This year has been ‘different’ – no matter who you are or what you do, the rules have changed.  We go into buildings wearing a mask (who ever thought that going into a bank wearing a mask would be acceptable behavior).  We silently judge people when they...

Each work day, I receive an e-mail from Hunt Scanlon Media (a source of information in the human capital sector) – see https://huntscanlon.com/.  Last week, they included an article on selecting the right search firm – see...

Surprises in my business are not necessarily a good thing – especially when we are learning about a candidate.  We need to get to know candidates quite well.  We want to know about their education and experience.  We want to know their chronological...

The vast majority of candidates that we contact for the retained/executive searches are happily, busily and gainfully employed.  When we reach out to them, we do not know if they are open to a move.  We don’t even know if they are open to our call.  We,...

I was reading Friday’s Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal (from October 12, 2018).  There is a program coming up called the Better Business Bureau (BBB) Torch Awards for Ethics.  The accompanying information says the program is an opportunity to...

I should not have to repeat this message every six months.  But we are being tested . . . . . people are being more creative.  Two stories need to be told - one from the news (politics); one about one of our candidates.   We have...

We interview people for a living.  We don’t interview many, however.  We talk to hundreds – many of those conversations are short.  We explain why we are calling.  We explore the basics of an opportunity to see if it is appropriate for the person...

Clients often ask search firms how they are different from others.  There are many angles from which to view a given firm’s differentiation—geographic focus, industry sector specialization, and functional focus, to name a few.  However, one of the...

Go to the website of most search firms.  They are similar - approach, team, etc.  But something is often missing.   Off-Limits This is a topic that is rarely proactive asked about, but has been one of the reasons we have...

(Our first guest blog - thank you to Brenda Devlin!) An HR professional in the job market: As an HR leader, I found myself in the job market recently after successfully restructuring myself out of a job. Going into the job search, I...