Replacing Fergie
First the shock resignation of Pope Benedict; Then yesterday the announcement of (for some) an even more significant departure of …
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Thatcher & Women on Boards
Last week saw the passing of one of the most influential figures in the Women in Business argument, controversial Women’s …
What happened to the ‘Job For Life’?
It’s my wedding anniversary today; five years, no time at all in the halls of marriage….. but in career terms, …
Recruitment and YOUR Digital Footprint
Think back over the last 10 years of your life. Think of the most riotous night out/holiday/party in that time. …
Recruiting the best person: Not just a Papal issue
In the last few months, dozens of CEOs of major organisations have ‘resigned’. For most it leads back to the …
Getting Noticed by and Networking with HeadHunters
Would you sell your car and walk home if someone offered you enough money for it? If you wouldn’t, you …
What to do WHEN you get HeadHunted….
We’ve all been HeadHunted. It’s flattering, but when that all important call comes from a true Corporate HeadHunter…are you ready? …
Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot?
Happy New Year! Should Old Acquaintance Be Forgot? Ok, it’s a rhetorical question asking if old times should be forgotten and …
Happy New Year!
HAPPY NEW YEAR! New job in your life or new talent in your business, the New Year is a great …
Your CV: 20 things to do (and 20 things to avoid!)
Let’s start by blowing a myth away. The 2 page rule is nonsense. Do NOT try and fit 20 years …
Having Elvis in your Corner.
Picture the scene, I’m sat in the ‘Blue Corner’ dressing room, an hour before my Charity White Collar Boxing fight, …
The Risk of Recruiting a Bunch of Bankers?
Sir David Walker started his new job yesterday as Barclays Chairman. Less than 24 hours in, he has already announced …
Women in Boardrooms: Supply not Quotas.
Last year, Lord Davies of Abersoch decreed that businesses should have 25% of the seats around the country’s boardrooms occupied …
RVP Vs the CEO
Later tonight, Robin Van Persie is likely to make his debut for Manchester United. The move has had universal approval …
Priority seating for Pregnant CEOs?
Last week, Yahoo appointed their 5th CEO in 5 years. They have chosen an outstanding candidate. Two degrees in Computer …
Replacing Diamond as a “Gilt’s Best Friend”.
“Barclay’s CEO, Bob Diamond, resigns with immediate effect” the Sky News tickertape announced just before 7.30am a week ago today, …
Manchester: The True Second City
I’m a Yorkshireman. For those that don’t understand the War of the Roses and the 600 years of subsequent ‘discussion’, …
JFDI (without the risk)
Being reserved is a Great British trait, but is it outdated? And did it ever have a place in business? …
Things we learn from Men in Lycra
I was lucky enough to be a special guest of the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital Charity at yesterday’s Great Manchester …
“Stop Whining and Work Harder”
This was Prime Minister David Cameron’s message to business and workers earlier this week. Does he have a point? The …
Pick on the Big Guy(s)
We’ve currently got four FTSE C-Level searches live; three FTSE-100, one FTSE-250; two CFOs, two CEOs. It’s a great coup, but …
20 reasons why there’s more to Headhunting than LinkedIN
“We’ve decided not to appoint a headhunter, we’re going to have a look on LinkedIN instead.” Possibly the most increasingly …
An Interview on Interviews
Interview skills are probably the hardest and most underestimated part of the recruitment process. It is the biggest area we …
Question Time: Got Manchester Talking.
I was privileged enough to be a Question Time panel member at yesterday’s inaugural Talk of Manchester event. Great event …
Your Life, Your Business, Your Career….Your Hands
“Whether you believe you can do something, or believe you can’t; You are probably right”. It’s a great quote, said …
The Blind recruiting for The Psychic?
Take a look at today’s Sunday Times appointments section. The front page has 8 advertisements on, each costing towards £20,000. …
How much growth is enough?
We appear to be obsessed with growth. It’s the subject of just about every board meeting and strategic discussion. It …
Fur Coat, No Knickers.
Style over substance. “Image is everything”. We spend £1,000s on clothes, skin care, hair products every year (and women can …
Be Serious.
For weeks on end, for almost 10 years, millions of TV viewers have watched Simon Cowell publicly berate dozens and dozens of …
Interfering Bankers
It used to be that the hunting season began in August, on the ‘glorious 12th’, with Grouse, before moving onto …
Turning 40
I turn 40 today. I would be lying if I dismissed it as ‘just a number’. It has been a …
Wanted: Disabled Black Lesbian?
Over the last few days we’ve had a number of people bleating about the lack of Salfordians getting jobs at the BBC’s …
Great Britain. GREATER Manchester.
This morning, at North-West Business Insider’s latest economic forum, one of the two ‘Dons’ of Manchester, the great Sir Richard …
No Longer Grim Up North
It’s a good day to run a business in the North. Of all the businesses announcing figures in the last …
The Man That (shouldn’t have) Pressed Send
“Success is the result of good judgment, good judgment is the result of experience; Experience is often the result of …
Dark-Art of HeadHunting?
A Dark Art? Not really. True Head-Hunters will typically have approaching 20 years commercial experience, often far more. Their knowledge …
Director Movements
Recent survey of the countries leading businesses gave interesting results. A number of unsurprising trends emerged from the survey: NEDs: …
Transferable Skills?
“Whilst I don’t technically have the experience you requested, I feel my Transferable Skills enable me to fulfil the role”. …
It’s not fair
Same old statistics/same old complaints? Another report citing that the proportion of total income earned by the top 1% of …
Darwin in 2011: Survival of the…..Average Jo(anne)?
Be the best you can be. Once upon a time, we were all encouraged to work hard, to excel, to …
Celebrating Success
In a session with a business mentor last week, he posed an interesting question: What is Success? It got us all thinking. …
Q3: What Happened? What can we do?
Growth slowed: The pace of US, UK and German growth slowed sharply in the quarter. Gloomier outlook: OECD significantly revised …
