Dark Art of Head-Hunting Category
Making The Most of a Candidate-Short Market.
Posted on January 26, 2022
I have a milestone birthday tomorrow. A big one. The sort that really makes you reflect, and feels like the culmination of years of counting down to it. The gravity of this milestone was heightened by a new search we won and commenced last week – a fantastic MD role for an eCommerce fashion business, […]
The War For Talent Goes Cultural
Posted on January 25, 2022
2022. Three weeks in and already it’s the year of [alleged] illicit parties and the Chinese ‘James Bond’ (who turned out to be a 58-yr old female solicitor). It’s also the start of the most candidate-driven market place I’ve seen in 25 years, with more people working than ever and more job vacancies than job […]
Boardroom clear-outs. A new epidemic? Investors become Dons.
Posted on July 1, 2020 13 Comments
Tom Hagen was removed as Consigliere by Don Michael Corleone, replaced by Michael’s father, the former Don, Vito, soon after Michael assumed the lead of the ‘family business’. “You’re not a wartime Consigliere Tom” was Don Corleone’s reason to his adopted brother. Godfather analogies are rife through business leadership & advice, from “Go to the […]
Coronavirus Recruitment – Faster than HS2
Posted on May 12, 2020 Leave a Comment
The Coronavirus hasn’t been the most positive impact on the recruitment market I’ve known. As an overall sector, the market has contracted somewhere between 23% and 70% since the March 23rd lockdown announcement, depending on which source you listen to. All of which are probably largely subjective. Baring in mind as the shutters came down […]
The one with Recruitment and a Coronavirus
Posted on March 18, 2020 1 Comment
***April Update below*** Welcome to the post-apocalyptic recruitment market. Just two weeks after writing about how having No Office was deemed a greater attraction, and greater modern indicator of success than having a Hollywood-esque swanky Corner Office, we’re all being encouraged to work from home. Adopting this new thing called ‘social distancing’. The Covid-19 Coronavirus […]
Virtually Perfect – 20 Tips to Perfect Your Video Call/Interview
Posted on March 18, 2020 2 Comments
Between Social-Distancing, Self-Isolation and increasing Societal Lockdown, traditional meetings have virtually been all been converted to ‘virtual’ in the last two weeks. The UK was well behind the Far East and the US in the proportion of video meetings. In 2019 43% of US business meetings were ‘virtual’ compared with just 7% in the UK. […]
Should Old Acquaintance Be Forgot?
Posted on January 7, 2020 Leave a Comment
Happy New Year! Should Old Acquaintance Be Forgot? Ok, it’s a rhetorical question asking if old times should be forgotten and more generally a ‘call-to-remember’ long standing relationships. As a Head-Hunter, old acquaintances and long-standing relationships are the back bone to my USPs, and my life. But what of the past? Christmas and New Year is […]
31 Hacks to Help Your Next Career Move
Posted on September 3, 2019 2 Comments
Today, approximately 8.3m school pupils return to school for the new school year. If the other 8,299,999 were anything like my 10yr old daughter, the end of another summer and beginning of the new school year brought a mix of emotions – part excitement, part dread. At the same time, 31m adults likewise ‘return’ to work after summer, many returning to […]
We’re Running Out Of People….. Beating Full Employment
Posted on November 9, 2018 7 Comments
The UK is running out of workers. Depending on whose definition you use, we are at, or very close to Full Employment. At 4% the unemployment rate is at the lowest level for almost 50 years. 4% is even well below the current rate in historically low-unemployment countries such as Sweden, Denmark and Canada. An […]
First Impressions. 13 tips & why you should look at your feet when meeting someone.
Posted on September 27, 2018 28 Comments
“You have less than 30 seconds to make a first impression”. An old adage that everyone got taught as soon as they were expected to make an impression. Is it right? Or is it 7 seconds like my old school careers guidance counselor repeatedly repeated? (whilst wearing hush-puppies and a corduroy jacket with at least 20 […]
Why Recruitment Is Like Gin
Posted on April 2, 2018 28 Comments
Seemingly the world’s most tenuous subject for a blog? But bear with me. Gin really is the same as recruitment,….. As anyone who knows me will testify, the only thing that can challenge my family and my business for space in my life is Gin. Gin is my Kryptonite, what started as a means to […]
Qualification Vs Experience
Posted on May 15, 2017 11 Comments
Justine Greening was in the press for ‘forcing’ an exam culture on 7yr old kids through “SATS” tests earlier this month, sparking trade-union-esque walk-outs of parents and their children…(walking-out all the way to the local park in the sunshine of last week). The cry was that tests and scoring at this age isn’t important and adds undue […]
Dear America….
