Breaking Down The 6 Seconds Of Your Resume

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The Ladders released some research in the past couple of weeks that focused on how a recruiter reads your resume.  It was really good stuff for job seekers to pay attention to, but it was mostly sent to HR and Recruiter types who shrugged their shoulders and thought ‘Yeah, so.” Basically, what the study showed was that a recruiter really only spends about 6 seconds initially viewing your resume (that first screen)!  For years the industry has used ten seconds as a staple, regardless, we knew it was a very short time.

The study also shows where a recruiter’s eyes focus while looking at your resume for six seconds.  This is even more brilliant! I’ve first saw this technology used with the design of Facebook’s UI.  They were able to see how people stared at their Facebook page to determine the best place for their ads.  And you thought they just put them on the side to get them out of the way!  It’s very scientific, and researchers use technology that will show a heat-map like image that indicates where you gaze the longest. On a Facebook page, on a resume, etc. It can used in a number of fashions to show where an individual focuses their attention.

So, in the six seconds a recruiter is looking at your resume, where do they look?  Here are the main areas by emphasis:

1. First job listed – Current Position.  That one you list, hopefully, right under your opening “Objective” header.  A recruiter will immediately scan to that section as they quickly scan by your objective, and spend a little more time looking at the Job Title, Dates and opening sentence (so make it a good one!).  They spend very little time on all those paragraphs and bullet points you put below that.

2. Next job listed – Previous Position. Okay, she is working here, and she use to work here.  It’s that quick.  They don’t care that you ‘totally re-processed’ the supply cabinet, and led the company in quarterly metrics, blah, blah, blah contests, are you still reading this, no one reads this far into your resume!

2. Education.  From your first job listed (let’s be clear, it’s not your actual first job ever worked, but the first job you have listed on your resume) the recruiter will quickly move to Education.  Why?  Basically, they’ve determined you’re working, or have worked, in the right kind of job for what they are looking for, so now they want to know what kind of education you have.

That’s it. Your six seconds is over.

I just saved you $1000 on getting your resume professionally done. It’s not needed, unless you have my grammar skills, than you might want to invest. The reality of today’s recruiter, and even hiring managers, is that your resume will won’t get read until you get to the next level.  This is actually an advantage to you if you know how to design your resume, using the data from the study!

All you really need is a USA Today style resume.  Do you know why the USA Today is such a popular national newspaper?  Because almost all of us are really stupid and lazy.  We like big pictures, colors and bullet pointed lists.  That is all the USA Today delivers in terms of news.  No details, just the headlines and the sexy stuff.  That is what your resume should be.  At least on that initial first page.

5 Traits of Lousy HR Leaders

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The things you can always count on in life are: death, taxes and a lousy HR leader in your organization.  I think I saw that on a t-shirt at SHRM National one year!  The reality is, HR leaders are selected a little different than most leaders in our organization.  Most leadership is selected this way (right or wrong):

1. Perform really, really well

2. Get promoted into a position of leadership, whether you can lead or not.

I call this ‘Best Performance Leadership Selection’.  This is the selection process for leadership by roughly 97% of organizations worldwide!  You’re great at your job, you will be great as a leader.  Pretty sound selection process, right!?

HR leaders are selected almost the same, but with a slightly small difference:

1. Have really long tenure in the HR department at your organization.

2. Get promoted into a HR leadership position.

Sound familiar?  I call this ‘I’ve Been Here The Longest Leadership Selection’.  This is the selection process for HR leadership in roughly 97% of organizations worldwide! You might be great at your job, but we don’t really care, you’ve been here longer than anyone else in HR so now you’re the leader!

Sometimes reading what we do, in black and white, is depressing…

The problem with this type of HR leadership selection (besides the painfully obvious things) is we usually end up with lousy HR leaders.  Here are the traits of really lousy HR Leaders, just so you know if you have one or not:

– Rely on Faulty Metrics to make Major HR Decisions, and fail to track results. Well, we’ve been using time to fill and turnover for the past 20 years here, why would we stop!  Also, let’s keep using these subjective measures to determine if we are successful, because, well, hey, they’re subjective and at the end of the day I want to show our executives we are successful, whether we are or not.

