cynical thing I've ever seen written about recruiters.
And it's not true of any of the colleagues I know & respect.
Has anyone else had this experience?
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1. "You're one of 200 people I'm cold calling."
It might seem flattering to receive a cold call or email from a recruiter about a position they're trying to fill. However in order to get a few candidates into an interview pipeline the typical recruiter had to start by contacting 200 or more people with the right keywords on their bio. While it may seem you were one of a chosen few that had just the right background of what their client is looking for, you're actually one of hundreds that had the right keywords their recruiter searched for to start their interview funnel.
2. "You're being interviewed to make my other candidates look better."
If you've ever purchased a house you might have noticed that the house you wound up purchasing wasn't the first house your real estate agent showed you. It was probably the third or fourth. That was no accident. The first few houses you were shown were carefully staged in order for the house the agent thought you may like look that much better. Recruiters often use the same technique.
Hiring managers rarely have a detailed understanding of what their ideal interview candidate is and generally do not want to make an offer to the first person in the interview process. Recruiters know this and therefore insert into the interview process "calibration candidates". These are interview candidates that the recruiter doesn't believe are the best fit for the job, but will help make their chosen candidate look that much better when they are interviewed by their client.
3. "I get measured by how quickly I fill a job opening."
Larger companies often employ a staff of in-house recruiters, many as temporary contractors, to fill their open positions. The metric most often used to measure an in-house recruiter's performance is the average number of days to fill an open position. The quality of the people hired is not easily measured until long after the newly recruited individual is on the job. So the recruiter is motivated to bring in the lowest caliber interview candidates that are just above the bar for hiring over spending the much greater effort to find truly exceptional candidates.
4. "I'm using your confidential resume to market my firm to new companies."
Contingency recruiting firms market themselves to new corporate customers by showing them a select group of resumes of people they "represent". However they might not actually be representing them at all. The next time you agree to send your resume to a recruiting firm they might be turning it around and using it to market themselves to new clients. I initially learned of this technique after agreeing to give my resume to a recruiting firm and later discovering they were using it as a sales tool to prospective clients. In no way was this firm "representing me".
5. "Last month I was selling subprime mortgages."
Recruiters are sales people. They sell candidates to hiring managers and new companies/positions to candidates. While the top retained search firms employ highly skilled and experienced professionals, many contingency recruiters jumped into the field from some other sales domain - timeshares in Florida, brokering subprime mortages, .....
And it's not true of any of the colleagues I know & respect.
Has anyone else had this experience?
----------------------------------------------
1. "You're one of 200 people I'm cold calling."
It might seem flattering to receive a cold call or email from a recruiter about a position they're trying to fill. However in order to get a few candidates into an interview pipeline the typical recruiter had to start by contacting 200 or more people with the right keywords on their bio. While it may seem you were one of a chosen few that had just the right background of what their client is looking for, you're actually one of hundreds that had the right keywords their recruiter searched for to start their interview funnel.
2. "You're being interviewed to make my other candidates look better."
If you've ever purchased a house you might have noticed that the house you wound up purchasing wasn't the first house your real estate agent showed you. It was probably the third or fourth. That was no accident. The first few houses you were shown were carefully staged in order for the house the agent thought you may like look that much better. Recruiters often use the same technique.
Hiring managers rarely have a detailed understanding of what their ideal interview candidate is and generally do not want to make an offer to the first person in the interview process. Recruiters know this and therefore insert into the interview process "calibration candidates". These are interview candidates that the recruiter doesn't believe are the best fit for the job, but will help make their chosen candidate look that much better when they are interviewed by their client.
3. "I get measured by how quickly I fill a job opening."
Larger companies often employ a staff of in-house recruiters, many as temporary contractors, to fill their open positions. The metric most often used to measure an in-house recruiter's performance is the average number of days to fill an open position. The quality of the people hired is not easily measured until long after the newly recruited individual is on the job. So the recruiter is motivated to bring in the lowest caliber interview candidates that are just above the bar for hiring over spending the much greater effort to find truly exceptional candidates.
4. "I'm using your confidential resume to market my firm to new companies."
Contingency recruiting firms market themselves to new corporate customers by showing them a select group of resumes of people they "represent". However they might not actually be representing them at all. The next time you agree to send your resume to a recruiting firm they might be turning it around and using it to market themselves to new clients. I initially learned of this technique after agreeing to give my resume to a recruiting firm and later discovering they were using it as a sales tool to prospective clients. In no way was this firm "representing me".
5. "Last month I was selling subprime mortgages."
Recruiters are sales people. They sell candidates to hiring managers and new companies/positions to candidates. While the top retained search firms employ highly skilled and experienced professionals, many contingency recruiters jumped into the field from some other sales domain - timeshares in Florida, brokering subprime mortages, .....
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Those Crazy Consultants
Those Crazy Consultants are at it again:
Demoable
Pronunciation: dem-o-ah-bull
Function: adjective
Inflected Form(s): demoed; demo·ing
Etymology: ERP Implementation
Date: 2008
1 a: the ability to display or present for a show or an audience. "The product is demoable."
2 a: the ability to show in a social setting. "My new boy/girlfriend is demoable; I can introduce him/her to the family."
Demoable
Pronunciation: dem-o-ah-bull
Function: adjective
Inflected Form(s): demoed; demo·ing
Etymology: ERP Implementation
Date: 2008
1 a: the ability to display or present for a show or an audience. "The product is demoable."
2 a: the ability to show in a social setting. "My new boy/girlfriend is demoable; I can introduce him/her to the family."
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