Tag Archives: hiring

06/29/23

CEO Shoptalk: HIRING >>> Hard Skills, Soft Skills, Experience, Common Sense, Character

Not long ago I was discussing the hiring practices of a mature company I had first met as a startup when I advised its CEO. Early in their existence they had used a decent headhunter, but when they brought it in house, they stubbed their toes over process.

The company has since successfully exited and the story is archived, but there is a discussion around hiring that may be useful.

In our discussion, the CEO was decrying post-Pandemic hiring practices and the pressure to allow folks to work from home or flexible hours. There was a lot of confusion as there was no experience upon which to draw. Continue reading →

11/22/21

The Worm Has Turned — Employment

The United States, a great country, has about 10.5MM job openings and 7.3MM folks looking for jobs.

This means that employers who want to fill their open positions are ratcheting up their hiring game because this is now a contest in which not everybody can emerge a winner.

So, how do you — wanting to be a winner — do it? Continue reading →

10/31/21

Some Thoughts On Job Creation

Presidents are always puffing up and beating their chests about all the jobs they’ve created by their general goodness, wisdom, and pluck.

Here’s the thing — we don’t need any more jobs in the short term. We have plenty of jobs.

We need folks to fill jobs. Let me show you why I think this:

 1. The US Bureau of Labor Statistic publishes a nifty monthly report called the JOLTs report — Job Openings and Labor Turnover. Catchy, eh?

It always seems to be a little behind the times, because the most recent one was published on 12 October and it had the August 2021 numbers.

 2. The report provides information on:

The number of open jobs;

The number of hires;

The number of folks who have quit their jobs; and,

The number of folks who have been involuntarily laid off, discharged, or “other” separations. Continue reading →

08/14/19

Recruitment v Seduction

A professional recruiter who I have advised — real pro — put up an article on Twitter that caught my interest. It discusses the essence of recruitment failures and why they happen. It takes a long time to get to the nub of things, but it is filled with wisdom.

I had also been building a file to write about this and they both came together at the same time. I take an earthier view of things having been in hiring mode for more than three decades.

I have always maintained that a good CEO is always recruiting and that recruitment is a seduction — meaning you want to create a reaction in the target that they want to work at your company rather than you need them to fill a job. Perhaps, overly subtle, but it is the way I think and I always had good luck in hiring.

Here’s a hiring challenge for you.

Continue reading →

12/16/18

Recruiting v Hiring

Big Red Car here on a day with brilliant sunshine, bit of a chill, and off to church to pray for all of us. Glorious Sunday!

So, the other day we were talking with some overcaffeinated CEOs about hiring.

One point that was left off was the utilization of recruiting as a part of the hiring mindset.

Image result for images of lions

This is you with a candidate in recruiting mode. You are a beast, the King of the Jungle. But, hey, you knew that, right?

When the lion lays down with the lamb, the lamb is not going to get much sleep. Recruitment, back on topic.

Stop — recruiting is different than hiring.

Continue reading →

12/14/18

Hiring – Thoughts From Overcaffeinated CEOs

Big Red Car here on a gray, cold day in the ATX. Brrr, it’s 47F (feels like 42F), the start of the next Ice Age — please send some global warming, talking to you, Al Gore.

Recently, the Big Red Car was talking to a gaggle of CEOs (gaggle is 4 or more for CEOs) and the subject was hiring. Hiring of top people in an organization which was out of the cradle and able to walk.

You know like: crawl, walk, run.

These CEOs were running shops which are going to make it. The question is exactly where. Some of them will be “long balls with men on base.” LBWMOB

Image result for baseball images

So, here’s what we came away with.

Continue reading →

10/4/17

Firing People — CEO Shoptalk

Firing people and laying folks off is a hard day. Here are some thoughts on how to do it.

Big Red Car here on a cloudy, but soon to be sunny, day in the ATX, God’s country. On Earth as it is in Texas! Muggy today.

So, a CEO has a series of things she struggles with. We talked about that right here:

CEOs — Doing Tough Things Shoptalk

One of those things is terminating employment either by firing someone (for cause) or laying someone off (not for cause).

They are both difficult to do. Here’s some thoughts on the subject.

Continue reading →

04/16/15

Thoughts on Hiring

Big Red Car here in the beautiful ATX. Just when you thought it couldn’t get any better, we have a day like today and a day like yesterday.

On Earth as it is in Texas!

Hiring is one of the things about building a great startup that is alluded to with a backhanded swipe of the founders’ hands.

It is an essential consideration. [Do tell, Big Red Car. Give us more, please.] Continue reading →