– Not Championing Weighted Risk.  Lousy HR leaders love to cover their own ass more than any other single thing they do.  In HR we advise of risk, and give opinion on how to move forward.  Lousy HR leaders will not champion risk at any level, for fear it might come back on them.  Organizations take risk every single day. It’s not HR’s job to eliminate risk, it’s our job to champion appropriate risk and be all in with our business partners.

– Not Having the Tough Conversation.  Most leadership fails at this, but HR can’t.  We have to be the coaches for all other leadership in our organization.  If anyone knows how to have a tough conversation, it has to be HR.  Yet, most fail at this miserably.  Lousy HR Leaders are superficial and shallow in their opinions and directions, and don’t seek clarification on things in the organization that people are leaving to assumption.

– Not Aligning their Vision with the Organization’s Vision.  This is a definite sign of lousy leadership.  If your group, department, function leader can’t create a vision at their level that aligns with the organization, they have no direction.  Another sign of lousy leadership is when your leader just uses the organization vision and can’t break it down to a functional level.  This is just flat out lazy.

– Not being able to Lead Employees Equally Different.  Yes, all employees are created equal.  That doesn’t mean that all employees are treated equal. There is a fine line between treating everyone the same, and making people feel equal.  I want all my employees to feel like no one is better than another, but we also have to have a fundamental organizational understanding that at certain points and times some employees must be treated differently, for the good of the organization.  Lousy HR leaders are uncomfortable with this concept because it’s easy to just fall back on ‘we treat everyone the same.’

The Secret to Great HR

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(I’m on vacation, that’s not a secret, but this post is because it ran in Jan. 2010 almost no one read it!)

I was given a gift this past holiday season – my brother bought me Bill Simmons’ latest book, The Book of Basketball– which is quite possibly the greatest book ever written, all 700 pages of it. It’s not just about the NBA (although it’s pretty damn comprehensive on that subject), it also has many leadership and life lessons as well.  One of my favorite parts has to do with Piston great and Hall of Fame guard, Isiah Thomas*, explaining to Bill the “Secret” of basketball – to the point of what it takes for a team to win a world championship in the NBA.  Boiled down into a sentence or two, the secret to winning, according to Isiah, has to do less with great individual players and more about a group of really good players, foregoing personal statistics, for the good of the whole.  Sounds simple enough – we all get that – but then why do so many great players miss this easily understood concept?**

Don’t worry about yourself (and your own success), worry about your team’s success, that is, if you truly want to be successful.

I started to think about this concept in all other areas of my life.***  HR isn’t difficult, usually, for the most part, it’s a fairly straight forward concept – get great people, keep great people happy, customers benefit, profits come, stakeholders happy, repeat.****  But, there has to be a secret, because probably 80% or so, of HR Pros out there, don’t get it and aren’t helping make their organizations better through great HR.

So, like Isiah, I’m going to share The Secret To Great HR.  I know what you’re thinking, why would I do this – I could easily go all Malcolm Gladwell on you and write a book, and be a thousandaire, or something. But I’m not, I’m giving it away free because I like karma better than money*****  and I see it as my gift back to all the HR Pros out there who could use the help right about now.

The Secret To Great HR –

The secret is extraordinarily simple, it’s all about a few close relationships.  Depending on what type of organization you come from, it has to do with the relationship you have with those who are running operations. First, every organization has some type of operation – meaning every organization produces something – product, service, etc. Even in church, the pastor runs operations – sharing the gospel with people, for example.

So, in your organization, to have great HR – the leadership in HR, must have a great relationship with the leadership in Operations.  I’m talking husband/wife great relationship******* your best friend in the world type relationship, someone you could go on vacation for a week, and share a hotel room type relationship. The blocking and tackling of HR isn’t difficult – but becomes incredibly difficult without support from your operation’s partner.  People miss this – and it’s very simple.  Instead, in HR, we work to make new processes, new programs, better orientation, more specific recruiting plans, user-friendly HRIS, etc.  Then, we get completely frustrated when we can’t get rank and file to follow some very simple steps to make it all run extremely smooth.