Posted on November 11, 2016 28 Comments
We feel your pain. You didn’t get the President many of you wanted. You didn’t get the President most of us wanted you to get. But as President Obama predicted, the sun still rose on Wednesday. It rose again yesterday and today. It will rise again tomorrow. We now see protests, complaints and anger. Don’t […]
Social Media in Business – Survey
Posted on May 11, 2016 Leave a Comment
I blogged two years ago about the value of Social Media in business; specifically MY business. Read it here: What’s Twitter Worth To You?. In short, I valued my Social Media exposure, primarily Twitter, as worth £100,000 to my business in just 6 months. Two years on, Social Media is dominating most business’s sales strategy, […]
Your Life, Your Career…Your Hands. Lessons from Tony Robbins
Posted on April 25, 2016 7 Comments
“Whether you believe you can do something, or believe you can’t; You are probably right”. It’s a great quote, said by Henry Ford but adopted by 1,000s. It relates to self belief, and specifically, the power of the subconscious mind – both of which are the cornerstone of Neuro-Linguistic Programming. The power of the sub-conscious mind is […]
Gambling with Murdoch
Posted on April 11, 2016 11 Comments
Take a look at yesterday’s Sunday Times appointments section….or rather, the appointments page, gone are the days when it had its own section. It now struggles to even fill a whole page. And yet, there is still approaching £100,000 worth of advertising contained within that one page, with each advert costing £10-15,000. Amongst them only one quotes […]
New Year/New Challenge? Market Review of 2015…£1m of Live Roles for 2016
Posted on January 4, 2016 2 Comments
Happy New Year! The beginning of 2015 saw unprecedented activity in Executive Search, activity levels which only increased as the year developed, mirroring business confidence and general economic optimism. That momentum was carried into 2016, even before it began, with over £1m of live vacancies to start our New Year. Details on those below. 2015 saw salary levels begin […]
Competency Based Interviews: What to ask. How to Answer
Posted on November 11, 2015 6 Comments
Competency Based Interviewing is often seen as a dark-art from the mystical world of HR. Or just BullS**t. Truth is, it’s neither. Many of my clients scoff at HR functions that use highly scripted CBI questions, decreeing them as far too fluffy. And they can be right at that. I’m vocal about interview style. My […]
10 Top Manchester Roam-Working Venues. (Mindfulness at Work)
Posted on October 8, 2015 19 Comments
I’ve always been classed as a Maverick, never more so than with interviewing. It’s led to my biggest career arguments spanning 20 years: My interview training back in 1994 that insisted interviews were a scientific process. The 60+ yr old Executive Search stalwart in 1999 that reprimanded me for being conversational, and smiling, during an […]
31 Hacks to Help Your Next Career Move
Posted on September 16, 2015 7 Comments
Earlier this month, approximately 8.3m school pupils returned to school for the new school year. If the other 8,299,999 were anything like my daughter, the end of summer and beginning of the new school year brought a mix of emotions – part excitement, part dread. At the same time, 31m adults likewise ‘returned’ to work […]
Too Fat To Get A Job?
Posted on July 8, 2015 45 Comments
A recent conversation with a business journalist started with the bizarre comment that her research had uncovered that ‘Fatism’ didn’t really exist in recruitment. I nearly spat my Gin & (light) Tonic out. Fatism exists in life, and most certainly in recruitment. First Impressions count for everything. I blogged on this subject last year and […]
20 tips to turn your next Video Interview into an Oscar winner
Posted on May 7, 2015 9 Comments
It’s over 50 years ago that JFK defeated Nixon in the first ever, televised presidential debate. JFK won, not just because of what he said, but because he and his team knew how to manage that new medium. He knew that a blue shirt played well on screen, Nixon just wore his standard white and […]
Think Different. Think Chemistry Fit. (No Such Thing As Bad PR)
Posted on February 1, 2015 8 Comments
I got into recruitment nearly 20 years ago with the phrase “Gary, you’re a gobby little sh*t. Ever considered recruitment?”. My career as an accountant was ended with a 50% pay rise and a company car. My personality had got me the job. 6 months later it saw my Mondeo GLX company car replaced with […]
Manchester Mayor: Please, Not Another B****y Councillor
Posted on November 11, 2014 25 Comments
So Manchester is getting its devolution. Great news. Another first for the UK’s second city. As part of the deal, we also get a Mayor, our own ‘Boris’ to oversee Greater Manchester in a similar fashion to the remit the real Boris has overseeing Greater London. I was asked to speak (to rant on a […]
What’s Twitter Worth (to you?)….Spoiler: More than you think!
Posted on October 14, 2014 13 Comments
Twitter is everywhere. Individuals and businesses alike herald it as one of the best engagement/communication/collaboration/information sources around. But what is it worth? And is it worth your time invested? As of today, Twitter is worth $31.3bn, increased from $24bn on IPO last year (but down from $44bn earlier this year). With 271m active monthly users […]
Interviewing. 20 Questions That Could Make All The Difference
Posted on January 8, 2014 21 Comments
For all its flaws, the interview is still the best means of assessing individuals for a specific role…..but only if done properly. Let me start by saying there is no definitively perfect interview. My approach and style certainly isn’t, and thus what you read below is wholly subjective. However, the way I conduct my interviews, […]
Dark-Art of HeadHunting?
Posted on December 30, 2013 8 Comments
A Dark Art? Not really. True Head-Hunters will typically have approaching 20 years commercial experience, often far more. Their knowledge base of high-performance individuals and key leaders is typically immense and when married to an ability to map, research and approach unknown individuals in target organisations becomes a compelling skill. True and effective Head-Hunters are great […]
An Interview on Interviews
Posted on December 20, 2013 25 Comments
Interview skills are probably the hardest and most underestimated part of the recruitment process. It is the biggest area we have to train our clients, and something everyone thinks they can do…until they are faced with doing it. This is the transcript of a recent interview I did on Interviewing for an Exec Search Publication: […]
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