Tag: hiring

Yes, Today’s Crazy Job Listings REALLY Have Gone Off the Deep End

I’VE SEEN A LOT of job listings over the last few years, so why am I surprised at some of the preposterous skill requirements that some hiring managers seem to be looking for? I shouldn’t be — but then I saw this one. Here’s what was listed as the No. 1 required skill for a

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Micro-Internships: How to Leverage the Gig Economy to Find Great Young Talent

CONSIDER ME a really big fan of college internships. I’ve told this story before, but I trace my long career as a journalist and media executive back to my college internship on the Metro Desk of the Los Angeles Times. I got class credit instead of pay, but that wasn’t the point. I wanted a

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Good People Get Fired, But a “Failure Résumé” Won’t Help You Land a New Job

Here’s a basic workplace truth: Good people frequently get fired. Steve Jobs got fired from Apple, eventually returning to build it into the high-flying, trend-setting company that it is today. Oprah Winfrey, Walt Disney, and Harry Potter author JK Rowling all got fired, too. Listing all the famous people who once were “involuntarily terminated” is

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My New Year’s Wish: That Recruiters Resolve to Hire Older Workers in 2019

I HAVE NEVER MET my fellow Fistful of Talent blogger Rachel Bitte, but her recent post on the big changes recruiters had to make (2018 Was the Tipping Point For Recruiting) to deal with “the current job market reality,” tells me she knows her way around a recruiting department. I’m also sure her insights are spot on

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Yes, This Is Probably the Greatest, and the “Ballsiest,” Cover Letter of All Time

REMEMBER THE OLD military concept of “shock and awe“? It got a lot of attention during the Iraq War, and is defined as rapidly dominating an opponent “by the initial imposition of overwhelming force and firepower.” But “shock and awe” isn’t just for the military; it’s useful whenever you want to overwhelm someone quickly and

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When Candidates “Ghost” an Interview, It May Be Proof of a Bad Candidate Experience

HERE’S A HIRING TREND we could really live without – job candidates who are “ghosting” (aka, blowing off ) scheduled job interviews, or, failing to show up to work for new positions they had accepted. Last month, USA Today published a story that indicated that this new phenomenon was due to the strength of the job market and our near-record

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Queen Elizabeth Should Be Proud: Her TV Counterpart Is Finally Getting Paid Properly

LIKE SO MANY PEOPLE, one of my very favorite shows on TV today is the Netflix original The Crown. I love it for the same reason’s I loved Mad Men — it brought me up to speed on an era I was too young to fully appreciate but just old enough to vaguely remember. But,

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Retiring in Your 30s? It’s Just Another Bad Idea Coming Out of Silicon Valley

THE GENERAL CONSENSUS has been that it’s hard to find highly skilled job candidates. But what if a number of the best and the brightest decide they just want to stop being the best and brightest and retire while still in their 30s? This is the latest big idea coming out of California’s Silicon Valley, a

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The Bad Things That Happen When Companies Take Too Long to Hire

I’VE HIRED A LOT of people over the years, more than I can count, but the one constant in all that hiring is a simple question: Are we taking too long to hire? Yes, I’ve been accused of that before, especially when I was recruiting journalists for a newspaper in Hawaii, a place that people suddenly

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Sometimes, It’s About Hiring Someone Who Knows Exactly What NOT to Do

HERE’S A NEW ONE when it comes to hiring: Could it be that the best person to hire is the one who knows what not to do? I have hired many people with many skill sets over the years, but believe me, this is not something I have ever screened for. And, that’s why I was intrigued

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