Why?  Because mostly we do this, without operations really buying into, or even wanting, our latest and greatest new thingy we just put together – For them, by the way!  If you have a strong relationship with Ops, they will tell you what they need, help you design it, roll it out for you, and make their own processes to ensure it’s followed.  Wow! Doesn’t that sound nice? All because of a relationship.*********

PS: *****If you don’t get the use of “*” references, read The Book of Basketball******

PPS: It’s my inner dialogue thoughts

*I liked Isiah, being the huge Piston fan that I am – but really more of a Joe Dumars fan – when I was 16 my Dad got tickets to see the Pistons vs. Lakers (my other favorite team – being that Magic is a Sparty) and after the game I got my picture taken with then rookie, Joe Dumars and 7′ 5″ Chuck Nevitt – I can still remember the conversation: Me “Joe great game”; Joe (looking completely exhausted and pissed he had to take pictures after a Sunday game on national TV with the Lakers, with some fans, who only got the chance because Tropicana or some other sponsor told him he had to do it) “Thanks” – Smile – click – interaction over.  I’ll be a fan of Joe the rest of my life!

**I say simple enough, but let’s face it most people are idiots and don’t get this, and really only worry about themselves.

***So, besides work, that means youth sports and how to keep my wife happy

****I always find it amazing how you can use a shampoo-rinse-repeat analogy in almost any conversation.

*****Not really, I like money a whole lot, but I’m really hoping this blog thing turns into a TV deal – so I got to give a little away for free – wet the appetite so to speak.

******I know some might be thinking husband/wife aren’t a great relationship analogy – but that’s because you didn’t find your soul mate – sucks to be you – sorry.

********It helps to go out drinking with them as well – after a couple of drinks, somehow what they really want from HR comes out!

Candidates with Hickeys

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(I’m on vacation – I originally posted this in Feb. 2010 over at Fistful of Talent. Also going on 16,123 days of never having a Hickey!)

Kris Dunn, our the HR Capitalist, had a blog post “How To Destroy a Lifetime of Trust as an HR Pro in a Single Day…” where he explained how a direct report broke the cardinal rule in HR and shared confidential information, or more specifically tried to use confidential information for personal gain. It wasn’t something illegal, it had nothing to do with their individual functional performance as a Director of HR, but what this person did was destroy the trust they had with their leader (although I could argue that if a HR Pro can’t keep confidential information confidential – you probably do have a performance issue). Good post – go over and read it, if you haven’t.

The post got me thinking though about how a person recovers from this type of transgression. (Also take a look at this WSJ article “How a Black Mark Can Derail a Job Search“.  As a leader, Kris was pained for sure, because this person had “High-Potential” and was an “A” player.  But when certain things happen, professionally, you have to cut ties and move on.  So now, this Hi-Po has a huge Hickey.  Interestingly though, this Hickey can’t be seen when you look at their resume or interview them in person, but it’s a Hickey they can’t get rid of.  So, barring a life-turtleneck how does one cover this puppy up?

It’s interesting because I think that probably the best of us have a hickey or two that we would rather not have our current or future employer know about.  Sometimes they’re big-giant-in-the-back-of-a-Chevy-17-year-old-I-will-love-you-forever hickeys and sometimes they’re just oops-I-lingered-a-little-too-long type of hickeys. Either way, I would rather not expose my hickeys and have to worry about how this will impact the rest of my professional life. And here’s where most people drive themselves crazy.

As HR Pros I think it’s important for us to be able to help our organizations determine the relative value of individuals.  This person was a rock star at ABC company – did something wrong, couldn’t maintain that position any longer with ABC because of said incident, and lost their job – now we have a chance to pick up a Rock Star (and probably for a discount).  The question you have to ask is not could we live with this person if they did the same thing here?  Because that really isn’t the question – you already have that answer – No.  The question is: do we feel this person learned from said wrong doing and is there any risk of them doing it again?  You might come to the conclusion – yes, they’ve learned, and yes, there is potential they might do it again (let’s face it, if they did it once, they’ve shown they can do it, so there’s always a risk) – but it’s a risk we are willing to take.

So how does someone come back from a transgression at work? The answer is that they have some help.  Eventually, someone is going to ask the question, “why aren’t you with ABC Company anymore?”  They’ll give you the canned answer they’ve been developing since the moment they lost their job. If you’re a good interviewer, you won’t buy the first answer:  “I mean really?!  So, you decided it was better off not to have a job. Is what you’re telling me?!”,  and you will dig to see the hickey.  Hickeys are funny in that you really can’t take your eyes off of them, but for those who can get by the hickeys, you might just find a great talent who is grateful for the second chance.

But, you also might find someone who just likes being in the back of that Chevy and getting Hickeys. You’re the HR Pro, though, and that’s really why your company pays your salary, to mitigate risk versus the quality of talent your organization needs to succeed.  So, you have to ask yourself, can you live with a Hickey or not?

Attention Employees: Get Healthy, Or You’re Fired.

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(I’m on vacation, I originally posted this on Fistful of Talent in August of 2009 -way before Obamacare, but still rings true!)

I love companies that have had enough and aren’t going to take it anymore (Network clip). I also love listening to the workers, of said company, complain about how their company is “being intrusive” because they are being “forced” to take care of themselves.  The Wall Street Journal has an article entitled When All Else Fails: Forcing Workers Into Healthy Habits that uncovers the latest employer, AmeriGas Propane Inc., which gave its employees an ultimatum: get their medical checkups or lose their health insurance.  Isn’t that wonderful!?  Here is an employer who loves its people so much, they want to make sure they are going to be healthy and actually survive to collect their paycheck. Talk about employee engagement.

So, what is wrong with this?  Well, let’s just hear from one skeptical AmeriGas employee:

“Dennis Price Sr., a 48-year-old propane-truck driver in the company’s Warrenton, Va., office, says he was “a little shocked” by the idea at first. “I thought it was an invasion of our privacy,” he says. Mr. Price had never gotten his cholesterol checked, and generally avoided doctors.”

Sounds like he’s taking his god-given-all-American right to be unhealthy – nothing wrong yet. What say the unions?

“Labor officials say they object to the idea of mandated health tests. “This is a personal health matter,” says Gerry Shea, assistant to the president of the AFL-CIO. “To bring it into the workplace and tie it to benefits is inappropriate. It’s like Big Brother.”

Sounds like more god-given, all-American wisdom – boy I can smell the apple pie cookin’! What about management?

“Despite these efforts, Mr. Katz (VP of HR) and benefits director Carol Guinan found themselves in April 2007 chewing over some unpalatable numbers. Besides annual health-expense increases of 10% or more, the company, which self-insures its health plan, had paid more than two dozen insurance claims in the previous year for amounts greater than $100,000. Its workers had high rates of diabetes and heart disease.

 

The program, dubbed Operation Save-A-Life, was unveiled in August 2007 and took effect the following January. Each worker received a DVD at home to explain the effort and discuss cost and health statistics. One fact: AmeriGas employees younger than 60 were dying of natural causes at nearly three times the expected rate for that age group based on actuarial data.

 

AmeriGas estimates that more than 90% of its workers have gotten the required exams. Use of cholesterol drugs rose 13.6% in 2008 from a year earlier. For diabetes drugs, the increase was 7.7%, and for asthma medications and blood-pressure medicines, it was 7.4% and 2.5%, respectively.”

Damn management – they always have more to say and have all those fancy numbers!

The article, also, points out two specific examples of the screens catching one employee’s breast cancer, self-admittedly, earlier then she ever would have caught it herself. Also, the screens caught another employee who had liver disease and was able to reverse the effects by early detection.

I know there is a gray area here where companies can go overboard, but in today’s competitive world for talent, you can’t tell me that most companies aren’t trying to do the right thing.  Is making your employees go get a health screen a bad thing?  Probably not. Is firing them because they have high cholesterol after the screen a bad thing? Depends on their performance…  Just kidding… the fact of the matter is we have a broken healthcare system and most employers have to do something to reduce costs. So they can either interview under the precursor “does this person look young and healthy”, or we can allow them some slack to help make their own workforce a bit more healthy.

7 Things I Wouldn’t Do To Get A Job

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(I’m on vacation, I originally posted this in 2009 – except for #7, that’s new, not the feeling but to this post!)

A Wall Street Journal article, by Joann S. Lublin, raised the question: “What won’t you do for a Job?”  Which got me thinking about what are those things I wouldn’t do for a job.  First, I had to set some parameters around the question:

1. Not just any job (I can get any job) but a really good job.  You know the one: your career Camelot – great pay, benefits, work, boss, co-workers – plus you’re out by 4pm everyday!  Or whatever it is that is your perfect combination of factors for the perfect job.

2. Also, I can’t go to prison for what I would do – I’m short and soft – meaning, I’m fairly certain I would end up someone’s wife in prison.

With the parameters set, the question really set me free to think about what I wouldn’t do for the “perfect” career opportunity.  So, I’ll give you the short list:

 1. I won’t kill anyone in my immediate family (wife and 3 sons), everyone else is open season. (probably goes back to the prison thing – I’m soft, plus my grandma would hate it if I got sent to prison and I really love her.).

2.  I won’t eat bugs or cauliflower (yes, I consider them the same food group).

3.  I won’t work for free.  Everyone has a price and mine is above “Free”!  Plus, I work for free enough in my current job as Headhunter!

4. I  won’t stay past 5pm (or any other arbitrary time), just because my boss stays past 5pm because he doesn’t have a life and thinks everyone should stay past 5, or they’re not dedicated or hard working.

5.  I won’t allow my opinions to be squelched by the man! (oh wait, yes I will, but it will cost them!)

6.  I won’t allow myself to be chased around my desk and sexually harassed by my attractive, much  younger, opposite sex, boss (ok, I might, but only if my benefits pay for divorce and I get a big raise!).

7. I won’t become a University of Michigan fan.  I actually told my sons if they got a scholarship to go to UofM I would root for ‘them’, not the school, but them personally.

So, what won’t you do for the ‘perfect’ job?   Hit me in the comments and let me know…

The Great Job Lottery!

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(This originally ran in 2011 on The Project. Only 14 people read my stuff back then, so you probably missed it!)

You know what’s funny (well, I think it’s funny anyway), I refuse to play the Lotto. Any of the games: PowerBall, MegaMillions, etc. Until they get above $100 Million!  Once they get above $100 Million, I’m all in.  Here’s the funny part, I get it, I get how stupid the whole thing sounds.  I know I’m more likely to get hit by lightening, while running with siccors, next to Kevin Bacon, I get the odds.  I get that I’m actually making my chances of winning even less, by only playing when the numbers are higher.  To me, That’s funny!  Why in the world do I still do it, when I understand the odds I’m facing?

First, the Lotto is really the last great American Dream.  It use to be get a great job, marry, buy house, etc.  Not anymore.  All we have left is the Lotto baby.  So, if I’m really going to live the American Dream, I don’t want to “just” win $5, 10 or even 50 Million! I mean, can you imagine actually winning the Lotto and only winning $1 Million!  You can’t retire and quit your job on $1 Million after taxes, you would still have to work.  But not only that, you would probably have to work even harder because you would be all ghetto rich and go buy a house and other stuff you can’t afford.  So, if I’m winning, I’m winning the Big One or nothing.  It’s my dream, go get your own.

So, what does the Lottery have to do with HR?  It’s the concept that a very small number are going to win, and most are going to be living the “real” American Dream of living check to check, average work environment, average leadership, just plain average.  But! for a slight few, they win the job lottery.  Even some in HR will win the job lottery.  I use to think, there was no such thing as the job lottery.  The people working for those “Great” companies, getting those “crazy” benefits, and “outstanding” quality of life, well they were just the tops in their field and the recruiting departments of those teams searched the entire universe to find the best.  Right!? I mean don’t tell me it could be right place, right time! I stumbled into a 7/11 looking for a roller hot dog and Slurpee and the clerk talked me into spending $1 more dollar on a ticket and now I’m the richest guy in my trailer park…it couldn’t be that…could it?!?

I believe in every great company, they are great people employed, doing great things to keep their companies on top.  I also believe, in the worst companies, you will find great people, doing great things, just trying to keep their companies afloat.  In fact, those great ones, at the worst companies, might be even a little better than their counterparts at the best companies.  I also believe that every company, even the great ones, have “pretenders”, people who live off the reputation of the company they work for, and try and pin their company’s reputation on their chest as their own.  I know this because I run into many of the “pretenders” professionally, and within minutes of having a real conversation with them, it’s painfully obvious, they are not their companies.  That’s how the Lottery works.  It doesn’t discriminate, it doesn’t show favorites, it doesn’t force you play, it just does.

Don’t believe me? You are probably at a great company, and I must be wrong!  Check out your demographics.  I’ll bet 75%+ of your workforce comes from within 50 miles of your location.  So, what you’re telling me, is you live in some “freak” community where 75%+ of the people just happen to be the top in their field!  No you don’t, you just happen to have one very common trait with many of your co-workers, you all were in the right place, at the right time.  You all won the job lottery!  Don’t be defensive, there isn’t any need.  I’m not going to be defensive when I win the $100M and someone says, “you’re only rich and powerful and where polka-dot shoes because you won the lottery!” For which I’ll say, “Yes, yes I did. No get back to work, ironing my underwear.”

Embrace you good fortune my HR brethren, I’ll even celebrate your good fortune with you, but please don’t act like your G*d’s gift to HR because you were lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time.

3 Ways To Change Your Life, Overnight!

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Yo!  I’m on vacation for the next week.  Instead of writing I’m gong to run old posts that no one read, but I thought were brilliant.  That’s the hard part because I think everything I write is brilliant.  Some of the stuff really gets well read, and some of the stuff just sits there and gets no love.  In 5 years of blog writing, I still haven’t found out why some pieces I write don’t get read!  I mean, I know why some do.

Everyone wants to read – “3 Ways To Change Your Life Overnight!”  There is this belief that idiots like me will somehow write this brilliant post with the 3 actual reasons to change your life overnight, but in reality this doesn’t exist.  But you click on it, because you’re hoping for a miracle.  I don’t have miracles, or I wouldn’t be writing blog posts.  I’d be sitting on a beach somewhere enjoying a margarita.  That’s how I believe miracles work. If I have one, it equals me sitting on a beach, drinking a margarita.

See!  I can’t solve your biggest problems overnight. I think miracles equal beaches and margaritas.  Which gets me back to the point – that’s where I’m going!  It’s a miracle!

I could actually just title every post something it’s not and it would get more clicks:

– The 1 Miracle Food That Will Melt Your Big Fat Belly!

– Get Pretty By Doing Nothing!

– Hire Brilliant People By Posting and Praying!

– Six Figure HR Jobs From Home!

– It’s Not You! It’s All Those Other Assholes!

– 6 Pack Abs, 6 Seconds Per Week!

– How To Kill A Hiring Manager and Not Get Caught!

See.  It works.  People don’t want real solutions, people want miracle solutions.  My miracle solution is: Beaches and Margaritas.

Sorry – that’s all I really have.

Until I get back from my miracle – enjoy the stuff you should have already enjoyed, but didn’t.

7 Habits Of Remarkably Likeable HR Managers

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Ripped from the pages of Inc. Magazine’s recent article 7 Habits of Remarkably Likeable Bosses, I give you…something slightly different:

7 Habits Of Remarkably Likeable HR Managers!

1. They are named “Kay”.  Have you ever really not liked someone named, Kay!?  Kay just seems like a friendly lady with at least 3 cats and grandchildren, a whole lot of grandchildren.  Kay is helpful.  Kay will give you a hug when you need it.  Kay brings in really good comfort food with funny names like “Redneck Bunt Cake”.

2. They dress up on dress up days at work.  You know what I’m talking about.  They wear green on St. Patrick’s Day.  They wear their normal sweater on Ugly Christmas Sweater Day.  They aren’t afraid to be apart of the festivities.  People like people who are involved.

3. They order right mix of cookies for the conference room.  Don’t even think about discounting this as ‘remarkable’!  Have you ever been late to a meeting and had to choke down an oatmeal raisin cookie!?  Likeable HR Managers know you need at least a 3 to 1 chocolate chip to raisin mix at a minimum, really high performers will forgo all raisin cookies all together.

4. They are forgetful.  You know that one holiday party where you had too much to drink and hooked up with a coworker, and your HR Manager saw? Yeah, don’t worry, she forgot on purpose, because she doesn’t want your one bad decision to haunt your entire career with the company.  Likeable HR Managers tend to forget your misdeeds (that are forgivable) and remember the value you bring to the organization!

5. They Drink the Kool-Aid.  A likeable HR Manager is one who is also an organizations cheerleader.  They support top managements decisions, and in turn help others in the organization to see the benefits as well.  This isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  Getting everyone to move in the same direction is a very powerful trait to have.  Some will view it as they are just followers, I view it as a great strategy to build influence.

6.  They cuss at your CEO.  You wouldn’t actually know about this trait, because besides being remarkably likeable, they’re also remarkably professional and only do this behind closed doors of your CEO’s office. But they do it, and they’re the only one who does it and gets away with it.  It keeps your CEO from going crazy train, and they appreciate it, as long as it stays between just the two of them.

7. They don’t rake sh*t.  You know what happens when you rake sh*t that’s been lying stagnant for a long time?  It stinks. That’s just like problems in your organization that have been laying dormant for some time.  You begin digging up and turning over stuff, you’ll find stuff that stinks.  Many times that stuff has been taken care of and is water under the bridge. No reason to rake sh*t, unless you just like the smell.

For those who will hate on this and say “I don’t want to be liked, I want to be respected!” I say, “Why, not both!?”  It’s not a one or the other choice, you can have both.  The HR Pro who can be respected and likeable is the HR Pro I want working for my team!

I Mostly Work For Free

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I’m an agency headhunter.  I love this Dilbert comic, it makes me laugh:

Dilbert Headhunter

 

The reality is, headhunting, recruiting, etc. can be a very lucrative job. Like most sales jobs, yes it’s a sales job, if you’re any good, you can make really good money. If you’re not good, you starve.

The truth about headhunting is I’m usually working for free.   I don’t blame my clients for this.  I completely know the deal going in, and if I ‘decide’ to work for free, I’ve made the conscious decision to do it.

Most people don’t know that about this profession.  That 90% of their time is spent working for free.  It’s why so many people leave agency recruiting to go to corporate recruiting.  The jobs are virtually the same, except on the corporate side you get paid each day.  You don’t get paid as well, but you get paid.  On the agency side, you rarely get paid, but if you’re good, those pay days are big.

Those in the industry will read this and think, “well, Tim, you must not be good at what you do, because I would never work for free!”  They feel like they have clients who would never asked them to do that, or they ‘qualify’ each opening before they do would take on the assignment.  Others will say, “that’s why I only work ‘retained’ search”.

Our reality, agency headhunters, is that everyday we are working on something for free.  My best clients will ask me, beg me, for help on a certain position.  We’ll work our butts off getting them great talent.  Then, we’ll get the call, “Hey, Tim, the resumes are great! We decided to go another direction. Thanks, though, we’ll definitely call the next time we have a need!”

Yep, you just worked for free.

The cool thing about a recovery economy is that the leverage of being able to go out and find more great clients is right there.  Clients who won’t want you to work for free.  Who will value the work you do for free, and not want to take advantage of that.  I feel for my brothers and sisters in the headhunting game.  Working for free never feels good, but you smile, you thank them for the opportunity, and we do what we do.

Hopefully, today, that isn’t working for free.